https://newsbusters.org/ en https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2026/08/19/omission-roundup-illegal-stabber-bessent-murder-plot-tajik We are often reminded that one of the main purposes of the Elitist Media Evening News is not so much to convey actual news but to distract viewers for 22 minutes and lead them to believe they watched the news. Meanwhile, important stories slip past the American public. Here are but a few of them.Fairfax County, Virginia awakened to news Monday morning of a woman horrifically stabbed to death in a local park. A subsequent investigation led to the arrest of…you guessed it- an illegal  alien. Per ABC 7:A 19-year-old illegal immigrant has been arrested after a woman was found stabbed to death and doused in gasoline near her car in Great Falls earlier this week.Fairfax County police said detectives arrested Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos, 19, in connection with the homicide of 42-year-old Carmen Lizet Puch.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to 7News that Cedillos-Campos is from El Salvador.He was arrested by border patrol agents in April 2024 after illegally crossing into the U.S. near El Paso, Texas, under the Biden administration. He was later released back into the country, DHS said.Additionally, multiple outlets report that the stabber had an “intimate relationship” with the victim, who was his coworker at a local restaurant. A knife and latex gloves stolen from the restaurant were used in the murder. There was not a second to spare for this on the evening news.In other unreported news, a man was sentenced for attempting to assassinate Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Per the Department of Justice:Ryan Michael English, 26, of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 73 months in prison in connection with an attempt to assassinate then-cabinet member nominee Scott Bessent with Molotov cocktails fashioned from bottles of vodka, and for carrying a folding knife onto the Grounds of the Capitol, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.   English, aka “Raleigh Jane English,” pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras to one count of unlawful receipt, possession, and/or transfer of a firearm and one count of carrying a firearm, dangerous weapon, explosive, or incendiary device on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. In addition to the 73-month prison term, Judge Contreras ordered English to serve three years of supervised release. Federal prosecutors had requested a prison term of 121 months.  As was the case with the man who attempted to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh, it appears that there was some manner of gender transition between arraignment and sentencing. Hence the various reports on a “woman” sentenced for the Bessent murder plot: such as this one from WashPost. Whether man or woman attempting to kill Bessent, no Elitist Media evening newscast covered it.Finally, there is the Tajik man who was declared not guilty of murder by reason of insanity in 2019 but remanded to a Virginia state mental hospital. He received a 48-hour freedom pass in 2024 wherein he obtained his passport. Last month he received another such pass and…fled to Tajikistan. Per The New York Post:Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda left the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute (NVMHI) on July 6 for an authorized 48-hour pass. He was required to return two days later, but he never did, FOX 5 reported, citing court documents.Instead, Toshpulodzoda traveled to Washington Dulles International Airport and boarded a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul before continuing to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, court documents show.“The Acquittee failed to return to NVMHI on July 8, 2026, as required,” the filing states.Virginia, yet again. And again, there was zero coverage on the evening news. So what news did viewers get instead?ABC World News Tonight treated viewers to a glossy David Muir longform special on the Colorado River that sucked up the last 10 minutes of A-block. All three networks put Prince Harry’s decision to self-deport to the UK on A-block. ABC and NBC Nightly News did non-update updates on the death of Hayden Panettiere despite the full tox screen results being weeks away. NBC did the brawl at the Cowboys/Saints joint practice, the CBS Evening News did a misspelled street sign and ABC closed out with cute baby penguins. As you can clearly see, there was simply no time to cover illegal alien crime and the resolution to the attempted murder of yet ANOTHER member of the Trump administration. We are reminded yet again that what doesn’t get covered is often more important than what is. August 19th, 2026 10:56 PM Jorge Bonilla 296499 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-spinnato/2026/08/19/bring-sexy-back-cnn-morning-declares-new-democrat-election CNN/SnapStream After more primary elections passed by with another surprising Democratic socialist victory in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary, Wednesday’s CNN This Morning dedicated a segment near the end of the post-election show to infatuation with a supposed Democratic candidate strategy for the midterms and beyond: “Bring Sexy Back.”At the start of the cringe-filled segment, host Audie Cornish created a segue from a conversation of prices and affordability. She began, “You're talking about how Democrats are going to sell this and have this conversation about affordability.She continued, “And I've got something for you, okay? Because whether it's edits to Usher's ‘Hey Daddy’ or Abdul El-Sayed showing off his biceps and dancing in a tight black T, or Senator John Ossoff being asked about – I'm going to say this – his BDE.” Wednesday’s CNN This Morning closed with a segment that proclaimed Democrats' new strategy was “Bring Sexy Back” as Audie Cornish said Democrats were “giving their candidates the thirst trap treatment.” pic.twitter.com/GTWsK1XUq9— Nick (@nspin310) August 19, 2026 In continuation of the recent media love for Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) even amid the backlash to comments that implied  Trump aide Natalie Harp was the president's mistress, the show played clips about the Senator being attractive. The first came from a question from a TMZ DC reporter who asked, ”A lot of people have been saying that you've got BDE. You know, BDE.” Some big D energy. Then came a clip from the wacky I’ve Had It podcast duo of Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan, who, on a SiriusXM show, discussed an Ossoff candidacy. Sullivan first said, “He’s so hot.” Welch continued the fangirling and said, “Oh my god, I want a hot President.”In more of CNN This Morning’s odd selection of random TikTok videos in their stories, a video played which said, “What this country needs to bring us back together as one is a hot president”After the videos played, Cornish laughed along with the panel until Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist, in a joke attempt that completely fell flat to the panel, stated, “If that's the standard, Republicans will not be elected president in 2028.”Seawright then shifted and said, “Being well dressed is a form of good manners.”Then later, Cornish said she understood Seawright’s point that candidates needed to dress nice, but joked about some Democratic candidate outfits, like El-Sayed: “It's a muscle-T, you know what I mean.”Axios’s Sara Fischer added, “This is sex appeal more than decorum. So, it’s very, very different.”Cornish took a new route towards sexual misconduct: “In an era when they literally have to fend off sort of like sexual misconduct questions, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know if this is really the time to be encouraging men in this way, but tell me more.”Fischer noted this was the reality of “algorithm politics,” to which Cornish responded, “That’s so sad.” Fischer later said, “And so we have to, you know, think about ways to appeal to the algorithm when you're trying to reach new demographics, new voters. And I think sex sells. And that's why you're seeing a lot of them.”CNN decided to spend time on its morning show on “Bring Sexy Back” in a timeslot of the show that could have been used for more coverage of the victory of DSA party member Angie Nixon in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.The transcript is below. Click "expand":CNN This MorningAugust 18, 20266:49:15 AM Eastern(...)AUDIE CORNISH: But listen, there is a way they can sell this issue. You're talking about how Democrats are going to sell this and have this conversation about affordability. And I've got something for you, okay? Because whether it's edits to Usher's "Hey Daddy " or Abdul El-Sayed showing off his biceps and dancing in a tight black T, or Senator John Ossoff being asked about – I'm going to say this – his BDE.[Cuts to video]TMZ REPORTER: A lot of people have been saying that you've got BDE. You know, BDE.SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): Come on, my brother.[Cuts to video]CORNISH: He knows what it is.Democrats have a new strategy for the midterms, giving their candidates the thirst trap treatment. And it seems to be working on someone.[Cuts to video]JENNIFER WELCH: I think there's going to be a young, like maybe a Jon Ossoff.XM HOST: He's also hot. I'm sorry.ANGIE SULLIVAN: He's so hot.WELCH: Oh my god, I want a hot President.SULLIVAN: I do too.WELCH: I want a hot president.POLITICAL PLAYLIST HAPPY HOUR HOST: After having a bunch of old geezers as president, to have someone young and hot, it would be revolutionary.TIKTOK VIDEO: What this country needs to bring us back together as one is a hot president[Cuts back to live]CORNISH: The group chat is back. [Laughs} ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT: If that's the standard, Republicans will not be elected president in 2028 [laughs] but - TERRY SCHILLING: I mean, people tell me I look like JD Vance sometimes.SEAWRIGHT: You running for president?SCHILLING: No, but he look like me and I -CORNISH: Is this a conversation about BDE, Terry?[Laughter]This segment - I’m going to need a longer show, is what I’m saying.SEAWRIGHT: But what I will say is that being well dressed is a form of good manners.CORNISH: Yeah.SEAWRIGHT: And so I think how we present ourselves as candidates.SCHILLING: Look at him, look at him.SEAWRIGHT: How we present ourselves as candidates certainly, I think, appeals to the eye.CORNISH: But we're not talking - listen, absolutely. And [inaudible] southern gentleman I get. It's a muscle-T,  you know what I mean.SARA FISCHER: This is sex appeal more than decorum. So, it’s very, very different.CORNISH: In an era when they literally have to fend off sort of like sexual misconduct questions, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know if this is really the time to be encouraging men in this way, but tell me more.FISCHER: I think we understand that we're in the world of algorithm politics and-CORNISH: Algorithm politics. FISCHER: That's so rad. CORNISH: That’s so sad.FISCHER: And so we have to, you know, think about ways to appeal to the algorithm when you're trying to reach new demographics, new voters. And I think sex sells. And that's why you're seeing a lot of them.(...) August 19th, 2026 10:25 PM Nicholas Spinnato 296490 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2026/08/19/joe-scarborough-runs-defense-radical-florida-dem-misrepresents Morning Joe 8-19-26 Joe Scarborough spent a long segment on Wednesday's Morning Joe playing defense for Florida’s new Democratic Senate nominee, DSA member and State House Representative Angie Nixon. Fresh off her primary win, Nixon sat for an interview that showcased both her radical positions and Scarborough’s determination to sand down the sharp edges. Early on, Nixon ran afoul of the truth, claiming "People know I'm not a politician." Message for Ms. Nixon: Over the last six years, you've run in eight elections: four primaries and four general elections. That makes you . . . a politician! When Nixon condemned limitations on Obamacare enrollment, Scarborough oozed agreement: "300,000 Floridians knocked off of health care support because of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. It's had a devastating impact across America." So "conservative" Scarborough's become an Obamacare fan? As Biden would say, that's a BFD! When Scarborough asked where she stood on “defunding the police, abolishing prisons, and opening up the border again,” Nixon declined to answer directly. Instead she pivoted to her version of “law and order.” Her first priority? "That starts with making sure there’s a full release of the Epstein files." When Americans think of "law and order," releasing the Epstein files is not even on the first page. Nixon's next priority: "Making sure that we have accountability for ICE officials who have murdered and slaughtered people in our streets." Scarborough interjected a clear, affirmative, “Right.”   Joe Scarborough Runs Defense For Radical Florida Dem, Misrepresents Rahm on Israel pic.twitter.com/ssvrjxNcG9— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) August 19, 2026 You'd think Scarborough would have learned his lesson about prematurely accusing people of murder. In 2012, Scarborough branded George Zimmerman, even before he was arrested, of being Trayvon Martin's "murderer." Zimmerman was subsequently acquitted by the jury. Later, when Willie Geist asked Nixon whether she supports cutting off military and economic aid, the candidate was unambiguous: “I believe that Netanyahu is a war criminal who needs to answer to his crimes, and I don’t support sending any money or any weapons to Israel at this moment. No, I don’t.” Scarborough immediately interjected in an attempt to normalize Nixon's position. He declared: “By the way, just for people that right now their hair’s like combustible, that’s Rahm Emanuel’s position on Israel now.” That is false, and a subsequent guest, Democrat Dave Aronberg, a former state attorney for Palm Beach County, corrected Scarborough's misrepresentation. Aronberg explained that Emanuel favors the US continuing to supply military equipment to Israel, but wants Israel to pay for it, rather than the cost being subsidized by American taxpayers. Joe should stand by for a NSFW telephone blast from Rahm for so blatantly misrepresenting his position! At the close of the interview, Scarborough went full volunteer campaign consultant for Nixon. Quoting her line that “people are fed up,” Joe offered free advice: “That’s a message you can slap on a bumper sticker and take around the state of Florida.” Scarborough is a Florida resident. The soft pedaling of her record, the "right" in response to her accusation against ICE of "murder and slaughter," the inaccurate Rahm analogy, and the bumper-sticker coaching all raise an obvious question: will the self-described conservative host be voting for the socialist in November? Here's the transcript. MS NOW Morning Joe 8/19/26 6:53 am EDT ANGIE NIXON: People know I'm not a politician. They know I'm someone that's just like them, and I'm a public servant that's gonna fight for them. . . . The state of Florida, Floridians, we are the largest group of enrollees on the Affordable Care Act. And again, unelected Ashley Moody decided to vote against extending the ACA subsidies, which knocked nearly three hundred thousand people off the ACA marketplace. . . . JOE SCARBOROUGH: First of all, three hundred thousand Floridians knocked off of health care support because of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. It's had a devastating impact across America. NIXON: Big BS bill. SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, a Big BS bill has had a horrible impact for so many working Americans. . . . So I'm gonna ask you where you stand on defunding the police, abolishing prisons, and opening up the border again. Do you support any of those propositions? NIXON: So what I support is making sure that we have law and order in this country, and that starts with making sure there's a full release of the Epstein files and that we hold people accountable. It also is making sure that we have accountability for ICE officials who have murdered and slaughtered people in our streets on camera -- SCARBOROUGH: Right. NIXON: -- who unfortunately have not been held accountable. . . . WILLIE GEIST: Just to put a fine point on it, would you support cutting off military and economic aid to Israel? NIXON: At this time, I believe what's happening over in Israel and in Palestine isn't good for Israelis or Palestinians. And I believe that Netanyahu is a war criminal who needs to answer to his crimes. And I don't support sending any money or any weapons to Israel at this moment. No, I don't. SCARBOROUGH: So just a sidebar here, Gene Robinson, I just wanna do a quick summary, and you have the next question to the state legislator. Her position on aid to Israel? By the way, just for people that right now their hair's like combustible, that's Rahm Emanuel's position on Israel now. . . . SCARBOROUGH: I've got a quote for you from Angie Nixon. "People are fed up." That's a message you can slap on a bumper sticker and take around the state of Florida. Democratic Senate nominee for Florida, Angie Nixon, thank you and congratulations on a remarkable victory last night. August 19th, 2026 10:09 PM Mark Finkelstein 296488 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2026/08/19/vanity-fair-irked-fashion-power-maga-hats YouTube Screenshot Imagine if a magazine staffer had walked into the offices of Vanity Fair these days wearing a MAGA hat. It is not is not hard to envision the enraged reaction that would be directed towards that staffer. Most likely  he (or she) would be subjected to demands to resign. Perhaps even therapy sessions to help those subjected to a view of such a hat in their "safe spaces" to treat those being subjected to such a sight. Indeed, it is also not hard to imagine similar similar reactions from leftists in other situations upon seeing the dreaded MAGA hats. This could be because MAGA hats have become the most powerful article of fashion in history. In fact, Vanity Fair editorial director Mark Guiducci conceded as much on Tuesday in "MAGA Has Changed American Style. Who Defines It Now?" The subtitle also reflects the sheer power of MAGA hats: "Eleven years after Donald Trump first donned a MAGA cap, what we wear has never more clearly been a signpost for our allegiances."Eleven years ago yesterday, Donald Trump lit upon the border town of Laredo, Texas, wearing for the very first time a baseball hat that declared, begged, demanded: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. It was white with navy embroidery—the more zealous red came later—with a brim just as wide and flat as a grandpa’s golfing cap. In the prelapsarian days of 2015, when our would-be dictator was mostly a punch line, hipsters in Williamsburg started wearing MAGA hats as a joke. They sold out on Trump’s official website and at the store in Trump Tower. “Trump’s Campaign Hat Becomes Ironic Summer Accessory,” Ashley Parker reported in the New York Times Style section.So back in 2015 liberals merrily wore MAGA hats as a campy joke. Yes, it was a joke back then because they thought Trump and the MAGA movement were going nowhere.Now fast forward eleven years and the joke is on the leftists who often can no longer maintain any semblance of sanity at the mere sight of a MAGA hat.One decade, one year, and one day later, the red cap has become the red line of our divided society: Wear it and you are either embraced or shunned. There is no neutral reaction—even in Spain. Ferran Torres, the Barcelonan forward who scored the championship-clinching goal in the World Cup final, wore a red “Make Spain Great Again” cap during a victory parade in Madrid, sparking retweets from the White House and derision in El País....There could hardly be a more vivid example of what front-row habitués call the “power of fashion.” By that, we—yes, I consider myself a card-carrying fashion person—mean that clothes don’t just conceal the body, they reveal the mind. They can express individuality or, more often, collectivity: I am this kind of person; I belong to that tribe. And MAGA understands that better than anyone. Certainly better than the Democrats. You might call it the fashion of power.Who's laughing now? The MAGA hat has become the all-powerful destroyer of liberal minds as Vanity Fair has admitted. August 19th, 2026 9:51 PM P.J. Gladnick 296483 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2026/08/19/ouch-cbs-fires-hardballs-florida-dsa-candidate-pennsylvania Screenshot via CBS/Snapstream In addition to a more traditional recap of Tuesday’s primary election results, Wednesday’s CBS Mornings went hard in the paint after socialism (read: communists) with tough questions for Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro about where he stands in this fight and then an entire interview of hardballs for socialist State Representative Angie Nixon, the upset winner of Florida’s Democratic senatorial primary.It was tough from the get-go as featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers first praised her for how she was able to win despite being dramatically outspent and having a near-zero chance in prediction markets, but pivoted because her far-left views now have to translate in a general election:[R]egistered Republicans, they outnumber Democrats by 1.5 million in Florida. I just want to go through a couple of issues you’ve been campaigning on. You want Medicare for all, and free universal child care, and pre-k. How are you suggesting taxpayers pay for that?Nixon struggled to answer, insisting “we’re already spending the amount we would be paying for Medicare for All right now, even while folks are still paying for co-pays and deductibles and co-insurance” and that salaries for childcare workers would be reinvested into the economy.Duthiers snuffed out hr filibuster: “So, representative, how would you pay for that?” OUCH: CBS's Vladimir Duthiers asks socialist and #FLSen candidate Angie Nixon *three times* how she would pay for both Medicare for All, free universal child care, and pre-KNixon refused to say how. pic.twitter.com/P6UdmyapNM— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 19, 2026 Nixon replied she would simply “repeal that Big BS Bill because...[i]t wasn’t beautiful, and I would make sure that these big-time billionaires, the ultra-wealthy millionaires, pay what they owe.”Seeing how she continued to duck, Duthiers used Nixon’s non-answer against her: “[Y]ou want a billionaire tax, you want a national rent freeze. Which of these policies are you prepared to tell moderate voters and perhaps even some Republicans who may be intrigued by this that this should become federal law, and how do you convince them that the cost will be worth it?”The socialist insisted she’s had “conversations with” voters, which are “resonating” because Washington, D.C. is “broken and people like unelected Ashley Moody and Donald Trump are working less and less and less and meanwhile getting richer.”An exasperated Duthiers called her out: “[Y]ou really haven’t articulated how you would pay for it.”He moved onto the issue of anti-Semitism since “[l]ike other Democratic socialists, you’re advocating for ending unconditional aid to the state of Israel” and she’ll have to grapple with the fact that “Florida has the third-largest Jewish population in the country” and “voters who are perhaps worried about your position, given that we’ve seen an enormous spike in anti-Semitism in this country.”Nixon also dodged, aside from answering “yes” to Duthiers as to whether Hamas should disarm (click “expand”): WATCH: ‘CBS Mornings’ co-host Vladimir Duthiers grills socialist Angie Nixon on what she’d do to address the “enormous spike in anti-Semitism in this country” and how she could reconcile that with ending U.S. support for Israel...Duthiers: You have faced some criticism like… pic.twitter.com/xEGJC4Gy60— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 19, 2026 NIXON: I will let them know that I have continued to fight for the safety and well-being of all Floridians, despite their religion or whatever their ideology is. I’m going to continue to advocate as such. So, back to your previous question, I’d articulate how I would pay for it, I told you that I would make sure that we made these billionaires and ultra-wealthy millionaires pay their fair share.DUTHIERS: But —NIXON: A budget is a moral document. It lets us know what our values are —DUTHIERS: — I just —NIXON: — and, right now, we can see that they care more about spending a billion dollars on a ballroom that many of us will never get to dance in.DUTHIERS: Okay. I just want to get, again, your position on funding and providing material and support to the state of Israel. For example, do you believe that Hamas should be completely disarmed and removed from governing Gaza?NIXON: Yes, I do.DUTHIERS: You do. And what do you say, then, to those voters in the state of Florida who say to you that they are worried about the fact that the United States would not support a key ally in the Middle East?NIXON: What I would say is the same thing I would say about every ally. We need to make sure that we are scrutinizing all military aid or all aid to them, to ensure that they are doing right by their citizens or their neighboring countries. Co-host Gayle King had the next set of questions, first acknowledging the “socialist message seems to be resonating right now,” but might not in the general because “[m]any people are very frightened of the positions: defund the police, abolishing ICE.” Angie Nixon argues on ‘CBS Mornings’ that Medicare for All, defunding the police, and abolishing ICE isn’t “a socialist message or a progressive message”....Gayle King: “Socialist message seems to be resonating right now...Do you think that it will resonate in the general —… pic.twitter.com/2ZXxCWKONP— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 19, 2026 Hilariously, Nixon argued “it’s not necessarily a socialist message or a progressive message,” but a way to fulfill “the needs of the people” and their “rights....which are healthcare,” “housing,” and “voting rights.”Following a flub from King falsely claiming Nixon had campaigned with far-left, pro-Islamist podcaster Hasan Piker, King asked if she “would...want him to campaign with you.” WILD: Florida socialist Angie Nixon insists she’s never heard of Hasan Piker...Gayle King: “Would you want him to campaign with you?”Nixon: “I don’t really know who Mr. Piker is. I’ve heard about him, and so —”King: “You don’t know who he is?”Nixon: “— I said I don’t… pic.twitter.com/IIKgOdttDr— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 19, 2026 Nixon played dumb: “I don’t really know who Mr. Piker is. I’ve heard about him, and so I said I don’t really know who he is personally or anything like that.”Moments later, Duthiers came back around to conclude with another damaging question she also avoided, this time pertaining to socialism being unpopular in a state where many fled such regimes in Latin America (click “expand”): .@VladDuthiersCBS: “[Y]ou are a Democratic socialist running in a statewide race with a large population of people who have fled governments that call themselves socialists. How do you convince those voters when they hear socialists that they may see that as disqualifying?”… pic.twitter.com/d4x7tq9X6h— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 19, 2026 DUTHIERS: Representative, really quickly before you go, you are a Democratic socialist running in a statewide race with a large population of people who have fled governments that call themselves socialists. How do you convince those voters when they hear socialists that they may see that as disqualifying?NIXON: Yeah, for sure. So, I want to be clear, I just recently became a member of the Democratic Socialists. I’ve also just recently became a member of the Working Families Party, and I let people know that nothing has changed about me. I am someone who is going to stand up for them, to make sure that I listen to them, and continue to fight for them and what their needs are.As for Shapiro, he received prominent and rare billing with a lengthy interview in the first half-hour about his executive order that amounted to an about-face on data centers. Thankfully, Saturday co-host Kelly O’Grady pressed him on this blatant flip-flop in both a reelection year and as he’s talked about as a 2028 presidential contender.Surprisingly, King was the one with the socialism question: “Another big win for the socialist party — the socialist part of the Democratic Party in Florida. Are you concerned about this? Do you think that the party is on the right track? They seem to be gaining traction — the socialist part of the Democratic Party. Are you concerned?” Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro sure seems to still be of the please-eat-me-last camp in the Democrat Party when it comes to the socialists (read: communists) taking overHere he was on ‘CBS Mornings’ insisting he’s not really paying attention to them....“I will… pic.twitter.com/6KzkxQqUt4— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 19, 2026 Shapiro continued to make clear he’s in the please-eat-me-last camp of the Democrat Party by insisting he didn’t know anything about what happened in Florida, but instead focused on a special election for a state House seat in rural, wooded Butler County that was won by a Democrat even though it voted for Trump in 2024 by 18 points.“[W]hat we’re seeing are common sense folk from the community who I think reflect a lot more my values and my approach to governing, who are winning and upsetting Republicans in deep-red districts,” he asserted.King followed up: “[T]here seems to be the Democratic socialist part of the party is picking up steam. Are you concerned at all about that or do you think it’s okay for now, when it comes to the general, it’s going to be a whole different ballgame?” Shapiro praised the “ton of passion in the electorate right now, and a desire to defeat Donald Trump’s chaos, and cruelty, and corruption,” so he welcomed those individuals ahead of the coming “ideological battle” after “winning these midterms.” To see the relevant CBS transcript from August 19, click here. August 19th, 2026 6:22 PM Curtis Houck 296496 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2026/08/19/networks-revel-leftist-hijinks-alaska-socialist-upset-florida Screenshot via NBC/Snapstream On Wednesday, ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS Mornings, and NBC’s Today all had full reports on Tuesday’s primary results that boasted a socialist candidate pulled off an upset in Florida’s Senate race and trumpeted Alaska Senate primary with blatant political chicanery in which someone seems to have found another Alaska with the same name as incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan in hopes of throwing the race to the Democrats.In a clear case of bias by omission, these networks refused to tell their viewers that Dan J. Sullivan — whereas the current senator, is Dan S. Sullivan — has, as NOTUS’s Igor Bobic pointed out, “voted Democratic in the last 3 presidential elections, voted for [Democrat Mary] Peltola and [Republican Senator Lisa] Murkowski, and attended a ‘No Kings’ protest.”ABC’s GMA giddily covered the two Sullivans with reports kicking off both hours of the show. D.C.-based correspondent Jay O’Brien told viewers “all eyes were on that critical state of Alaska and what that race could mean for control of the Senate” with the incumbent Sullivan and Peltola “advancing...to the November ballot.” Results from key primaries are coming in from across the country, including critical races in Florida and Alaska, as the countdown to the midterms gets underway. @jayobtv reports. pic.twitter.com/BGoKIlqMhl— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 19, 2026 Promoting Peltola’s promise to be “an independent voice,” O’Brien added the kicker: “Alaska allows for four candidates, regardless of party, to advance to the general election ballot. And this morning, it’s unclear if that will include Dan J. Sullivan, a candidate with virtually the same name as the senator.”O’Brien fretted that Dan J. Sullivan could face some legal trouble: “ABC News has learned the Justice Department issued a series of subpoenas to those tied to Dan Sullivan’s campaign, probing whether he’s part of a conspiracy to purposefully confuse voters, something Sullivan has strongly denied.”He also weighed in on Florida, saying “the Democratic Party’s deep divisions” were “on full display” with “[s]elf-declared Democratic socialist and State Representative Angie Nixon beating Alexander Vindman in the primary to take on Republican Senator Ashley Moody, expected to be an uphill battle for Democrats this fall.”“But far-left challengers coming up short elsewhere on the ballot, unable to unseat Florida Congressman Jared Moskowitz and veteran Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz,” he conceded before addressing the viral debate clip of Senator Darline Graham (R-SC) admitting she didn’t know about Taiwan and Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.ABC also threw a jab at President Trump for voting in the Florida primary by mail: “[D]espite railing against the practice, President Trump voted by mail in yesterday’s primaries. It’s the second time this year he’s done so. Responding, the White House says that President Trump has advocated for stricter guardrails on mail-in voting.”The Disney-owned liberals, of course, are incapable of nuance or grasping the fact that Trump has spoken out in favor of mail-in voting with the SAVE America Act, so long as it involves voter ID and tightening reasons for why someone could request a mail-in ballot.NBC’s Today hit similar notes, down to opening both hours with primary results.Co-host Savannah Guthrie opened the first hour with word that “Florida deliver[ed] the biggest surprise of the night” with “Nixon scor[ing] an upset victory[.]”Chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles said the “shocking” results came for the “progressive wing of the Democratic Party” despite Nixon having been “outspent by more than $15 million” by “moderate candidate Alexander Vindman, a star witness in President Trump’s first impeachment.” After much the same theme yesterday, Wednesday’s ‘Today’ Show was all over the “shocking” result in Florida for the “progressive wing of the Democratic Party” with Angie Nixon, and Alaska’s Dan J. Sullivan “possibly causing confusion for voters”NBC ignored the fact that Dan J.… pic.twitter.com/4nuBA9DXtG— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 19, 2026 Following a brief mention of the gubernatorial race, Nobles turned to “retired teacher” Dan J. Sullivan’s seemingly quixotic quest to help Democrats despite claiming to be a Republican (click “expand”):NOBLES: And another closely-watched Senate race taking shape in Alaska. Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan on defense, looking to secure a third term as Democrats aim to flip that critical Senate seat, running former Congresswoman Mary Peltola.FORMER CONGRESSWOMAN MARY PELTOLA (D-AK): It’s a real campaign now. We are really in this. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]NOBLES: Sullivan and Peltola qualifying for the general election, which will include the top four vote-getters. One of whom could be another candidate named Dan Sullivan, a retired teacher who could earn a place on the November ballot, possibly causing confusion for voters down the road.Over on CBS Mornings, they provided far more balance with a hardball for Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro about the party’s far-left flank and then a litany of hardballs for Nixon.But before each of those, featured co-host Vlad Duthiers spoke with CBS News executive director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto about the results, so they started with their recent poll about how Americans view socialism. ‘CBS Mornings’ also omitted Dan J. Sullivan has voted Democrat in the last three presidential elections, attended a ‘No Kings’ protest, and voted in the past for Mary Peltola, but at least they underlined the fact that the rise of DSA doesn’t bode well for Democrats in November pic.twitter.com/YPkAznSjPE— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 19, 2026 Salvanto explained that while “nationally, just over half the party thinks of that in a positive way,” there’s “trouble” for them “when you look at views of socialism and capitalism across the wider electorate” because it turns into a “net negative.”“So, they’re going to have to reconcile that. Let me show you in context, though, the Florida Senate race. This is a list of battlegrounds and, Vlad, you will notice Florida is not on it. Florida is a reliably Republican state, so that’s the way that one will likely trend in either case,” he added, casting doubt on Nixon’s chances.After footnoting Mills’s loss, they went over to Alaska where, like with ABC and NBC, they omitted the chicanery surrounding Dan J. Sullivan and his past voting record. They at least weren’t giddy about it like the other two (click “expand”):DUTHIERS: So, let’s talk about that race in Alaska, one of the Democrats’ potential pickup opportunities, which is kind of surprising to me. This is a state that Donald Trump won comfortably, as you know. So, what makes Mary Peltola such a formidable challenger to the Republican Senator Dan Sullivan —SALVANTO: Right.DUTHIERS: — one of two Dan Sullivans, by the way, running —SALVANTO: Right.DUTHIERS: — in that race?SALVANTO: There were two on the ballot, the same name on the ballot, the incumbent who is in the runoff. Here’s the deal with Alaska. The Democrats have Mary Peltola now in the runoff, which is what takes place in November. She’s won statewide office before. That’s the reason they think they have a chance here. The other reason they think they have a chance is that the way Alaska’s elections work, it’s ranked-choice voting. And so, even if you don’t get over 50 percent, you might be the choice of the second- and third-place folks, and they could put you over the top. Stay tuned, watch Alaska. We will be talking about it all fall.To see the relevant transcripts from August 19, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC). August 19th, 2026 4:57 PM Curtis Houck 296493 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2026/08/19/stelter-sleaze-ossoffs-natalie-harp-smear-marketing-victory At a rally on Sunday, Sen. Jon Ossoff smeared White House aide Natalie Harp by suggesting the president likes to “travel with Natalie” and not much else – implying a sexual dalliance between the 80-year-old president and his 35-year-old aide. If the president was a Democrat, the liberal journalists would cry smear. But it’s Trump, so Brian Stelter is touting Ossoff as a savvy social-media player.Stelter’s "Reliable Sources" newsletter on Wednesday carried the headline “Jon Ossoff and the art of the viral clip.” He began:  Screenshot from YouTube Sen. Jon Ossoff knew exactly what he was doing by invoking President Trump’s “travel with Natalie” last Sunday.Google searches for Trump’s executive assistant Natalie Harp spiked by 5,000%. News outlets hurried to meet the demand for info by publishing new stories about Harp.Liberal commentators cheered Ossoff while conservative commentators condemned him. Yesterday on Fox News, a bemused Jesse Watters remarked, “This is the first time we have covered Ossoff on this show in six years.”That’s hard to believe, but it amounts to a victory for Ossoff. His “travel with Natalie” line — part of a broader but still just TikTok-length argument that Trump “doesn’t want to do the job” of president — showed a sophisticated understanding of the social media environment. It titillated, provoked and enraged different audiences simultaneously.Stelter's not asking what should be the first journalistic question to Ossoff: Is it true? Is Trump banging his assistant? Or is Stelter saying the facts don't matter? It's the savvy of the guy smearing this young woman that's the narrative. CNN's Chief Media Analyst didn't find anyone savvy for making a sly dig at Biden being accused of finger-inserting rape by a staffer named Tara Reade in 2020. Fox media reporter Brian Flood noted Stelter's aversion to that. He wouldn't have hailed anyone making a joke about Ashley Biden writing about showering with her father in her diary. But Ossoff? He's just so remarkably clever! The article spinning off his newsletter added: Ossoff is a natural. Clippable moments from his campaign speeches have repeatedly taken off on social media platforms and garnered millions of views.Earlier this summer, veteran political journalist Jonathan Martin, now a columnist and host for Politico, said “the Ossoff model” entails a “weekend rally, clips delivered for social media and a tight corruption focus.”Ossoff’s most recent viral moment also emphasized alleged corruption: His full sentence invoking Harp was, “He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”Stelter detailed how Jesse Watters processed the whole smear on Fox News, and that the Watters segment was another Ossoff win.Amanda Litman, president of Run for Something, which works to get young progressives elected, said “younger candidates, at basically every level, are fluent in the internet. They understand the lingua franca. They know their strengths and they lean into them.”For Ossoff, she told CNN, that’s delivering speeches “that can be clipped up, because that’s really his strength.”Stelter lined up Litman and Obama bro Tommy Vietor to underline his narrative of Ossoff, the King of the Toss-off.  >> @TVietor08: "What’s odd is how few candidates seem to be executing what was once the most basic campaign tactic!”Here's what he's talking about: https://t.co/Hzr8iMqF0q— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 19, 2026 These might work with the Left. But is CNN only grading political candidates by how much they thrill CNN's hard-core Trump-hating audience? Facts did not come First in this analysis. PS: The partisan fact checkers like PolitiFact threw "Pants On Fire" tags at people calling Ossoff a "socialist" during his first run for the Senate in 2020. That was "false and ridiculous." But they haven't pounced on Ossoff on this smear.  August 19th, 2026 3:40 PM Tim Graham 296492 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2026/08/19/former-senior-advisor-fauci-pleads-guilty-covid-cover Dr. David ‌Morens, a former senior advisor to COVID czar Dr. Anthony Fauci, pled guilty Tuesday to crimes relating to a scheme to prevent public disclosure of information regarding the origin of the deadly COVID-19 virus.Morens served as a senior advisor at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), led by Fauci, from 2006 through 2022.Morens pled guilty in a federal court to a conspiracy charge stemming from a scheme to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and the Federal Records Act in connection with communications about coronavirus research grants, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.According to the plea, Morens is guilty of manipulating research grants and hiding potential findings to squash any evidence that the virus may have originated in a lab in Wuhan, China as a result of U.S.-funded gain-of-function research.As part of the cover-up, Morens says, he and his cohorts used his personal Gmail account to discuss official government matters, in order to prevent the content of the conversations from being obtained by the public through FOIA requests.In particular, Morens’ personal Gmail account was used to:Exchange non-public NIH information.Correspond about their efforts to influence NIH to fund a company that would counter the lab-leak theory.Exchange edits to drafts of letters addressed to NIH leadership for that company and co-conspirators.“Back-channel” information to a senior NIAID.Additionally, Morens pled guilty to destroying and concealing records related to the termination and restoration of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to a research company called EcoHealth Alliance for research on bat coronaviruses.EcoHealth reportedly received grants totaling $4 million and $7.5 million in 2014 and 2020, respectively, some of which eventually funded gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.Two of the emails uncovered from Morens’ personal account appear particularly incriminating, The Hill recalls:“In communications released by the House committee, Morens wrote to EcoHealth President Peter Daszak, ‘I can either send stuff to Tony on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.’“In a 2021 email, Morens wrote, ‘i learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after i am foia’d but before the search starts, so i think we are all safe,’ Morens wrote in a separate email. ‘Plus i deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail.’” Morens and an unnamed accomplice also conspired to pay illegal gratuities in furtherance of their scheme, according to the plea.Morens is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 12 by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland. He faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States, the Justice Department explains:“Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district judge determines sentencing after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.” August 19th, 2026 2:55 PM Craig Bannister 296491 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-spinnato/2026/08/19/full-breakup-morning-joe-promotes-novel-gloomy-scenario-new MS NOW/SnapStream On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, the MS NOW morning program spread doom and gloom on the state of the country as it promoted a new book by author Kurt Andersen titled The Breakup, which focused on a fictional future of America 20 years in the future in the aftermath of a civil war. Andersen constantly seemed pessimistic about the future of America throughout the interview and even said the country was possibly “being softened for such a real-life, full-on breakup.”Joe Scarborough introduced Andersen and described the book as a novel that “imagines America about 20 years into the future as a country that's reshaped by civil war, political division, and rapidly advancing technology.”Andersen said he wanted to first write his new book as “nonfiction,” but decided to write a novel on “a Gen Z couple who are now middle-aged, who have lived through this civil war, this seven years of disunion, the United States of America finally negotiated breakup. And from their point of view, their eyes view, and, as you say, as they travel around the eastern half of America, looking at colleges in the old-fashioned way with their kid.” Tuesday’s Morning Joe promoted a new Kurt Andersen book titled ‘The Breakup,’ which was described as a book set 20 years in the future in a “country reshaped by civil war, political division, and rapidly advancing technology.” Throughout the interview, Andersen seemed to predict… pic.twitter.com/i55IMXSLnr— Nick (@nspin310) August 18, 2026 Co-host Willie Geist then asked, “You've talked, Kurt, about in real life, this country kind of maybe going through a soft breakup at the moment. I'm curious how that outlook and that view of where we are as a country and where we may be headed informed this book?”Andersen then started to predict a civil war, and stated how a “soft breakup” might have already occurred. He used an example of “Second Amendment sanctuary states and counties” as his example of a breakup. Andersen continued and feared a “full-on breakup”:“So, this is already existing. And I realize that as I created my story of the future and what happens in - the 2020s and 2030s, and everything is, is the ground arguably possibly could happen being softened for such a real-life, full-on breakup.”Frequent Morning Joe guest Mike Barnicle framed his question to Andersen on the “fracturing” of the country around the removal of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians in the U.S. Barnicle stated, “And yet the fracturing today, it's not occurred in the 2040s, it's just occurring right in front of our eyes with very few people with official power saying, ‘Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. We're ruining this country by fracturing what the country is all about.’” Mike Barnicle then connected the idea of a “breakup” to the removal of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the U.S.Author Kurt Andersen responded with agreement and said, “It’s suicidal of us as a nation to do such a thing.”Andersen ended with more doom and gloom and… https://t.co/CTvypjVOBM pic.twitter.com/BHbe1LO9jR— Nick (@nspin310) August 18, 2026 Andersen responded and called it an example of “unforced errors” and said, “You could even argue, maybe it’s a little hyperbolic, but it’s suicidal of us as a nation to do such a thing.”He continued to spread doom and worried, “As I was thinking about this book and figuring out the story I wanted to tell about these people in this situation in the future, it became harder and harder for me to think, How do we get how does this end? How does this end well? How does how do we all return to happy days of America again? And I see it less and less.” Joe Scarborough tried to close the fictional Civil War book promotion with optimism and said, “I just want to let everybody know this actually is a hopeful novel.” He then noted how Americans have more in common than it would seem with media depictions of division (ironic).… pic.twitter.com/2djiYBS5di— Nick (@nspin310) August 18, 2026 Scarborough closed and tried to end on a less gloomy look on the future, as he said, “I just want to let everybody know this actually is a hopeful novel.” He then noted how Americans have more in common than it would seem with media depictions of division, which was ironic for a show like Morning Joe where a recent guest said Republican voters want a “Blood and Soil” party. MS NOW divides the country constantly.Andersen did not seem to agree with Scarborough’s assessment and said, “Well, I'm not at this moment as hopeful as you about that, but it's a chance.” Later on Morning Joe, after the civil war book promotion, the show promoted a different book from California Democrat Rep. Jared Huffman titled ‘No Prophets’, which talked about “the fight to save America from Christian Nationalism." https://t.co/CTvypjVOBM pic.twitter.com/Hi7QeP0dhe— Nick (@nspin310) August 18, 2026 Later on Morning Joe, the show promoted a different book from California Democrat Rep. Jared Huffman titled No Prophets, which was described as a book about “the fight to save America from Christian Nationalism." In the book's promotional materials, Huffman's pitched as "the only member of Congress to admit he does not believe in gods."The congressman, who was described as a “humanist” in a New York Times feature on the book, called it a “threat to Democracy” and defined Christian nationalism as “the fusion” of “conservative Christian identity with right-wing politics.”Two books that fear division and the end of democracy were apparently what Morning Joe wanted to feed their viewers on a Tuesday morning.The transcript is below. Click "expand":MS NOW’s Morning JoeAugust 18, 20266:42:27 AM Eastern(...)JOE SCARBOROUGH: A great new novel is out today, and it imagines America about 20 years into the future as a country that's reshaped by civil war, political division, and rapidly advancing technology. Titled The Breakup, the book follows a married couple that spent years apart, reuniting for a tour of colleges with her teenage child that takes them on a road trip through a fractured new American landscape while they confront the divide between themselves.The author, Kurt Anderson, joins us now. Kurt's last two books, Fantasyland and Evil Geniuses, are both New York Times best-selling works of nonfiction that explore the roots of American dysfunction, and The Breakup is a fictional follow-up to those investigations, and he uses the novel to examine the forces that have sharpened the division of this country. MS NOW contributor Mike Barnicle is with us as well. And Kurt, thank you for being here. I love this book. We've talked about it offline. Tell us, why don't you go ahead, because I'm sure a lot of people are asking why you decided, after having two extraordinarily important nonfiction books, why did you decide writing a novel about the current state of disunion in America, and why it may be in the future, was the best way forward for you as an artist, as an author? KURT ANDERSEN: Thank you for having me, Joe. I started thinking about it as a potential nonfiction book because, you know, a lot of happy readers for the two big histories. And I realized I don't have a basis for saying, ‘Oh, this is what will happen,’ or ‘This is what might happen,’ or ‘Where are we going?’ And so I returned to novel writing. I, you know, it's my fifth novel, so I knew how to do it. And I decided that focusing on a couple and a family who have lived through this. A Gen Z couple who are now middle-aged, who have lived through this civil war, this seven years of disunion, the United States of America, finally negotiated breakup. And from their point of view, their eyes view, and, as you say, as they travel around the eastern half of America, looking at colleges in the old-fashioned way with their kid.SCARBOROUGH: It was so realistic. I - at one point I commented to you. I read - so you have Nat and Ash. Natalie, the wife, Asher, the liberal husband. And it - listening to them talk, listening to the differences in their outlook on not only politics, but on the future. There are several times I would read passages out loud to Mika and laugh because you have the lefty catastrophizing all the time and you have the righty going, will you please just relax? And of course, what happens, as is the nature of Mika and my relationship, sometimes she's overly pessimistic, and sometimes I'm overly optimistic.(...)6:47:30 AM EasternWILLIE GEIST: You've talked Kurt, about in real life, this country kind of maybe going through a soft breakup at the moment. I'm curious how that outlook and that view of where we are as a country and where we may be headed informed this book?ANDERSEN: Well, I did a lot of research because, you know, I used to be a journalist and I pretended to be an historian. So, I was researching this soft breakup idea, which I wasn't aware of until I started doing the research that law professors and others have been talking about this since for the last dozen years. These coalitions and these kind of emergent quasi-government entities among states to, to be against the federal government. The Second Amendment, sanctuary states and counties, for instance, where they do not enforce federal gun regulation laws. Who knew? But there's all kinds of these things left and right, about climate, about health, all kinds of things. And certainly in the last year and a half, even more than ever. So, this is already existing. And I realize that as I created my story of the future and what happens in the 21st of the 2020s and 2030s, and everything is, is the ground arguably possibly could happen being softened for such a real-life, full-on breakup? You know.MIKE BARNICLE: What you were just talking about just now reminds me that the fracturing might also be taking place right here, right now, in front of our eyes. And I'm talking specifically about Haitian people who are here. They once were under TPS, temporary protected status. That's gone for them. They are among the hardest-working young people who have come to America over the last - you can't go into a hospital without finding Haitians, helping people, working for people. And yet the fracturing today, it's not occurred in the 2040s, it's just occurring right in front of our eyes with very few people with official power saying, ‘Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. We're ruining this country by fracturing what the country is all about.’ANDERSEN: Well, precisely. I mean, we're doing so many kind of unforced errors, to use your baseball fans terminology. And really, I wouldn't, you know, you could even argue, maybe it's a little hyperbolic, but it's suicidal of us as a nation to do such a thing. And I - and again, as I was thinking about this book and figuring out the story I wanted to tell about these people in this in this situation in the future, it became harder and harder for me to think, How do we get how does this end? How does this end well? How does how do we all return to happy days of America again? And I see it less and less. And I started writing, you know, three, three years ago, three and a half years ago, when it's when this premise seemed a little, a little far-fetched to me. And the last year and a half, it seems less far-fetched to me.BARNICLE: Yeah.(...)6:50:52 AM EasternSCARBOROUGH: Kurt, before we let you go, I just want to let everybody know this actually is a hopeful novel. And what makes this novel so hopeful, and what makes it so fascinating, is that in the midst of this chaos, we find what I know you find when you travel across the country. When we were talking several years ago about a trip to West Virginia. What I find wherever I am, and I know a lot of people watching probably don't want to hear this on any podcast or any cable news show, but people, for the most part, are the same man. They really are. You sit down, and you talk to them. Whether you're in Demopolis, Alabama, or whether you're on the upper west side and, they're Americans. I mean, below all of this chaos, they're Americans. And you see that. You always see that in your characters and you're thinking, yeah, things look bad. But at their core, I've got a feeling they're going to find their way through this. Talk about that.ANDERSEN: Well, I'm not at this moment as hopeful as you about that, but it's a chance. And my characters, Asher and Natalie, are in a certain way., illustrative models of how, maybe with luck, people can get back together if they recognize their basic human connections.(...)7:16:27 AM EasternSCARBOROUGH: A new book out today by a member of Congress warns that religious nationalism is taking hold in our nation's capital. With us now, Democratic Congressman Jared Huffman of California. He's the author of the new book titled No Profits: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism. Thank you so much for being with us. We greatly appreciate it. You know, what you're talking about is actually, interestingly enough, this is very timely because the Presbyterian church of America actually just passed a resolution condemning Christian Nationalism. And - the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by actually a professor at Hillsdale College, a very conservative college, who wrote this: “This affirmation aligns with American beliefs about limited government. And it differs dramatically from Christian Nationalism, whose advocates have called for Christian lawmakers to write laws that constrain the free exercise of religion. Such big government arguments clearly place Christian nationalists along the post liberalism that churns on the left and the right.”And they go on to say that this is really, again, getting in the way of the First Amendment. So, it's interesting. Wall Street Journal publishes very conservative professor from Hillsdale College, who aligns with the Presbyterian Church, who's actually aligning with your position. Talk about why you wrote this book. REP. JARED HUFFMAN (D-CA): Yeah, thank you, Joe, for having me. And I'm glad that more religious voices are calling out Christian Nationalism, often from a faith perspective. But all of us need to be in this fight. I have watched this Christian nationalist movement grow in strength and militancy throughout my time in Congress. It erupted for all of us to see in the January 6th insurrection, and I had really hoped that would be the wake-up call our country needed to hold this movement to account and confront it. But unfortunately, the country and my own colleagues who the mob targeted and wanted to kill really went back to sleep. So, I wanted to write this book to expose what I consider America's most dangerous political movement, and to take folks behind the scenes of the Capitol, show them what I see every day, and why I'm so concerned about this threat to our democracy, and to do it in a way that has never been done before.(...) August 19th, 2026 1:50 PM Nicholas Spinnato 296475 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2026/08/19/politifact-rushes-defend-jolly-transgender-surgeries-minors Florida Republican-turned MSNBC talking head-turned Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Jolly has portrayed himself as the kind of aspiring governor who would not insert himself into decisions about whether or not a minor should receive transgender “medical care.” This has led GOP nominee Byron Donalds and his PAC to say Jolly supports transgender surgeries for minors, but the damage control team at PolitiFact slapped a “false” label on those claims on Wednesday.Samantha Putterman justified the rating by citing The Friends of Byron Donalds PAC’s ad that “says Jolly supports ‘gender changing surgeries on kids’ and plays a clip of Jolly saying, ‘We embraced it, the medical pathways, the gender-affirming care.’” Several words later, Putterman asserted, “Although he relayed a story about healthcare for a youth transitioning from one gender to another, we found no examples in the public record of Jolly talking specifically about gender-affirming surgeries for kids.  The Donalds’ campaign did not provide any in response to our inquiry.”That may seem like a slam dunk against Donalds and his PAC, but Putterman was too quick to slap on the false label. She also recalled, “When asked by reporters about medical care for trans youth, Jolly has said he supports families making medical decisions with a doctor. It is not standard medical practice for doctors to provide gender-affirming surgeries for young children.”The link Putterman provided, ironically, provided several examples of minors receiving surgeries. PolitiFact is trying to claim “young children” and teenagers are two separate categories to dismiss conservative arguments, but in doing so, all PolitiFact has done is light a straw man on fire because both are minors.Later, she recalled Jolly stating his own position to Politico:When Politico asked Jolly in July for his position on ‘gender medicine for minors,’ he responded: ‘I simply subscribe to the old-school Republican position that government should stay out of your life, out of your doctor’s office, and out of your bedroom. The last person you need sitting on the foot of your bed during hard family conversations is Byron Donalds.Wrapping up, Putterman doubled down on the false “young children” versus “teens” dichotomy while again noting Jolly’s habit of portraying himself as a libertarian:When asked by reporters about medical care for trans youth, Jolly said he supports families having the ability to make medical decisions with their doctor. Gender-affirming care can include using a different name or a person’s preferred pronouns, and treatments are typically available only to adolescents and adults. In rare cases, that can include surgeries for older teens with parental consent — not young children.”Conservatives simply do not grant Putterman the argument that there is a difference between “young children” and “teens.” As Putterman herself noted many times, Jolly has portrayed himself as someone who would allow parents and doctors to do whatever they wish, so while he may technically have never said the word “surgery,” the logical conclusion of such a libertarian approach is that he does support the idea. That they are “rare” should be irrelevant to a fact-checker. August 19th, 2026 12:37 PM Alex Christy 296489 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2026/08/19/statuss-darcy-predicts-person-likely-become-new-co-host-cbs Screenshot via CBS/Snapstream Amid some predictable-yet-tiresome swipes at CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, Status founder and liberal media Stasi boss Oliver Darcy revealed in his newsletter Monday night that 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O’Donnell — who was co-host of CBS This Morning from September 2012 to May 2019 — has the inside track on returning to the show (now called CBS Mornings) as the third co-host.An O’Donnell hire would fill the show’s long-standing void, which has been around since Tony Dokoupil left on December 17, 2025 to take over the CBS Evening News.Darcy started by remarking O’Donnell had left the morning show under the chyron “Norah’s Next Chapter” for Evening News (and ignoring how it was done at Jeff Glor’s expense, statistically the least anti-Trump anchor), which she held for six years until her last show on January 23, 2025.He added that, unlike most inside the building (or at least the leakers to Darcy), O’Donnell “has worked to ingratiate herself with Weiss,” and was thus rewarded with a correspondent title at 60 Minutes.“But her biggest role under Weiss might still be yet to come. I’m told that O’Donnell is being strongly considered for a return to the CBS News morning show. O’Donnell has recently been filling in on ‘CBS Mornings’ and was featured in a recent promo for the show, which garnered attention internally,” he explained, pointing out CBS “did not provide a comment for this story.”Darcy made clear, though, that other options remain even though “O’Donnell is likely the most logical choice of the bunch” because “[s]he is a reliable hand with strong range and significant anchoring experience” whom Weiss likes:In any event, CBS News brass has not made any decisions. And I’m told there are a handful of others under serious consideration for the prized morning show role. They include former “GMA3” host Eva Pilgrim, who currently anchors “Inside Edition”; former “Fox & Friends” and “The View” host Elisabeth Hasselbeck; and CBS News anchor and correspondent Kelly O’Grady.Conceding “a new host could inject some much-needed new energy into the show,” Darcy blamed the show’s third-place ratings — which he conveniently omitted has been the case for seemingly a generation — on Weiss for having “badly damaged CBS News’ reputation with the public, while [David] Ellison allowed the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s top-rated late-night program—meaning some viewers who might have otherwise left their televisions tuned to CBS overnight are no longer doing so, likely putting further pressure on the morning ratings.” August 19th, 2026 11:35 AM Curtis Houck 296487 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/business/joseph-vazquez/2026/08/19/soros-prosecutor-steve-descano-helped-illegal-alien If you thought the George Soros empire’s vice grip on the American legal system was loosening up, think again. YouTube Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak released chilling details August 17 outlining how Soros-backed Fairfax, VA Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano “asked a judge for an *illegal alien Islamic extremist murderer* to be let out of confinement & driven to the Tajikistan embassy in D.C. to get a foreign passport.” In turn, wrote Rosiak, “he was given a ‘48-hour pass’ to leave the psych ward, and used it.” The perp apparently fled the country as a result. The details of the case, as Rosiak outlined, is proof-positive of how dedicated the Soros regime is to its anarchic soft-on-crime agenda:Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda was found ‘covered in blood from head to toe’ after stabbing a man to death, and told police “I am guilty.” Yet he was deemed ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ due to his religious beliefs, after taxpayers paid for a Muslim psychiatrist to evaluate him.Descano was listed in MRC Business’s landmark investigation into the Soros regime’s manipulation of the criminal justice system to comport with its dark "open society" agenda. MRC uncovered at least 7,785 pages of internal communications through public records requests revealing a shocking level of control by the Soros-funded groups over the prosecutors. The Soros machine was shown in that investigation to be setting their policies and priorities, staff their offices with hand-picked leftists, dictate media narratives, lobby government officials and pervert the American justice system. To this end, Soros poured at least a whopping $117 million between philanthropic giving and election spending to install radical prosecutors in districts across the United States, with Descano being one of them.Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda was found “covered in blood from head to toe” after stabbing a man to death, and told police “I am guilty.” Yet he was deemed "not guilty by reason of insanity" due to his religious beliefs, after taxpayers paid for a Muslim psychiatrist to evaluate him.— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) August 18, 2026The woke prosecutor received “more than $650,000 from Soros-funded groups in his successful 2019 bid to oust former Fairfax County CA Raymond F. Morrogh in the Democratic primary,” according to the New York Post March 26. Descano’s stunt with Toshpulodzoda isn’t a one-off either. In March, he got raked over the political coals for dropping murder charges against a suspect being investigated for allegedly murdering a man at a bus stop. This happened just days after Descano drew national criticism for dropping charges against an illegal alien who later went on to be charged with the murder of a woman at a bus stop in February.The elder Soros isn’t even shy about what he’s trying to do either. He even expressed his commitment to continue transforming the American criminal justice system when he wrote a July 2022 op-ed for The Wall Street Journal boasting that he would continue his “support” for “reform-minded prosecutors” despite growing criticism. “I have supported the election (and more recently the re-election) of prosecutors who support reform,” Soros wrote. “I have no intention of stopping.” Descano’s antics is reflective of the Soros legal agenda taken to its logical conclusion. August 19th, 2026 11:25 AM Joseph Vazquez 296476 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/steve-malzberg/2026/08/19/cnns-burnett-treats-air-force-major-inspirational-hero-pushing In July, Air Force Major Jason Watson, was arrested on the steps of the U.S. Capitol while holding an impeach Trump sign, after speaking at a press conference run by the anti-Trump Removal Coalition, in uniform, which is prohibited for all service members. On CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront Monday, Watson was was given free rein to go after Trump, while being treated like an inspirational hero.As she touted this was his first TV interview, Burnett's first question set the Major up perfectly to go after his target. BURNETT: Major Watson, obviously, you have done this after incredible, incredible consideration. You've been in the Air Force for 17 years. You're in the Air Force, and you know that by choosing to speak out as as you did in uniform, calling for the Commander-in- Chief's impeachment and removal from office, that that carries grave consequences, violates the laws governing the U.S. Military. But you chose to do it knowing all of that. Tell me why.WATSON: I think the most important thing for all of us to keep in mind is what has happening with President Trump is not normal. He has failed us. And not only is he a failure as President, he is flagrantly violating the Constitution, breaking the law, engaged in rampant corruption, and is killing Americans. And that is unacceptable to me. And it should be unacceptable to all of us....I believe we can defeat this government if we just take a standDefeat this government? Is he just anti-Trump, or a fan of DSA? But there was not one word of pushback or follow-up on that, or on Watson's multiple serious claims against Trump from Burnett, who brought out the violins to help paint her guest in a sympathetic light. Everyone knows CNN wouldn't honor a service member protesting a Democrat in uniform. BURNETT:  So, you know, when you talk about that desire to inspire, you know you're not, of course, a somebody. You are a somebody, right? You're not. You're not anybody. You're you are a somebody, right?You're a sitting major and in the Air Force, you know, after your arrest, the military had placed you under a gag order. They restricted your movements. You're under investigation as you and I speak. And obviously, the consequences you could face for speaking out because you are who you are include court martial removal from the Air Force, loss of pay and benefits. You could even go to prison. And you knew all of that, right? You knew all of that when you made this decision to try to inspire others. How did you go through the thought process that made you willing to pay the price that this may cost?WATSON: Nothing that is worth doing is something that you can do for free. Everything that is worthwhile is going to cost something. It's going to be hard. It's going to require sacrifice. And we are in an incredibly challenging time. And in order for us to get out of this situation, we all have to have courage.... We just have to be willing to accept that we can change what is happening in our country if we're just willing to pay a price for it. So all that I could do was ask myself, what's the highest price that I'm willing to pay? And this is what I ultimately came up with. And it is absolutely motivated by my oath to the Constitution.Motivated by the Constitution? He's violating the law. Another opportunity for Burnett to press, but she passed, and would even let him off the hook for one of his previous claims against Trump. BURNETT: You mention the Constitution, you mention corruption, and I know you have specific reasons for why you feel this, this was necessary and why the President should be removed from office. It is obviously it includes the war on Iran, but it is much more than that.... What, what is it about the war and this Commander-in-Chief, President Trump's handling of it, that made you do this at this moment?Watson compared Trump's war on Iran with Putin's war in Ukraine and claimed the war is unconstitutional. Of course no mention from Burnett that Congress hasn't officially declared war since World War II, that covers Barack Obama's attacks on Libya in 2011.Burnett finished up with gush: " All right, Major Jason Watson, I appreciate your time very much. And I thank you for speaking out. Of course, you may say it's a nobody, but it certainly is a somebody and something that is going to matter for a lot of people."  Simply pathetic performance by the host, but this is CNN! August 19th, 2026 10:45 AM Steve Malzberg 296469 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2026/08/19/rosie-odonnell-claims-trump-brought-back-fascism Rosie O’Donnell kicked off her second night of guest hosting ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday, much like she did on Monday, with Kimmel-esque nicknames for President Trump coupled with accusations of fascism while not appreciating the irony of being able to host a show in such an allegedly fascist environment.O’Donnell also made sure to follow in Anthony Anderson’s footsteps and mock Trump’s escape from Turkey by shrinking the size of the airport catering truck to a simple cart, “This has been kind of a strange experience for me, because all of a sudden I'm re-famous. I'm back in the spotlight all thanks to President Oompa J. Loompa, who is watching us this evening from inside a catering cart. You know, I couldn’t have done it without you, sweetie. You brought me back, just like you did with fascism and the measles. But enough about him.” Jimmy Kimmel guest host Rosie O'Donnell tries to again taunt Trump with her new temporary job, "I'm back in the spotlight all thanks to President Oompa J. Loompa, who is watching us this evening from inside a catering cart. You know, I couldn’t have done it without you, sweetie.… pic.twitter.com/B7Xwoe9X0i— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 19, 2026 While O’Donnell said “enough about him,” in fact, she was not done. Later in her monologue, O’Donnell implied Trump is about to get us into World War III as she recalled some women’s baseball news:This next story is near and dear to my heart: 34 years ago, I was in a little film called A League of Their Own where I played Doris Murphy, third base for the Rockford Peaches. Yes, and now after all this time, women have a new baseball league of their own called the WPBL. The last time—yeah, isn't that great? Really great. The last time there was a professional women's baseball league was during World War II. So it makes sense that the new one would start just in time for World War III. There you go. I do hope this league is a success, a blast, and the biggest lesbian extravaganza of all-time. And I'm sorry, Tom Hanks, but there is crying in baseball. It's when all the ladies go to a Brandi Carlile concert together and she sings ‘The Story.’ Later, O'Donnell claims "This next story is near and dear to my heart: 34 years ago, I was in a little film called A League of Their Own where I played Doris Murphy, third base for the Rockford Peaches. Yes, and now after all this time, women have a new baseball league of their… pic.twitter.com/mJw71ulOBu— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 19, 2026 Speaking of the war, O’Donnell added, “We also learned today that the United States could be acquiring some new land soon. Velvito Corleone was up bright and early at 7:00 a.m. this morning posting an image of a map listing the Strait of Hormuz as a U.S. territory, which makes literally no sense. I'll put it this way. If the U.S. is in charge of the strait, then I'm also straight. And let's face it, I'm not. The moron-a-thon continues.”Based on Monday and Tuesday’s shows, the only thing that is continuing is O’Donnell’s desire to echo Kimmel’s style of insult comedy while portraying himself as a victim whenever he gets criticized.Here is a transcript for the August 18 show:ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!8/18/202611:37 PM ETROSIE O’DONNELL: This has been kind of a strange experience for me, because all of a sudden I'm re-famous. I'm back in the spotlight all thanks to President Oompa J. Loompa, who is watching us this evening from inside a catering cart. You know, I couldn’t have done it without you, sweetie. You brought me back, just like you did with fascism and the measles. But enough about him.…This next story is near and dear to my heart: 34 years ago, I was in a little film called A League of Their Own where I played Doris Murphy, third base for the Rockford Peaches. Yes, and now after all this time, women have a new baseball league of their own called the WPBL. The last time—yeah, isn't that great? Really great. The last time there was a professional women's baseball league was during World War II. So it makes sense that the new one would start just in time for World War III. There you go. I do hope this league is a success, a blast, and the biggest lesbian extravaganza of all-time. And I'm sorry, Tom Hanks, but there is crying in baseball. It's when all the ladies go to a Brandi Carlile concert together and she sings "The Story."“All of these lines upon my face”—in my mind it sounds a lot better. We also learned today that the United States could be acquiring some new land soon. Velvito Corleone was up bright and early at 7:00 a.m. this morning posting an image of a map listing the Strait of Hormuz as a U.S. territory, which makes literally no sense. I'll put it this way. If the U.S. is in charge of the strait, then I'm also straight. And let's face it, I'm not. The moron-a-thon continues.  August 19th, 2026 9:52 AM Alex Christy 296486 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2026/08/19/abc-news-liberal-bubble-not-free-speech-paragon The folks at Disney and ABC News are parading around, suing the Federal Communications Commission and boasting about how they are the paragons of freedom of speech and courageous reporting that President Trump can’t stand. What they’re really celebrating is putting out a product that resides solidly inside a liberal bubble. They are the ones who cannot stand an opposing point of view.  Screenshot from Snapstream/The Fifth Column Former ABC reporter Terry Moran recently went on a podcast called “The Fifth Column” and host Michael Moynihan asked if ABC News was a liberal institution. Moran said “yes, but I think like a lot of mainstream media, it’s because of lack of viewpoint diversity. That was one of the problems in covering Trump — nobody had voted for him.” Moynihan had a follow-up question. Were you part of the liberal bubble? Moran replied: “I certainly worked in it for a long time.” He claimed he was “excruciatingly fair” at ABC, which sounds like an echo inside a bubble. When no one in a news room has voted Republican, who checks them for liberal excesses and errors? The bubble can be fierce. In the same podcast, Moran told a story of how ABC completely mangled a story he had reported in 2021 on the origins of the Covid pandemic in a Chinese lab. When the network completed his review of the story, he found the end product “incomprehensible.” He was furious. Who did this to his story? “Lawyers” and the standards department, and “I was told, Fauci.” Fauci was sent a copy of the transcript or video, Moran said, so he refused to watch the dramatically altered stories that aired on ABC. Then he said he didn’t support “demonizing” Fauci. The liberal bubble doesn’t like that. It sounds reminiscent of the leaked hot-mic video in 2019 where then-ABC reporter Amy Robach complained that her 2015 interview with Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre was blocked. ABC then rushed out to insist the story wasn’t fully cooked, so it didn’t meet their standards. So we could certainly suggest that the imposters at Free Speech ABC squelch their own reporters when their reporting is found troublesome by people ABC likes (Fauci or the Clintons, for example), as opposed to their hate objects (Trump). There certainly is such a thing as “news judgment” and finding a story is “not ready.” It’s another to kill or mangle stories because someone powerful complained. Perhaps ABC is suing the FCC to please the liberals who were unhappy they settled with Trump after George Stephanopoulos recklessly claimed Trump was “found liable for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case. Broadcasting Carroll's unsubstantiated allegations was strange coming from Stephanopoulos, whose old boss Bill Clinton was plausibly accused of raping Juanita Broaddrick. ABC News suppressed that story when it came out in 1999. These liberals also treat Jimmy Kimmel as a free-speech hero after he lied about Charlie Kirk’s murderer being a Trump supporter. It was ABC affiliates complaining about that vicious lie that caused Kimmel to be benched for four nights. It doesn’t matter whether you lie, as long as you’re taking the “right side” against an evil president. The central irony of this whole struggle is that ABC doesn’t believe in conservative speech. They want the FCC to leave them alone as they use the public airwaves to only broadcast one point of view – one view on Jimmy Kimmel Live, one view on The View, and one view most of the time on the “news” programs. A unanimous liberal bubble is in the public interest -- so say the people who claim to speak for Democracy.  August 19th, 2026 5:50 AM Tim Graham 296484 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/catherine-mortensen/2026/08/19/todays-highlights-what-mrcs-media-watchdogs-are-saying MRC Watchdogs churn out breaking news on a daily basis. Don't miss Today's Highlights, where you can keep up with the top MRC content, whether it's the latest study on media bias, a glaring omission from the elitist media, or how the Big Tech companies are serving up the same leftist spin as the media. Top Stories:MRC Leads Fight Against Network Privilege Abuse on Public AirwavesMRC Exposes How ABC News Operates as a Liberal Bubble Rather Than a Free Speech ParagonMRC Uncovers Liberal Media Double Standard in Coverage of ABC Lawsuit Against the FCCMRC Special Report Reveals Media Spinmasters Manufacturing Contradictory Inflation Narratives  MRC Leads Fight Against Network Privilege Abuse on Public AirwavesDisney and major news media companies are suing federal oversight agencies to block scrutiny of broadcast licenses and program classifications.The MRC is actively providing evidence to federal authorities to challenge the assumption that broadcast networks hold permanent rights to public airwaves.Federal comments filed by the MRC urged the stripping of special news designations from programs where partisan guest lineups heavily favored one political side.The MRC successfully documented taxpayer funding of partisan public programming, aiding legislative efforts that cut over one billion dollars in subsidies. MRC Exposes How ABC News Operates as a Liberal Bubble Rather Than a Free Speech ParagonFormer network journalists have publicly acknowledged a distinct lack of political viewpoint diversity inside major broadcast newsrooms.Internal network processes altered and killed investigative reporting on sensitive topics following pressure from high-profile government officials and public figures.Network affiliates previously restricted broadcast segments after public personalities made inaccurate and harmful statements about political figures.Broadcast outlets continue to claim free speech protections while excluding conservative viewpoints across news and entertainment programming. MRC Uncovers Liberal Media Double Standard in Coverage of ABC Lawsuit Against the FCCMajor news networks and industry newsletters reported on corporate lawsuits against federal oversight while completely omitting documented evidence of broadcast violations.Prominent media analysts framed corporate legal actions as First Amendment defenses while ignoring formal administrative complaints filed against network practices.Reporting on the legal dispute featured exclusively anti-regulatory commentary and completely excluded evidence presented by media watchdog organizations.Corporate media outlets actively censored public evidence of broadcast abuse while claiming to fight government censorship. MRC Special Report Reveals Media Spinmasters Manufacturing Contradictory Inflation NarrativesMedia outlets framed high inflation rates as temporary blips during one administration while framing lower inflation rates as economic catastrophes under another.Major news organizations published glowing economic coverage during periods where two-thirds of American workers reported wages falling behind rising prices.Prominent financial analysts repeatedly modified their definitions of temporary economic shifts to cover up inaccurate long-term predictions.Economic commentators pushed catastrophic projections for future gas prices while downplaying severe energy price spikes in previous years. August 19th, 2026 5:30 AM Catherine Mortensen 293155 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2026/08/19/despicable-scott-jennings-nukes-sen-jon-ossoff-over-attack-female We have made it to midweek and the Elitist Media are still trying to cover for Sen. Jon Ossoff after his disgusting, sexist attack implying that President Trump is having an affair with a White House staffer. CNN’s Scott Jennings was having none of it.Watch as Jennings nukes Ossoff from orbit over the remarks, and shuts down host Laura Coates for trying to justify Ossoff: WATCH: @ScottJenningsKY NUKES Jon Ossoff over his cowardly attack on Natalie Harp, as host Laura Coates interrupts and infers some other meaning to Ossoff's wordsLAURA COATES: People are looking at- and many times the critiques and criticism of Ossoff and they're directly… pic.twitter.com/A0ZSJqibOS— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 19, 2026 LAURA COATES: People are looking at- and many times the critiques and criticism of Ossoff and they're directly pointing to what they see as hypocritical, a hypocritical thread to what the president does oftentimes. Do you see a distinction?SCOTT JENNINGS: Well, I don't know how to answer that, because Ossoff, I agree with Marc, was giving what we just played there- standard liberal talking points against Trump. You're going to hear that from every candidate for President. What he did with Natalie Harp, though, was something different. He didn't attack the President. He took an unknown presidential aide. She's not elected to anything. She's not a household name. She's not a public figure. And he basically communicated that the only reason she has her job in The White House is because, hey, that's what Republican women are good for, right? Wink, wink. That's how they get their jobs in politics. I think he's a disgusting coward, because not...COATES: He didn’t say that specifically, to be clear. But your intimation is what you think happened. Go ahead.JENNINGS: Well, if you're arguing that he could have had any other possible meeting, meaning I don't I don't know how you would conclude anything other. You heard the crowd. They were in there clapping like seals. Now, the Party of Women likes to tell us that, you know, we're here for women's rights and we're going to promote women. And then you've got one of their leading candidates for president out dragging an unknown woman who's gone off to serve her government through the mud, insinuating that the only possible reason she could have a job in politics is because she's a concubine for a politician. It's disgusting, he went on MS NOW and got asked about it and he wouldn't defend it. ASHLEY ETIENNE: Get out of here.JENNINGS: He wouldn't defend it. He was a coward for not defending it. He's willing to do it in a- in a scripted rally, but he's not willing to defend it after the fact. It's despicable.What immediately followed was an argument with former Biden White House staffer Ashley Etienne, who joined Coates in defending Ossoff. Much of these arguments in defense of Ossoff depend on gaslighting the public into believing that Ossoff didn’t mean what he clearly inferred.This is precisely what Jennings was pointing out, correctly noting that Ossoff spun out into a weird argument about “sycophants” when Jen Psaki brought him on to try and clean his mess up. Coates would subsequently cut Jennings off in order to pronounce that Jennings’ pronouncement was speculative.There is no bottom with the left and the Elitist Media when it comes to smearing someone for political advantage. No one is exempt, not even a cancer survivor. Jennings was right to call this hypocrisy out.Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned segment as aired on CNN on Tuesday, July 18th, 2026:CNN ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA8/18/2611:37 PMLAURA COATES: Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is upping the ante again. And he's got the President's attention. Ossoff, who was locked in a tough reelection battle in Georgia this November, just launched a new line of attack. This time, he stood next to decorated combat veteran and sitting Senator Mark Kelly to deliver this message to The White House.JON OSSOFF: I don't think anything illustrates the times more aptly than that the draft-dodging crook president who has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win, tried to imprison this man.COATES: My panel is back with me. Okay, Marc. The White House was quick to respond to Ossoff’s comments about his aide the other day, Natalie Harp. Are they going to take the bait again?MARC CAPUTO: Well, Trump will usually take the bait because he- he likes to hit Jon Ossoff as Pee Wee Herman, as you heard the other day. Now, as far as the rest of The White House, The White House is- one of the things that characterizes it is that the people serving in there really love the President, and they like each other. And they took it very personally that one of their own, Natalie Harp, was dragged into it. I think this is a little different. This is a little more sort of de rigueur, kind of common campaign attacks, but I think The White House and Trump have made the determination that it's fun to hit back at Ossoff. So they'll continue to do it.COATES: I mean, Ossoff clearly thinks it's appropriate and strategically advantageous for him to hit back at The White House as well. This is one of those moments.LULU GARCÍA-NAVARRO: It's actually- it's a double edged sword. Why? He's running for reelection in Georgia. There's always this balance that you're trying to do, right, which is you got to run in your state and people in your state care about the issues of your state. And he is hitting at Donald Trump. And so there's a lot of speculation, obviously, about 2028. He has said he's not interested in that. But of course, no one's interested until they are publicly. And so, you know, that can rub people the wrong way. Democrats definitely want a fighter. Democrats definitely want someone to be hitting out at Trump. It helps raise your profile, for sure. But in a state like Georgia, which is a purple state, there is an open question about how much it's going to hit him. I think Ossoff's going to win. I don't think it's even a question in Georgia. You know, that's what I see. That said, um, I do think he has to be careful. Probably.COATES: Do you think so? People are looking at- and many times the critiques and criticism of Ossoff and they're directly pointing to what they see as hypocritical, a hypocritical thread to what the president does oftentimes. Do you see a distinction?SCOTT JENNINGS: Well, I don't know how to answer that, because Ossoff, I agree with Marc, was giving what we just played there- standard liberal talking points against Trump. You're going to hear that from every candidate for President. What he did with Natalie Harp, though, was something different. He didn't attack the President. He took an unknown presidential aide. She's not elected to anything. She's not a household name. She's not a public figure. And he basically communicated that the only reason she has her job in The White House is because, hey, that's what Republican women are good for, right? Wink, wink. That's how they get their jobs in politics. I think he's a disgusting coward, because not...COATES: He didn’t say that specifically, to be clear. But your intimation is what you think happened. Go ahead.JENNINGS: Well, if you're arguing that he could have had any other possible meeting, meaning I don't I don't know how you would conclude anything other. You heard the crowd. They were in there clapping like seals. Now, the Party of Women likes to tell us that, you know, we're here for women's rights and we're going to promote women. And then you've got one of their leading candidates for president out dragging an unknown woman who's gone off to serve her government through the mud, insinuating that the only possible reason she could have a job in politics is because she's a concubine for a politician. It's disgusting, he went on MS NOW and got asked about it and he wouldn't defend it. ASHLEY ETIENNE: Get out of here.JENNINGS: He wouldn't defend it. He was a coward for not defending it. He's willing to do it in a- in a scripted rally, but he's not willing to defend it after the fact. It's despicable.COATES: Ashley.ASHLEY ETIENNE: I mean, I just all this sort of fake outrage just really infuriates.JENNINGS: It’s not fake. I can assure you it is…ETIENNE: Yes, it is.JENNINGS: Not fake. ETIENNE: When the President called…JENNINGS: You don't put words in my mouth. It’s not fake.(CROSSTALK)ETIENNE: But you’re putting words in Ossoff’s mouth. JENINGS: And she said “fake outrage.” I am really outraged.COATES: Hold on a second, hold on. Ashley, please speak. Please listen to what she has to say. We all respected when you had the platform. Ashley. Go ahead.ETIENNE: Ossoff never suggested that Republican women only get jobs if they're sleeping with their principal. He never suggested anything to that degree. What he said was that they seemed to be together quite often, which is a statement of fact. The real reality is the reason why you guys are taking this stuff so personally is because you believe there's probably some level of truth to it, especially given the principal we're talking about here. But here's the thing that really upsets me most is the level of outrage from The White House about a staffer. Okay, there's always that staffer. I've worked in two White Houses. There's always a staffer really close to the principal, but you don't have that same level of outrage for- for sailors on a ship who've been out to sea for, for months on end and are jumping off trying to commit suicide. I mean, that's really where you lose people and that's where you lose me with this fake, fake outrage. Scott. I mean, it is- it's- that's what's despicable. Not not.JENNINGS: Let me answer.ETIENNE: Not pointing out that the staffer spends a lot of time with the principal.JENNINGS: So, so you said every White House has-ETIENNE: There's always there's- JENNINGS: Who was Joe Biden's female that hung around all the time?ETIENNE: Well, some would say Anita was spending a lot of time with him, Kate Bedingfield...JENNINGS: And are you insinuating they were there for a reason? ETIENNE: No, but I- JENNINGS: You say it happens all the time.ETIENNE: No, I'm saying there's always a staffer that's close to the principal that wants to be close to the principal. And so all that Ossoff said is they spent a lot of time together. You took it for- you took it there. You made the statement about Republican..JENNINGS: No. He took it there. ETIENNE- He never said…JENNINGS: Here's the deal. He's been in the Senate since 21. He's had dozens of female staffers, ranging from intern all the way up to senior staff positions. What if I walked out here tonight and read a list of their names and said, here's such and such. Here's her title. And boy, it sure is- sure is interesting that she hangs out with Jon Ossoff so much I wonder why. Oh, she looks pretty nice. I wonder why he did that. What if I did that? You would be outraged…ETIENNE: No, I would not be.JENNINGS: You know why? Because. Because it's ridiculous.(CROSSTALK)ETIENNE: You know. Ossoff would not respond the way that the president responded, nor The White House. They- they actually gave it more credibility the way that they responded.(CROSSTALK) ETIENNE: No, no, I'm saying it was a statement of fact, but but I'm saying my point, my problem with you is that the outrage that you have on this particular issue versus an- an- a really an issue that really deserves the attention of the entire nation, which is the health and safety of our service members that are out at war.JENNINGS: We have not even raised that topic tonight.ETIENNE: But I'm just telling you, I'm saying-JENNINGS: We have not raised that topic. You're pivoting away.. ETIENNE: You have a choice to be outraged. At your selective outrage.JENNINGS: You're pivoting away, from…ETIENNE: I'm not. I'm saying…JENNINGS: You're a female staffer who climbed to the highest levels of politics. If someone insinuated that you had only done that because of sexual relations with a politician, you would be outraged and I'd be outraged.ETIENNE: No, I would be outraged if The White House responded the way they did. That's what I'm-JENNINGS: By defending you?ETIENNE: No, but…by name calling. They didn't defend her. That wasn't a defense. JENNINGS: Yes they did. ETIENNE: They didn't say, you know what? She's qualified. She's- she's spent her time. She's gone to college. She's got degrees. They didn't say that. They started calling Ossoff names.JENNINGS: He deserved it.ETIENNE: So that's not that's not how you defend women. That's not how you do it.COATES: You mean like the way that CNN defends the attacks against our female journalists…who are…ETIENNE: I was about to say. COATES: And doing their jobs and are routinely attacked as recently as yesterday. Imagine. August 19th, 2026 1:46 AM Jorge Bonilla 296485 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2026/08/18/ms-now-sees-battle-bigots-gop-side-florida On Tuesday's State of Play show, MS NOW host Peter Alexander joined reporter Alex Tabet in seeing a "battle of the bigots" in the Republican primary for the seat of Florida Congressman Randy Fine.Tabet first brought up the race for Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz's 25th district and innocuously noted the Democratic contest in spite of there being a Democratic Socialist candidate competing in the primary: "There are a number of very intriguing House races here in Florida, including the 25th district, where Democratic Socialist candidate Oliver Larkin is taking on incumbent Jared Moskowitz in the Democratic primary. That is the latest test for the DSA here."Larkin's endorsements included some flagrant anti-Semites, including Linda Sarsour and Hasan Piker. Children's entertainer Ms. Rachel endorsed him, too, and she was nominated for "Anti-Semite of the Year." But MS NOW doesn't care about that. But he then pivoted to the 5th district Republican primary and immediately put on a negative spin: MS NOW Sees 'Battle of the Bigots' on GOP Side in Florida pic.twitter.com/OXwAsCfWhF— Brad Wilmouth (@bradwilmouth) August 18, 2026 You've also got what people are calling the battle of the bigots and Republicans -- in the Republican 6th congressional district. That's where you've got incumbent Randy Fine, who is an open, open Islamophobe running against Dan Bilzerian, an Instagram influencer who is an open anti-Semite. That race is not expected to be particularly close, but it does represent the sort of dark underbelly of American politics right now.After Tabet noted that Florida Republicans had redrawn the state's congressional districts to try to win more seats, Alexander went along with his "battle of the bigots" smear: "You see that old map and the new map and how much more red the new map appears right now. And I'm struck by you talking about the 'battle of the bigots.' That obviously gives you a sense of where we are in terms of this congressional season."Transcript follows:MS NOW's State of PlayAugust 18, 202611:03 a.m. EasternALEX TABET: There are a number of very intriguing House races here in Florida, including the 25th district, where democratic socialist candidate Oliver Larkin is taking on incumbent Jared Moskowitz in the Democratic primary. That is the latest test for the DSA here.You've also got what people are calling the battle of the bigots and Republicans -- in the Republican 6th congressional district. That's where you've got incumbent Randy Fine, who is an open, open Islamophobe running against Dan Bilzerian, an Instagram influencer who is an open anti-Semite. That race is not expected to be particularly close, but it does represent the sort of dark underbelly of American politics right now.And then we've also been following a lot the 20th congressional district in Florida. I know we'll talk a little bit more about that later, but all of these races are made more complicated by this redistricting effort after the Calais decision, which redrew 21 of the 28 congressional districts here in Florida, and Republicans are hoping could flip up to five seats come November if this redistricting -- if this redistricting plan goes to (according to) plan for the Republicans. Peter?PETER ALEXANDER: You see that old map and the new map and how much more red the new map appears right now. And I'm struck by you talking about the "battle of the bigots." That obviously gives you a sense of where we are in terms of this congressional season. August 18th, 2026 10:36 PM Brad Wilmouth 296482 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2026/08/18/washington-post-ratioed-not-revealing-type-modern-cars-bursting YouTube Screenshot We see what you did there, Mr. Todd C. Frankel. The reporter for the Washington Post, whose motto is "Democracy Dies In The Darkness," went absurdly opaque on Monday as to shedding light as to what type of "modern" cars have gone incendiary in "They were told to park outside. Then their cars burst into flames." The subtitle does narrow it down to "modern" cars without any more specificity: "Modern vehicles don’t need to be moving — or even turned on — to catch fire. That’s fueling lots of safety recalls and tough choices." The first couple of paragraphs come as close as Frankel dares to specifying what type of cars are spontaneously bursting into flames. Unfortunately, as you can read in the rest of his story, he conflated all "modern" cars with the ones that, as we shall see, his own readers know are the culprits:Late last year, when Sarah Lammersen learned her 2022 Jeep Wrangler plug-in hybrid was being recalled because the high-voltage battery could catch fire at any time — even when the vehicle was parked — she jokingly texted the dealership, “I hope the car doesn’t catch on fire while we wait to schedule an appointment.”Days later, the Jeep burst into flames. No one was injured in the blaze, which occurred while Lammersen’s daughter drove the vehicle, but the Jeep was destroyed, according to a lawsuit over the incident.Did you spot the word "hybrid" invoked? Well, that was as close as you're going to get to the truth in this story because that word never again makes an appearance in this tale dying in the darkness.That recall, covering more than 320,000 Jeep Wranglers and Grand Cherokees, notified owners about a fire risk so severe that they were “advised to park outside and away from structures and not to charge their vehicles until the remedy is completed.”These “park outside” warnings have surged in recent years, growing from rare occurrences to include millions of vehicles.An estimated 3.2 million vehicles nationwide currently have an outstanding “park outside” recall, according to vehicle history provider Carfax, which described the surging numbers as “concerning.”The recalls also create new headaches for drivers, who suddenly wonder where it is safe to park their vehicles.So were any of those cars that you can no longer park in enclosed spaces internal combustion engines or were they of the type that Frankel can no longer say? And did poor Todd really think that his readers would not notice that which he so obviously omitted in his story? If he had such a delusion it was quickly shattered by a quick perusal of many of the feedback comments of the readers. In fact  the AI summary above the comments conveniently provide a summary of what the general reaction was: "The comments express frustration with the article's lack of detailed information about vehicle fire risks, particularly regarding specific models and the distinction between electric, hybrid, and gasoline vehicles."And now a sampling of those comments from those who saw exactly what Frankel was doing:Is this an issue for EVs? hybrids? traditional gas cars? All? This article isn't clear. It mentions batteries, but also complex electronics, which also are a feature of non-electric cars. Hyundai and Jeep are mentioned, but is this problem limited to a few manufacturers or many. Again, not clear. All in all, not a very useful article.I initially thought the lack of detail was due to a young journalist learning the job, but the author has 10+ years under his belt at WP. Is this the pablum we are expected to swallow now from the Post - have the editors dumbed things down for the average 2d grader to understand? What is the current risk? How many of what type cars are spontaneously bursting into flame? EV's only? What manufacturer of batteries or type of batteries are good/bad? Age a factor? Gasoline powered cars having issues? The Post needs to do a better job of informing, not just adding to the swirl of misinformation on the web.LOL. I learned much more from the comments than the article. Shameful reporting! August 18th, 2026 9:59 PM P.J. Gladnick 296466 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2026/08/18/pbs-anchor-hits-ghoulish-new-york-times-daring-criticize-not A rare clash between news media outlets took place over the weekend: PBS News Hour co-anchor Geoff Bennett took to X Saturday morning to personally call out the New York Times for its “ghoulish” decision to publish a long, balanced piece on disgraced Cambridge professor Jason Arday, which eventually appeared on the front of Sunday’s edition, that called Arday "underqualified, by the school's own standards."Arday died by his own hand on Friday, after resigning his Cambridge post in the face of mounting proof of academic plagiarism and a myriad of whoppers from his past (his claims to have been an ultra-marathon runner, victim of a pigs head delivery, former professional soccer player, former pro snooker player, etc.) that made his position untenable. This despite initial attempts by Cambridge University and the New York Times to smear his (accurate) accusers as racist and part of a “vile campaign to undermine his credibility.”A man dies at 41 after weeks of relentless public scrutiny.The New York Times, the next day: He was underqualified for his job.Whatever the merits of the underlying questions, publishing this now is ghoulish. https://t.co/HtQCeQAlvM— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) August 15, 2026Perhaps the Times' lead got Bennett riled?When Cambridge University interviewed Jason Arday for one of the most prestigious sociology positions in the world, he was an early career scholar and underqualified, by the school’s own standards.Regarding Bennett's characterization of the “relentless public scrutiny” of Arday, Bennett certainly can’t be accused of that. His PBS News Hour has yet to even air a mention of the Arday story, and its own record on respect for the recently deceased is mixed, especially the death of prominent conservatives. Then-weekend anchor John Yang led off the News Hour’s December 31, 2022 story: “Catholics in mourning. Pope Emeritus XVI, whose controversial reign ended with his resignation, is dead at the age of 95.” Ghoulish?Here’s Yang closing his report on the death of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney on November 4, 2025: “At peace also describes Cheney's feelings about the controversies that make up so much of his legacy.”The New York Times apparently respected its fellow liberal media member Bennett enough to have publicly defended its reporting for a change, replying to him on X that “This is reporting about Cambridge University and its judgment calls as a major institution that has long been a model of excellence in academia. Arday’s death is a tragedy that provokes questions and demands answers. The role of the news media is to thoughtfully and carefully explore both." August 18th, 2026 5:31 PM Clay Waters 296461 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/bill-dagostino/2026/08/18/cable-journalists-abruptly-develop-empathy-service-members-sea Image CNN via SnapStream CNN and MS NOW have spent the past week utterly captivated by the nine-month deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln Navy aircraft carrier. Following the circulation of unappetizing photos of food circulating online and complaints by service members’ families about the unusually long deployment, talking heads on the left-wing cable networks immediately recognized the story some easy anti-Trump press, and the story was promptly catapulted to the top of the news cycle.Depending on which show you’re watching, the fault for the conditions on the Lincoln lies either with whomever the anchor happens to dislike more: President Trump, or with Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth. The USS Abraham Lincoln is the leftist media's latest manufactured scandal. pic.twitter.com/dmqKvT8QbN— Media Research Center (@theMRC) August 18, 2026 On MS NOW’s Deadline: White House — long understood to be a Trump derangement support session masquerading as a news show — host Nicolle Wallace predictably blamed the Commander in Chief. On the August 17 edition of her show, Wallace remarked with a gleeful grin that the story was “Getting better by the news cycle.” She went on to claim that conditions aboard the vessel were emblematic of President Trump’s “betrayal of U.S. sailors.” On Morning Joe, meanwhile, the show’s titular host instead laid into Secretary Hegseth. On Tuesday, August 18, Joe Scarborough bristled:He attacks the media? He says the “American-hating media?” Well right now, he sounds like a troop-hating secretary of defense!Both Scarborough’s rage at Hegseth’s criticism and Wallace’s evident enjoyment of the story’s poor optics betray the actual goal behind the media’s abrupt fascination with the USS Abraham Lincoln. The motivation is to report the latest “Trump = bad” story.That’s not to say that none of these people have any actual empathy for the deployed service members. It’s not hard to feel for sailors who feel stuck on an extended deployment. Rather, the point is that the empathy is purely incidental, rather than the motivating factor behind the reporting. August 18th, 2026 4:13 PM Bill D'Agostino 296481 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2026/08/18/liberal-media-trumpets-abc-suing-fcc-ignore-all-evidence CNN via SnapStream While Disney ran to a D.C. court crying about how the Federal Communications Commission was supposedly violating their First Amendment rights over an early review of their broadcast licenses of eight of their affiliates (and a review of The View’s “bona fide news” status), their allies in the in liberal media swarmed to their side. They sung from similar sheet music as they claimed the FCC was looking to punish them for critical opinions they didn’t like from the left. However, conspicuously absent from their reports was critical opinions they didn’t like from the right.Chief among the House of Mouse defenders was CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter. In his Tuesday newsletter, he boasted about the stand the multinational, multibillion-dollar corporation was taking against the Trump Administration:Today’s First Amendment lawsuit against the FCC opens with a foundational principle: “Government censorship is deeply un-American.” Then it cites a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that the government may not “use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression.”Here are the “three key quotes from the filing” as championed by Stelter (Click “expand”)>> The administration “has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.”>> “Plaintiffs come to this court reluctantly with no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the administration’s demands.”>> “The campaign is also calculated to operate in terrorem upon the rest of the industry: ABC is the visible target and suffers the most immediate harm, but the message is addressed to every broadcaster in the country, and the ultimate cost is borne by the press as a whole.” Disney's lawsuit this morning is one of the stiffest challenges from any media company against the Trump administration. pic.twitter.com/9nVWYQ9U54— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 18, 2026 Moreover, in citing “some immediate reactions,” Stelter only cited those who also stood with Disney, including his own (Click “expand”):>> Disney has filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, so this legal showdown will move relatively quickly.>> “ABC’s lawsuit against the FCC has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan, a Joe Biden appointee,” Scott Nover tweeted.>> The FCC’s lone Democrat, Anna Gomez, said, “I’m glad Disney has shown courage and stepped up. This should be a welcome sign for every broadcaster who has felt the weight of this overreaching government pressure in silence.”>> FIRE’s Nico Perrino wrote, “At long last! A broadcast network has found a backbone and is suing to stop the administration’s bullying and censorship.”>> Right-leaning FCC critics also spoke out. Cato Institute fellow David Inserra: “Today’s lawsuit by ABC Disney against the FCC directly challenges the broad and abusive powers that Congress and prior court decisions gave the FCC.”Of course, missing from his reporting was any comment or evidence from the Media Research Center, which had been leading the charge for accountability for ABC via the FCC.“The House of Mouse is acting like a cornered rat,” Media Research Center President David Bozell stated about the lawsuit. “Disney’s ABC has spent years treating its broadcast licenses like permanent entitlements rather than privileges conditioned on serving the public interest. Now it is suing to stop the FCC from even examining whether it has lived up to those obligations. ABC wants all the benefits of using the public airwaves, but none of the scrutiny that comes with them.”In addition to Stelter, Mediaite’s One Sheet newsletter didn’t cite a third party critic of ABC News. Even their article about the suit omitted any evidence that had been publically presented of ABC News abusing their privileged access to the nation’s broadcast spectrum.From the left and the right, the only critical opinions The Washington Post allowed were those against the FCC and Chairman Brendan Carr. They had a quote from Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz comparing Carr to the gangster movie Goodfellas. They also quoted the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s Seth Stern who called Carr “Trump’s censorship czar.”The Post did note that some ABC critics had complained they didn’t stand up to Trump well enough in the past: “Some critics said that ABC too easily bowed to Trump. Similar criticism was aired when ABC suspended Kimmel...”It’s an odd flex that they would cry about supposedly being censored by the government over criticism against the administration, when they were censoring criticism (and evidence) against ABC News. August 18th, 2026 3:38 PM Nicholas Fondacaro 296480 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2026/08/18/networks-tout-primary-day-tricks-alaska-socialists-gop-scandals Screenshot via NBC/Snapstream On Tuesday, ABC, CBS, and NBC used their flagship morning news shows to go all negative toward Republicans ahead of primaries in three states (and a special election in California), gushing over “pretty wild” circumstances in Alaska that could help “a strong challenger” take a Senate seat for Democrats and reveling in the Florida scene with scandals plaguing one House Republican, socialists running in “at least two” House races, and another House seat filled with out-of-staters.At the same time Disney-owned ABC sued the FCC over the latter’s review of their public airwaves licenses, Good Morning America buttressed the claims made by those arguing their free airwaves shouldn’t be renewed as they were entirely negative with not a single positive statement toward the GOP or negative utterance toward Democrats.D.C.-based correspondent Jay O’Brien insisted “all eyes” are “on that critical Senate race in Alaska that could help decide who controls Congress” with “Democrats hoping former Congresswoman Mary Peltola can flip that seat blue” because “[s]he’s a moderate who recently rejected an endorsement from Vice President Kamala Harris.” As voters head to the polls in primary elections across the country, @jayobtv reports on the most closely watched races. pic.twitter.com/wRsLJAsY3o— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 18, 2026 Notice how his framing flipped when it came to the GOP:For Republicans, it’s a tale of two Dan Sullivans, the state’s sitting GOP senator, Dan S. Sullivan, is facing a primary challenge from Dan J. Sullivan. Both could wind up on the ballot in November because of the...way Alaska’s primaries work. President Trump has blamed trickery in his words on the part of Democrats for that, but state Democrats and Dan J. Sullivan deny any connection[.]If one were to honestly believe there weren’t any political games involved, we have a bridge to sell you.Pivoting to Florida, O’Brien strayed from any mention of socialists running, opting instead for hoping voters will back them in this deep-red state if he sullied the GOP enough.He spent most of the Florida airtime talking about Mills with a smidgen about the race to replace likely Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds in Florida’s 19th Congressional District. O’Brien focused entirely on the fact that many of the leading candidates have previously been candidates in other states (click “expand”):Florida Republican Congressman Cory Mills is facing multiple primary challengers in a district that Democrats are hoping to flip this November. Mills is under investigation by the Justice Department, sources tell ABC News, although it’s unclear the exact nature of that investigation. The House Ethics Committee has also opened a probe for what it calls alleged “sexual misconduct and/or dating violence.” Mills has denied any wrongdoing. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whose popular with state Republicans, saying plainly, he doesn’t support Mills.Also in Florida, 10 Republicans are vying to replace Congressman Byron Donalds, who’s running for governor on that ballot, are two former Congressman who resigned in scandal, three candidates who previously ran for Congress in other states like Illinois and New York, and a pardoned January 6th rioter.The last sentence footnoted a special election in California’s 14th Congressional District: “[T]here’s a special election tonight to fill the seat of former Congressman Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress and ended his run for governor, remember, after accusations of sexual assault, which he denies.”“Alright. Seems like an episode of Game of Thrones,” huffed co-host Michael Strahan.NBC’s Today focused almost entirely on Alaska, starting with co-host Craig Melvin boasting in a tease of “[t]wo candidates both named Dan Sullivan appearing on the ballot in Alaska’s Republican Senate primary today, leading to fears of voter confusion and accusations of trickery” that now “could impact the balance of power on Capitol Hill.” NBC’s ‘Today’ spent three and a half minutes giddily promoting the other Dan Sullivan running in #AKSen and that it could cause enough chicanery to give Democrats the seat pic.twitter.com/rWVdIQTCst— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 18, 2026 Later, chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles hyped the “pretty wild story” in Alaska where, even though it’s “a reliably red state that President Trump has carried three times,” the possibility that a Dan J. Sullivan — not incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan — could advance to the November ballot a salivating possibility for their friends on the left.Nobles hyped this as “made-for-TV plot twist” that made “its way to late-night” in a June skit by NBC’s Jimmy Fallon (click “expand”):NOBLES: All eyes are on that Senate race, where a Republican incumbent is seeking a third term, but he’s got a strong challenger across the aisle, and another one whose name sounds a little too familiar. This morning, high-profile primary races with national implications as President Trump and his party look to keep their narrow majority. Alaska in the spotlight, where incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan is looking to secure a third term in the Senate.SENATOR DAN SULLIVAN (R-AK) [on FNC’s One Nation with Brian Kilmeade, 08/16/26]: I always have tough re-elections, but here’s the thing, we’re always ready, right?NOBLES: But in a made-for-TV plot twist, another Dan Sullivan is also on the ballot, and a retired fifth-grade teacher who also wanted to run as a Republican. State election officials tried to remove the retired teacher over concerns about voter confusion. The Alaska Supreme Court ruling that both Sullivans could appear on the ballot, but ordered election officials to list their respective names like this, so voters know who is who. Sullivan the teacher responding on his website: “I am a qualified candidate who followed the rules and filed to run for office under my legal name.” But the President accusing Democrats of trying to trick Alaskans on Truth Social, saying the effort was designed to “take Votes away from our great Senator of the same name.” The entire Dan debacle, making its way to late night.JIMMY FALLON [on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, 06/01/26]: It was Dan Sullivan versus Dan Sullivan.NOBLES: Fallon creating a fake campaign ad that imagined the two candidates trying to clear things up.FAKE SENATE AD [on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, 06/01/26]: So, on Election Day, don’t vote for Dan Sullivan. Listen to Dan Sullivan, avoid Dan Sullivan, and vote for Dan Sullivan.After pointing out “the top four candidates advance...regardless of party,” Nobles touted former Congresswoman Mary Pelota as “the first Alaskan native ever elected to Congress” and “virtually neck-and-neck” with the incumbent Sullivan in polls.He briefly flagged Florida as a place “where three Democratic socialists are running in the primary for House and Senate races against more moderate Democrats.”Melvin and Nobles wrapped with more negative Republican headlines, thanks to a new Reuters poll (click “expand”):MELVIN: Let’s get into these new poll numbers for a second, show some headwinds for Republicans heading into the fall midterms. What more can you tell us about those numbers?NOBLES: Yeah, you know, Craig, the midterms are always a challenge for the party in power, but this new polling shows Republicans are facing serious headwinds. First, the President’s approval rating has fallen to 33 percent. That’s the lowest of his presidency, but also on the key issue of the economy, voters say they trust Democrats over Republicans for the first time in roughly a decade[.]CBS Mornings stayed away from Alaska, honing in on Florida. Featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers shared off the top that Florida has “a number of Democratic socialists on the ballot” and congressional correspondent Nikole Killion followed with the admission that even though it’s “not exactly a hotbed of Democratic socialism...a few candidates...are trying to build on national gains and hope to pull off a potential upset or two in this reliably red state.” Meanwhile, ‘CBS Mornings’ focused entirely on Florida primary races, including some free promotion of the communists (“democratic socialists”) running in House races pic.twitter.com/mfNFgeyxOE— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 18, 2026 Once she name-checked both, Killion sloppily brought up the 20th Congressional District through the lens of Elijiah Manley, arguing “he isn’t a Democratic socialist, but is one of the more progressive candidates in a crowded field in an historically black House district[.]”Left out of that discussion? The fact that longtime South Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz is also in the race, hoping to remain in Congress.She closed with mentions of Donalds and Mills (click “expand”):KILLION: The races are amongst several that have captured national attention in the Sunshine State. At the top of the ticket, a wide-open race for governor where GOP frontrunner Byron Donalds wants to challenge the Democratic nominee this fall.DONALDS: There’s a reason people keep coming here because they want common-sense conservatism.KILLION: This morning, President Trump reaffirmed his support for Donald’s on Truth Social, but another Trump-backed candidate is facing a top primary challenge. Congressman Corey Mills is trying to defend his Orlando-area seat amid a House Ethics investigation for alleged sexual and financial misconduct. He’s denied any wrongdoing[.]To see the relevant transcripts from August 18, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC). August 18th, 2026 2:24 PM Curtis Houck 296479 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2026/08/18/wnba-apologizes-another-attack-female-fans-wearing-xx-xy On Monday, for the second time in the past month, the WNBA had to apologize to female ticketholders who showed up at games sporting XX-XY shirts in support of Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham’s comments that biological males shouldn’t compete against female athletes by identifying as transgender women.At Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Dream and the visiting Fever, the Dream’s security officers told Kasey Thomason and her 17-year-old daughter, Annie, that they had to either cover their XX-XY Athletics shirts or leave the stadium.After public backlash, the Dream issued a statement Monday, in which it blamed WNBA security for wrongly accosting the two fans and quoted an apology by the league:“The Atlanta Dream believes in creating a safe and inclusive environment for everyone.  Unfortunately, at last night’s game, WNBA security took actions that fell short of that standard.  At no point was Dream personnel involved in the decisions made by WNBA security.  The league issued this statement earlier today:“‘The WNBA is aware of interactions at last night’s game in Atlanta in which fans were asked by league security to cover their shirts. This should not have happened.’”“It’s common sense people. Like, that’s all we’re asking for,” Kasey Thomason told Fox News Channel Host Laura Ingraham, acknowledging biological reality and reacting to the apology.A mere apology isn’t enough to prevent similar incidents going forward, however, Annie Thomason said:“It’s 100% going to happen again until people actually do something about it.”The incident is just the latest scandal involving the WNBA’s reproach of fans who don’t think biological males should compete against biological females, as Fox News recalled Monday:“Less than three weeks ago, Seattle Storm minority co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted two teenage girls wearing XX-XY Athletics gear and supporting Cunningham at a Fever-Storm game. The Storm subsequently apologized, and the WNBA fined Keaton an undisclosed amount and suspended her from attending five home games. Now, another mother and teenage daughter backing the same cause were confronted at a WNBA game — this time by league security.“Kasey said she believed a nearby fan wearing a ‘Protect Trans Rights’ shirt had complained.” "Common sense people, that's all we're asking for."Kasey Thomason reacts after she and Annie Thomason say they were told to cover up their "XX/XY" shirts at a WNBA game in Atlanta following complaints from other fans.The WNBA now says the fans should not have been asked to… pic.twitter.com/unvIxx9t2q— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 18, 2026 Rallies supporting Cunningham have sprung up at WNBA games since last month’s ESPN profile quoted her saying she was opposed to biological males competing in girls' and women's sports:“And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men."What her media and activist critics tend to ignore are her comments leading up to that quote:"I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I'm like, ‘I never once said that.’"I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest.” August 18th, 2026 2:15 PM Craig Bannister 296478 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2026/08/18/john-oliver-freaks-out-over-idea-fetus-person HBO’s John Oliver spent much of Sunday’s Last Week Tonight freaking out over the idea that a fetus is a person. Oliver never managed to debunk the idea, but he did launch several personal attacks against pro-lifers while also providing several supposed horror stories about the ramifications of fetal personhood, while omitting any useful context.At one point, Oliver reacted to a pro-life protestor who had a “A person’s a person no matter how small” sign by declaring, “Okay, first, nice Horton Hears a Who sign there. Though you should probably know, according to Dr. Seuss's biographer, back in the '80s, he actually threatened to sue an anti-abortion rights group that used that quote on its stationery after which they backed down, which is a little surprising, given 'Stay out of my fucking business' is not usually a message these groups respond to.” John Oliver spent much of his Sunday show attacking the idea of fetal personhood. For instance, he attacked a pro-life protestors sign, "Okay, first, nice Horton Hears a Who sign there. Though you should probably know, according to Dr. Seuss's biographer, back in the '80s, he… pic.twitter.com/y7aNC4g3mp— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 18, 2026 That says more about Dr. Seuss than it does the pro-lifer’s sign, but Oliver continued by introducing a montage of news clips, “The fetal personhood idea can be embedded in laws in a bunch of different ways, and some can initially sound appealing—like ones that “make it a crime to cause the death of an unborn child during an act of domestic violence.” But once the law recognizes a fetus as a separate victim, if you get pregnant, that same logic can quickly be weaponized against you, and in all sorts of ways.”One reporter focused on Brittany Watts, who was charged with abuse of a corpse after she tried to flush her miscarried baby down the toilet. Watts was never indicted, likely because the baby was so small it could not be seen in the “bloody mess” that she tried to flush. She is currently suing the hospital for not giving her proper medical care and conspiring with police to falsely charge her with a crime.Another focused on what former CBS anchor Maurice DuBois described as “A woman from Alabama suffered a miscarriage after being shot, and now she's being charged with manslaughter for the death of her unborn child.”That woman was ultimately never indicted , but initially she was charged because police found she started the argument that led to the gunfire. Oliver made it seem like she was randomly shot.Nevertheless, Oliver reacted, “Wow, that is bleak. If you suffer a miscarriage after being shot, you shouldn't be charged with manslaughter. That's one of those sentences I never thought I'd end up needing to say out loud—like "’Cocaine pollution gives salmon wanderlust’ or ‘Young Richard Nixon was hot.’"Later, Oliver was providing a history lesson on fetal personhood when he reacted to a clip of President Ronald Reagan advocating for the idea, “Yeah! There he is! It seems you cannot trace the source of any modern problem without a cameo from this messy bitch. He truly is the Forrest Gump of societal ills.” Later, during a history lesson, Oliver attacks Ronald Reagan for advocating for the idea, "Yeah! There he is! It seems you can't trace the source of any modern problem without a cameo from this messy bitch. He truly is the Forrest Gump of societal ills." pic.twitter.com/7k6QHtojJh— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 18, 2026 Oliver also recalled the wrongful death ruling lawsuit resulting from accidentally destroyed embryos at an Alabama IVF facility in 2024. Using logic he would never apply to a baby that had been born, he claimed, “Okay, setting aside the weird Mr. Bean antics of that person walking into a freezer and juggling frozen embryos for some reason, that might actually be a pretty useful logic test. Because I'd argue anything that you can accidentally spill just isn't a person.”Again, Oliver omitted crucial context. That lawsuit was brought by prospective parents who had been told by the IVF facility that an embryo was their baby. However, when faced with a lawsuit, the IVF movement flipped and tried to portray the embryo as something less than a life. Later, Oliver turned to the IVF wrongful death lawsuit in Alabama a couple of years ago, "Yet, that ruling was following the fetal personhood argument to its logical conclusion. Because, if every fertilized egg is a person, that would mean that every IVF clinic—which need to… pic.twitter.com/UBGaK2ORam— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 18, 2026 Ultimately, Oliver directed most of his ire at pro-life men, “Okay, enough! Can we please agree: No more laws about women's bodies made by men who've at some point definitely Googled 'When girl put in tampon, y not cum?' Look, whatever the rhetoric used to justify fetal personhood, in practice, it effectively treats women as incubators. As that piss lawyer from before—complimentary by the way—points out, they're effectively stripping women of their rights and autonomy.”In a clip from the 2019 pro-abortion Personhood documentary, activist Lynn Paltrow added, “There is no way to add fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses to the Constitution without subtracting pregnant women. If we pass laws that treat fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses as if they're entirely separate, then women will also be subjected to a permanent second-class status.” Oliver also pleads "Can we please agree: No more laws about women's bodies made by men who've at some point definitely googled 'When girl put in tampon, y not cum?' Look, whatever the rhetoric used to justify fetal personhood, in practice, it effectively treats women as… pic.twitter.com/Q8wpdU4QI0— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 18, 2026 Oliver agreed, “Exactly. Women would effectively be second-class citizens.”People on the left love to portray John Oliver as a journalist who happens to be funny, but Sunday proved that he is just a name-caller who omits key evidence from stories to push a narrative.Here is a transcript from the August 16 show:HBO Last Week Tonight with John Oliver8/16/202611:06 PM ETJOHN OLIVER: Okay, first, nice Horton Hears a Who sign there. Though you should probably know, according to Dr. Seuss's biographer, back in the '80s, he actually threatened to sue an anti-abortion rights group that used that quote on its stationery after which they backed down, which is a little surprising, given "Stay out of my fucking business" is not usually a message these groups respond to.The fetal personhood idea can be embedded in laws in a bunch of different ways, and some can initially sound appealing—like ones that “make it a crime to cause the death of an unborn child during an act of domestic violence.” But once the law recognizes a fetus as a separate victim, if you get pregnant, that same logic can quickly be weaponized against you, and in all sorts of ways.REPORTER: Hundreds of women across the country have been arrested or lost custody of their children for reasons related to their pregnancies.REPORTER 2: Brittany Watts a 33-year-old black woman, says she went to the hospital multiple times after bleeding during her pregnancy. Watts returned home where she suffered a miscarriage now she is being charged with abuse of a corpse.MAURICE DUBOIS: A woman from Alabama suffered a miscarriage after being shot, and now she's being charged with manslaughter for the death of her unborn child.OLIVER: Wow, that is bleak. If you suffer a miscarriage after being shot, you shouldn't be charged with manslaughter. That's one of those sentences I never thought I'd end up needing to say out loud—like "Cocaine pollution gives salmon wanderlust" or "Young Richard Nixon was hot."…And let's start with the fact that the basic concept of a fetus being its own person with distinct rights is nothing new—in fact, here's one of its major proponents, laying out the argument in 1984.RONALD REAGAN: I believe that until and unless someone can establish that the unborn child is not a living human being, then that child is already protected by the Constitution, which guarantees life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all of us.OLIVER: Yeah! There he is! It seems you cannot trace the source of any modern problem without a cameo from this messy bitch. He truly is the Forrest Gump of societal ills. But the thing is, Reagan could believe that all he liked—it still wasn't law in the U.S. In fact, when the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, it explicitly rejected fetal personhood, stating, "The word 'person,' as used in the 14th amendment, does not include the unborn."…OLIVER: Okay, setting aside the weird Mr. Bean antics of that person walking into a freezer and juggling frozen embryos for some reason, that might actually be a pretty useful logic test. Because I'd argue anything that you can accidentally spill just isn't a person. Yet, that ruling was following the fetal personhood argument to its logical conclusion. Because, if every fertilized egg is a person, that would mean that every IVF clinic—which need to produce a lot of embryos to ensure success—probably then needs to be shut down, as they wouldn't just be storing extra embryos to maximize the chance of successful implantation—under that logic they'd essentially be warehouses where human beings regularly die. And we don't need any more of those, given Amazon's got that covered for us. But in the wake of that ruling, there was intense public outcry, and Alabama suddenly rushed through a law aimed at protecting patients and providers from legal liability when embryos are damaged or destroyed during IVF.…OLIVER: Okay, enough! Can we please agree: No more laws about women's bodies made by men who've at some point definitely Googled "When girl put in tampon, y not cum?" Look, whatever the rhetoric used to justify fetal personhood, in practice, it effectively treats women as incubators. As that piss lawyer from before—complimentary by the way—points out, they're effectively stripping women of their rights and autonomy.LYNN PALTROW: There is no way to add fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses to the Constitution without subtracting pregnant women. If we pass laws that treat fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses as if they're entirely separate, then women will also be subjected to a permanent second-class status.OLIVER: Exactly. Women would effectively be second-class citizens. Or as this asshole likes to call them: "Hosts." Though, remember: He looked it up in Webster's, and apparently that makes it fine. August 18th, 2026 12:06 PM Alex Christy 296474 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/business/joseph-vazquez/2026/08/18/special-report-tale-two-inflation-rates-and-media-spinmasters If you were paying attention, you would notice a glaring case of two logically incoherent media narratives at play. Specifically, skyrocketing inflation under Biden during a midterm election year was considered a “transitory” blip, but a more tempered inflation rate under Trump during another midterm election year, despite a major war, was cast as setting the economy on the precipice of a complete disaster.  MRC Graphic According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the five-month average annual rate of consumer price increases spanning the Iran War (March-July) averaged 3.6 percent. During the same period in 2022 under Joe Biden, with no war underway, the inflation rate averaged a whopping 8.6 percent. There’s no question the juxtaposition between the two rates is stark, and so was the way the media chose to cover the economy during the two periods. Here’s The New York Times being completely tone-deaf in May 2022, “For Tens of Millions of Americans, the Good Times Are Right Now.” Times technology writer David Streitfeld pretended Americans hadn’t seen an economy this glorious in over 50 years. “For the 158 million who are employed, prospects haven’t been this bright since men landed on the moon,” he wrote, blurting out paper tiger wage gains that were getting devoured by out-of-control inflation. In fact, two-thirds of American workers said during that month that their salaries weren’t keeping pace with inflation, according to a CNBC survey. So much for exemplary economic prospects.  CNBC senior analyst Ron Insana even had the audacity to still peddle the “transitory narrative” June 2, 2022, even before prices would be reported to have reached their 40-year high June peak at 9.1 percent. “Policymakers should stop apologizing. Inflation really was ‘transitory,’” read Insana’s gaslighting. It got worse:The various and sundry mea culpas, the action plans to fight inflation and the wholesale criticism of policymakers who had virtually no control over the underlying events that caused a spike in consumer prices, may well look pretty silly in just a matter of months.It just might be that inflation will, in fact, be transitory after all.It would actually be Insana that would look “silly” when the June inflation numbers came in, but even Insana had to make the definition of the term “transitory” elastic in order to mean “years” instead of months: “And by transitory, I mean a year or two, not a month or two, as many misinterpreted the Fed’s choice of words last year.” To be clear, Webster’s Dictionary definition of “transitory” means “brief duration,” which no one with a common grasp of the English language would interpret to have anything to do with years. Under Trump, however, Insana was banging the stagflation drums in a June 2026 piece, “A protracted war with Iran raises the specter of a 1970s re-run in more ways than one.” But Insana wasn’t alone. Other prominent media figures have prematurely preached cataclysmic economic conditions under Trump, with some outlets apparently forgetting the widespread water-carrying they did for Biden when inflation was truly running amok. CNN senior business reporter David Goldman — arguably the poster child for absurd spins on the economy at the network — recently accused Trump in early July of playing with “economic fire” by daring to retaliate to Iran violating a ceasefire agreement by striking three commercial vessels in Oman’s territorial waters. Goldman claimed that the previously instituted Memorandum of Understanding didn’t provide enough time for the U.S. to “avoid the looming ‘economic catastrophe’ that Trump feared would earn him comparisons to Depression-era President Herbert Hoover.”See the difference yet? Oh, don’t worry. There are plenty more examples. Goldman also outlandishly claimed during the May 26, 2026 edition of CNN’s The Situation Room that Americans wouldn’t see oil dip below $70 a barrel or $3 per gallon of gasoline under 2032 because of Trump and his war with Tehran. How convenient.CNN claims gas prices are not going to drop until 2032 (or two presidential election cycles). pic.twitter.com/DIMZAHKQNm— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) May 26, 2026But during Biden’s tenure in 2022, you even had late-night comedians giving virtue-signaling lectures about the moral responsibility to pay for skyrocketing energy prices when the president chose to ban Russian oil imports amidst the ongoing inflation crisis. And here’s the irony: The Biden administration was simultaneously exploring a potential shifting of the U.S.’s energy reliance to the tyrannical regimes in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and — wait for it — Iran!  Then-CBS The Late Show host Stephen Colbert pontificated during a March 2022 segment of his show that Americans shouldn’t really be bothered by $4 a gallon of gas: “A clean conscience is worth a buck or two.” He continued: “I’m willing to pay $4 a gallon. Hell, I'll pay $15 a gallon because I drive a Tesla.” And let us not forget the Bidenomics savant Paul Krugman, who spent a good portion of his time during the Biden administration simping for the nonsensical “transitory” inflation narrative for The New York Times opinion section. Following reports that the U.S. GDP had contracted two consecutive quarters — which was the generally accepted definition of a recession before the media arbitrarily chucked it out the window — CNN bloviator-in-chief Brian Stelter brought Krugman on during a July 2022 Reliable Sources segment to dismiss that narrative entirely and sugarcoat the inflation situation: “Inflation is high, though maybe inflation is coming down. What does it matter whether you use the R-word or not?” Inflation for the month of July only slowed mildly to 8.5 percent from its June peak of 9.1 percent.  For a clean comparison, consider how CNN Senior Writer Alicia Wallace and Goldman tried to get ahead of expectations in a July 2026 “analysis” that June 2026 inflation data would mark a slowdown in consumer prices from the 4.2 percent May figure. “Don’t be fooled: America’s inflation problems aren’t going away anytime soon,” read their obnoxious headline.” The official BLS data would go on to reveal just after Wallace and Goldman’s piece went live that consumer prices actually declined 0.4 percent on the month and eased to a 3.5 percent rate on the year. That crushed consensus estimates by Dow Jones economists for a 0.2 percent decline on the month and a slight ease to a 3.8 percent year-over-year rate from the 4.2 percent high in May. The monthly decline was the sharpest in six years. On a yearly basis, inflation in fact cooled a whopping 0.7 percentage points, both figures in effect rendering Wallace and Goldman’s premature obfuscations to the contrary appear downright idiotic. Inflation is likely to come down soon, but some of the improvement will be ... transitory https://t.co/lE8NrWWfn8— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 12, 2022You even had cartoonist Ben Jennings drafting up a silly childish drawing of a morbidly obese Trump baby to make the “Trumpflation” narrative stick in April for The Guardian. In March, The Independent senior business commentator James Moore tried to be cute with his Trump jabs, “Donald Trump wants his name on everything – so let’s give him ‘Trumpflation,’” and that was when consumer prices were sitting at just a 3.3 percent rate year-over-year, according to the BLS. That’s pretty interesting coming from the same outlet that in April 2021 was mindlessly regurgitating talking points from the Jerome Powell-led Federal Reserve: “Fed keeps key rate near zero, sees inflation as 'transitory.’” For April 2021, the inflation rate was at 4.2 percent, 0.9 percentage points higher than the March 2026 figure.  Under Biden, the liberal wire service Reuters tried to downplay inflation reality too, with reporters Lisa Pauline Mattackal, Divya Chowdhury and Nishara Karuvalli Pathikkal bleating in a July 29 piece that “Central banks and markets may have dropped the narrative that inflation is ‘transitory,’ but there is a strong chance that current spikes in prices are temporary and will soon begin to trend downward.” The headline for their propaganda was pure gaslighting: “Signs emerge that global inflation could be transitory, former policymakers say.” In April 2022, ABC News was regurgitating the “transitory” ramblings of former Obama economic advisor Jason Furman, who vaunted unwarranted speculation that, “"Some of the inflation is probably transitory. I don't think the underlying true inflation rate in the economy is 8%. But it probably isn't 2%, either. And so inflation should start to come down a bit, but it's unlikely to come anywhere near where the Fed wants it to come.” CNN reporters Lucy Bayly and Alicia Wallace also tried to downplay the 9.1 percent inflation rate for Biden in June by relying on perceived distortions from volatile energy prices and instead focused on core inflation:While it’s too soon to say whether inflation has peaked (especially given the broader volatility within the global economy), core inflation appears to have leveled off, and expectations are for it to continue to come down in the year-over-year comparison, said Cailin Birch, global economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.Here’s the problem: June 2022 core inflation sat at a huge 5.9 percent rate and would later see an eye-popping uptick to 6.3 percent rate for August two months later. “Leveled off?” Ha!The March-July 2022 and March-July (Iran War) 2026 average inflation rate contrast (8.6 percent vs. 3.6 percent) is yet another example of the lengths the media writ large will go to exercise political expediency to twist news stories to fit their politics. In this case, the angle on inflation only depended on whose keister was sitting in the Oval Office at the time and whether an upcoming election was in the mix.CNSNews Managing Editor Craig Bannister contributed to this report. August 18th, 2026 10:02 AM Joseph Vazquez and Craig Bannister 296465 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2026/08/18/updated-desperate-disney-sues-fcc-stop-review-abc-licenses CNN via SnapStream [UPDATE 8/18/26: An FCC spokesperson responded to a NewsBusters request for comment. You can read more below.]Seemingly unconfident in their last-minute write-in campaign from fans, ABC and Disney launched a last-minute lawsuit on Tuesday seeking an injunction against the Federal Communications Commission. The suit aims to halt the FCC’s early review of broadcast licenses for eight Disney-owned local affiliates as well as a review of The View’s purported status as a so-called “bona fide news program.”Disney claims the FCC has been violating their First Amendment rights as part of a “retaliatory campaign against ABC.”“Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” the filing asserted. “Plaintiffs come to the Court reluctantly with no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the administration’s demands.”Simply put, the evidence is indisputable that what ABC has placed on the airwaves has run counter to the very definition of acting in the public interest (and on The View in particular as a “bona fide news program”).“The House of Mouse is acting like a cornered rat,” Media Research Center President David Bozell stated about the lawsuit. “Disney’s ABC has spent years treating its broadcast licenses like permanent entitlements rather than privileges conditioned on serving the public interest. Now it is suing to stop the FCC from even examining whether it has lived up to those obligations. ABC wants all the benefits of using the public airwaves, but none of the scrutiny that comes with them.”In a comment to NewsBusters, an FCC spokesperson said: "All broadcasters have a legal obligation to operate in the public interest—even Disney. The FCC has been examining claims that Disney engaged in illegal DEI discrimination for over a year. Disney is obviously very concerned about the FCC’s proceeding, as evidenced by their ongoing campaign of disinformation as well as their decision to ask a court to stop the FCC from further pursuing matters. The FCC will continue to follow the facts and law wherever they lead."The Media Research Center has been a driving force behind efforts to hold Disney and ABC News accountable for abuses of the public airwaves, both via a petition to bar renewal of their broadcast licenses, and a lengthy filing documenting The View’s abuses of that license.“ABC’s opposition to the MRC petition effectively boils down to a ‘squatters rights’ argument,” Bozell stated earlier this month, in a response to ABC & Disney’s argument for renewal. “Someone else may own the property, have the statutory right to license the property, and bear the responsibility to ensure the property is well maintained, but ABC seems to believe it has an entitlement to control the property in perpetuity.”He added: “But broadcast spectrum is publicly owned, and a license to use it is a limited-term privilege conditioned on compliance with statutory and contractual obligations.”As NewsBusters previously reported, ABC, Disney, and their defenders have floundered in their rebuttals to the FCC and the MRC. They largely ignore the over 2,400 pieces of evidence of their abuses.The evidence pointed to electioneering for their political interests, the spreading of misinformation, the promotion of political violence, and the general abdication of working in the public interest. August 18th, 2026 9:45 AM Nicholas Fondacaro 296473 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2026/08/18/rosie-odonnell-claims-mango-mussolini-forced-her-flee-ireland Rosie O’Donnell kicked off her week of guest hosting ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! with, even by her standards, a tremendous amount of self-unawareness. In the lead-up to Monday’s show, O’Donnell was clearly relishing in the opportunity to make fun of President Trump, but in her monologue, she claimed that “Mango Mussolini” forced her to flee to Ireland because Trump “hates” her.O’Donnell recounted the decision to move to Ireland, “You know, I've been living in Ireland for the past two years because of Mango Mussolini. I read that Project 2025 and said, ‘Got to get myself out of here,’ you know? And I decided to go to Ireland, a place where people are driven to drink regardless of who's running their country.” Not appreciating the irony of hosting a show in the United States, Rosie O'Donnell kicks off her week of guest hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live by saying, "You know, I've been living in Ireland for the past two years because of Mango Mussolini. I read that Project 2025 and said, 'Got to… pic.twitter.com/PORReREYeH— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 18, 2026 The part of Project 2025 that really freaked O’Donnell out appears to have been the part related to transgender ideology. Using all the non-binary pronouns, O’Donnell continued, “I decided to move, and I took my little then 11-year-old kid with me, and I just said, ‘Whatever you do, don't tell anyone because we don't want a lot of press and a lot of paparazzi. So, please don't tell anyone.’ And they’re a pretty smart kid. You know, they got it. They said, ‘Don't worry, I won't,’ and then went to school and proceeded to tell their entire class.”O’Donnell then impersonated the child, ‘“I'm very sorry I won't be able to graduate sixth grade with you. I'm being forced to move to another country because the president of the United States hates my mother, but in all fairness, I believe my mother hates him more.’”The irony in all of this was that O’Donnell was hosting a show in the United States. Apparently she thought Trump’s America was not fascist enough to pose a threat to her safety as a self-appointed political dissident.Here is a transcript for the August 17 show:ABC Jimmy Kimmel!8/17/202611:38 PM ETROSIE O’DONNELL: You know, I've been living in Ireland for the past two years because of Mango Mussolini. I read that Project 2025 and said, “Got to get myself out of here," you know? And I decided to go to Ireland, a place where people are driven to drink regardless of who's running their country. I decided to move, and I took my little then 11-year-old kid with me, and I just said, “Whatever you do, don't tell anyone because we don't want a lot of press and a lot of paparazzi. So, please don't tell anyone." And they’re a pretty smart kid. You know, they got it. They said, ‘Don't worry, I won't,’ and then went to school and proceeded to tell their entire class. “I'm very sorry I won't be able to graduate sixth grade with you. I'm being forced to move to another country because the president of the United States hates my mother, but in all fairness, I believe my mother hates him more.” August 18th, 2026 9:30 AM Alex Christy 296472 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2026/08/18/rep-brandon-gill-warns-unions-what-theyd-lose-el-sayeds The nation’s union workers have a lot to lose if Socialists succeed in replacing free market, private enterprise health care with a single-payer, government system, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) warned Monday.In a social media post sharing video of far-left Democrat Michigan Senate candidate Abul El-Sayed, Rep. Gill explained that union members stand to lose benefits they’ve fought long and hard for:“How exactly do socialists plan to explain to the union members they claim to be fighting for that they want to take away the healthcare contracts they spent years negotiating and replace it with one-size-fits-all government run healthcare?”El-Sayed admits as much in the video describing his plan:“What Medicare-for-all does is it does away with the private insurance market. It now has one single payer. Right? That’s what we call single payer, right? One insurance and that is the government of the United States.”Research shows that union workers do, indeed, have strong health insurance benefits.While not technically a Democratic Socialist, El-Sayed shares ideology with self-identified Democratic Socialists, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y).Both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez campaigned with El-Sayed during his successful bid to win the Democrat Party’s Michigan Senate primary.NEWMichigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed admits that he wants to completely eliminate private health insurance:"What Medicare for All does is it does away with the private insurance market. It now has one single payer...the government." pic.twitter.com/42Ipjc23Zu— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 17, 2026 August 18th, 2026 9:18 AM Craig Bannister 296471 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2026/08/18/disgusting-jen-psaki-helps-ossoff-walk-back-smear-female-wh-aide Media tongues were left wagging over the weekend after Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) said at a rally that President Trump “wanted to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie,” implying impropriety with aide Natalie Harp. And after a weekend of controversy, a familiar face emerges and helps Ossoff perform narrative cleanup. Watch the exchange as aired on MS NOW’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki on Monday, August 17th, 2026: WATCH: Jen Psaki helps Sen. Jon Ossoff walk back his filthy smear of Natalie HarpJEN PSAKI: You have raised a huge amount of money, and I want to get to that in a moment. And you do have a race in a state that is red or red-blue, depending on the day. And I want to talk about… pic.twitter.com/yiam0XsUrL— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 18, 2026 JEN PSAKI: You have raised a huge amount of money, and I want to get to that in a moment. And you do have a race in a state that is red or red-blue, depending on the day. And I want to talk about that. But one of the reasons why I think you've raised so much money is because you've called things out about Trump in a very clear way that others haven't. And it's- and it's broken through. And the reason I asked about Natalie Harp is because it's kind of raised this question out there. More questions about her. He is surrounded by sycophants, no question. I just talked about that. But you specifically mentioned her, and I just wonder why.JON OSSOFF: Well, I've heard this particular aide referred to as his “security blanket.” And I think we could say that about any number of the senior aides in The White House. They're not telling him what he needs to hear. They're telling him what he wants to hear. And the nation is at war, and we cannot afford that. We need a team in The White House. We need folks at the State Department, at the Defense Department, in the United States Congress who take their jobs seriously. Those sailors out on the Lincoln, they do their jobs with excellence and dedication every single day. They didn't sign up for luxury. They signed up to defend the country. And the president, surrounded by enablers in The West Wing, is playing golf, is trading stock and is decorating his ballroom. It's a disgrace- all while American families in Georgia and across the country pay more for just about everything as a direct result of his failed economic policy and his failed foreign policy.Ossoff’s misogynistic remarks were condemned far and wide. Natalie Harp isn’t the first female aide to President Trump to be caught up in vile smears, either. Allegations of an affair with the president have befallen many a young female staffer in the Trump White House, often amplified without evidence by such media cesspools as MS NOW.And that’s precisely where Ossoff went when the heat got too hot and it was time to walk the smear back. So he goes on with Jen Psaki, the paragon of ethical virtue that negotiated her then-MSNBC contract while still serving as Press Secretary for the Biden White House. In a carefully engineered segment, Ossoff walks back his gross smear and tries to say that this was about any number of aides at The White House. That this is patently false is irrelevant. There is only the news cycle to be won, aided and abetted by Democratic communications professionals on the other side of the media revolving door. Truth be damned. August 18th, 2026 1:55 AM Jorge Bonilla 296470 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2026/08/17/newsbusters-podcast-who-thinks-jen-psaki-can-judge-leavitts-work White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is departing to spend time with her young children. Who is former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki to criticize Leavitt for how she has to please the president? And who is she to say the press corps is suddenly too "friendly"?NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck -- who watches every White House briefing -- and MRC Business Associate Editor Joseph Vazquez joined the show.  Screenshot from Snapstream/MS NOW New MS NOW host Peter Alexander insisted to his fellow host Jen Psaki that her first rule of press aide-ing was "Don't lie." So "did she do that?" Psaki answered, “No, because you have an audience of one. Donald Trump is her audience.” Maybe in Biden's White House, she didn't have to worry about the president watching the briefing. Psaki also claimed "the room has massively changed since I was there. It's much more filled with people who are there to kind of applaud Donald Trump and people who are there to spit out the Republican talking points than the room that I was working in." As if Psaki didn't have a pile of "friendly" reporters from the "mainstream" media who repeated her talking points? Many conservative journalists in the White House press corps ask serious and challenging questions to the president and to Leavitt. Former CNN White House screamer Jim Acosta won our Worst Media Quote of the Week for poll for claiming Leavitt "is, I think, by far the biggest and most effective and most shameless liar that Donald Trump has ever had as White House press secretary.”Then there was the scandal at Forbes magazine. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Forbes chief content officer Randall Lane was fired after “the company discovered that he had received a payment of about $6 million from the founder of a firm that does business with the magazine.” In 2021, Lane promised his outlet would “scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet” any company that hires one of the forbidden Trumpsters in his arbitrary blacklist. But if you turned on Trump, all was forgiven.The Elite Media turned into Explosive Ordnance Disposal with a narrative bomb on its hands after Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said last week that “Woke One is crazy.” This week, several Sunday shows enabled Democrats as they tried to defuse that bomb and scurry away unscathed, with Democrats claiming “I don’t know what that means.” Aren’t they supposed to be smart?Enjoy the podcast on video below. The audio is here.  August 17th, 2026 10:28 PM Tim Graham 296468 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2026/08/17/cnn-trashes-trump-scaling-back-south-korea-drills-no-time-lone CNN This Morning 8-17-26 Q. How do you turn liberal doves into hawks? A. Have Trump do something dovish.President Trump's decision—based in part on his desire to improve relations with North Korea—to scale back joint exercises with South Korea was met with criticism and even derision on Monday's CNN This Morning. The people host Audie Cornish chose to expound on the matter: two former Democratic presidential aides, a former ambassador to South Korea who has been a harsh Trump critic, and a retired military man, also with a history of criticizing Trump. And wait till you learn the identity of the one panelist who wasn't offered a chance to speak on the subject! Cornish began by playing a clip of former ambassador Christopher Hill, who has for years been a harsh public critic of Trump’s style and priorities on alliances and diplomacy. Hill claimed that Trump's decision is "really worrying a lot of countries about our reliability." Given multiple opportunities to comment was Sabrina Singh, a former Special Assistant to President Biden and Deputy Press Secretary for VP Kamala Harris.  Singh called Trump's decision "shocking." She claimed that "what's so concerning about this is the messaging it sends to allies." A clip rolled of retired Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton, who has been critical of various Trump moves in recent appearances. Leighton proclaimed "the idea that we're paying for everything there is absolutely false." Trump didn't say we paid for "everything," just most costs.   CNN Trashes Trump for Scaling Back S. Korea Drills — Silences Sole Conservative pic.twitter.com/QyhWKInXvM— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) August 17, 2026 And then there was the snide and sarcastic Joel Rubin, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Obama administration. Reacting to the hope South Korea has expressed that Trump's move might lead to productive talks between the US and North Korea, Rubin smirked: "Oh, yeah, right. We're not gonna see talks that resolve anything." He went on to condemn Trump's strategy as "completely convoluted, makes no sense." That panelist who wasn't given a chance to comment during the segment? It was Tiana Doescher of The Washington Examiner, a frequent conservative commentator on Fox News. The one guest who might have defended Trump's move, or at least interpreted it in a more understanding light, was never invited to speak on this matter.CNN had room for two Democratic alumni, a longtime Trump critic, and a retired colonel with a record of needling the president — just no time for the one voice that might have offered a different view.Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 8/17/26 6:12 am EDT AUDIE CORNISH: Okay, we're following a story that's been developing overnight. President Trump scaling back joint military exercises with South Korea just hours before they were set to begin. So, the president cited his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying the drills send a signal that is, quote, "inappropriate and hostile." Now, he also called out Seoul's lack of assistance with Iran. He wrote, "While somewhat unrelated, I recently asked the president of South Korea if they would like to join us in the denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said no thanks." So where does that leave our relationship with a IIcrucial ally in the region? CHRISTOPHER HILL: This is really worrying a lot of countries about our reliability. It's very important if you're gonna have an alliance, you better have exercises to go with it. CORNISH: So we've got Sabrina Singh, CNN Global Affairs commentator and former Deputy Pentagon press secretary here joining the chat. You were telling me something interesting during the break, which is that North Korea has learned information from its participation with Russia in that war with Ukraine. So what makes these exercises particularly important? SABRINA SINGH: Well, these exercises, I mean, there is a history of these exercises. We have been doing exercises with South Korea for about seventy years since 1955. This exercise, Ulchi Freedom Shield, was to test our defensive capabilities. These exercises are always defensive in nature, so it was to def— CORNISH: Here's what we would do if North Korea began to strike. SINGH: That's right. And it's a simulation, and also we know that these soldiers that were sent from North Korea to Russia have learned critical information about drone warfare, which is the modern day battlefield, and electromagnetic warfare. So this was an exercise that was gonna test all of this. I don't know what it means exactly when Trump says we're gonna have to scale it back. It's started already. It's an eleven-day exercise that's gonna go on. But I think, are we surprised that he's making any overtures to, you know, Kim Jong Un? No, but it is, it is shocking. CORNISH: He's not just making overtures, right? He's saying maybe doing these exercises are creating a hostile tone, and we want not to be hostile. We want to make sure North Korea doesn't push and take action. South Korea has said they hope that the the friendly relations between the leaders of North Korea and the US would lead to meaningful talks between the two countries. Maybe I bring in Joel here. Are we gonna see talks again? JOEL RUBIN: [Sarcastic tone] Oh, yeah, right. We're not gonna see talks that resolve anything. And no, I doubt we're gonna see talks. It's a really strange dynamic, too, Audie, where, look, North Korea's been one very close ally of Iran for decades on end, and here we are now essentially saying to South Korea, we're gonna side with North Korea because we want you to oppose Iran. It's completely convoluted, makes no sense. Undermines our alliances, both in the Far East as well as in the Middle East. CORNISH: One of the things he said in his Truth Social post was also, "These exercises aren't only costly," so, they're expensive." He claims much of the costs were paid for by the United States, as usual. Then when we were talking to military experts, they were saying like, actually, that's not how this works financially. Here's an example." CEDRIC LEIGHTON: South Korea is a critical ally for us, and oh, by the way, they pay for a large portion of those exercises. They also pay for the upkeep of US troops in South Korea. so, the idea that we're paying for everything there is absolutely false. SINGH: But what I will say about what's so concerning about this is the messaging it sends to allies. In the region right now, we have pulled out our Patriot battery to be rerouted to Iran. CORNISH: There's fight over these Patriots, yeah. SINGH: Exactly. We have pulled out a Marine unit to go to the war with Iran. On top of that, now we're rerouting an aircraft carrier, the George Washington, is going to backfill the Lincoln, which as we discussed before. CORNISH: Is there a world where we were running out of resources and couldn't do the exercise? SINGH: I think there is a concern over how much -- these exercises are meant to... CORNISH: Yeah, but you know what I mean, like ships in Venezuela, ships there -- SINGH: Yeah, it's a cost to the force. CORNISH: Okay. August 17th, 2026 10:04 PM Mark Finkelstein 296458 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2026/08/17/ms-now-fugelsang-calls-byron-donalds-bigot-compares-him-drug Appearing as a guest on Friday's The 11th Hour show on MS NOW, unfunny liberal comedian John Fugelsang accused Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) of being a "bigot" and compared the black Republican to a drug dealer who puts other drug dealers in jail.The comments came as fill-in host Catherine Rampell brought up the race for governor in Florida: Fugelsang Calls Byron Donalds 'Bigot,' Compares to Drug Dealer pic.twitter.com/CwytTCP4v7— Brad Wilmouth (@bradwilmouth) August 17, 2026 So, speaking of potentially flipping certain offices, as I mentioned in the last segment, the Republican primary to replace Florida governor Ron DeSantis has been like, totally nuts. You have the Trump-endorsed candidate, Byron Donalds. You have this bigoted guy, James Fishback. And Donalds, of course, has endured -- has embraced the anti-weaponization fear.After Rampell called Republican candidate James Fishback "bigoted" and then brought up Donalds, Fugelsang jumped in: "Hey, let's be clear. Donalds is a bigot, too. He's a bigot as well. Come on, now."Rampell went along with the liberal comedian and then called the Republican nominees a "clown car" as the MS NOW host continued:Okay, if you say so. Florida has not actually had a Democratic governor that is elected in over 30 years. Like since I was a child growing up in Florida. And so my question to you is, given this sort of clown car of candidates who are running on the Republican ticket, is this the chance for David Jolly, who's running as the Democrat, to actually finally turn that governor's mansion blue?Fugelsang soon compared Donalds to a drug dealer as the back and forth continued:FUGELSANG: A lot will depend on who the Republicans pick. I think.RAMPELL: Well, who's the good one?FUGELSANG: Who's the best -- as a comedian or as a civic society? It's hard to say. I mean, Byron Donalds is like the guy you'd buy weed from and then watch him put other men in jail for selling weed, isn't he? So there's that.The liberal comedian then repeated Rampell's characterization of Republicans as a "clown car" as he added:David Jolly gets to come out there and say, "I'm not a radical. I was a Republican. And then I looked around and saw what was going on. Their entire MO is selling the Democratic party as communist, radical, groomer, transgender lunatic." And by having a former Republican there that will help in ways that having someone on the left wouldn't. It's all going to come down to which unqualified clown the Republicans pick for their nominee.Transcript follows:MS NOW's The 11th HourAugust 14, 202711:39 p.m. EasternJOHN FUGELSANG: I would just add, having a democratic socialist in the primary allows a lot of issues, including health care for all that might not be raised to get out there in the zeitgeist. And it lets (Jared) Moskowitz sell himself even more as a moderate, which will help him as soon as the primary is over.CATHERINE RAMPELL: So, speaking of potentially flipping certain offices, as I mentioned in the last segment, the Republican primary to replace Florida governor Ron Desantis has been like, totally nuts. You have the Trump-endorsed candidate, Byron Donalds. You have this bigoted guy, James Fishback. And Donalds, of course, has endured -- has embraced the anti- weaponization fear.FUGELSANG: Hey, let's be clear. Donalds is a bigot, too. He's a bigot as well. Come on, now.RAMPELL: Okay, if you say so. Florida has not actually had a Democratic governor that is elected in over 30 years. Like since I was a child growing up in Florida. And so my question to you is, given this sort of clown car of candidates who are running on the Republican ticket, is this the chance for David Jolly, who's running as the Democrat, to actually finally turn that governor's mansion blue?FUGELSANG: A lot will depend on who the Republicans pick. I think.RAMPELL: Well, who's the good one?FUGELSANG: Who's the best -- as a comedian or as a civic society? It's hard to say. I mean, Byron Donalds is like the guy you'd buy weed from and then watch him put other men in jail for selling weed, isn't he? So there's that.David Jolly gets to come out there and say, "I'm not a radical. I was a Republican. And then I looked around and saw what was going on. Their entire MO is selling the Democratic party as communist, radical, groomer, transgender lunatic."And by having a former Republican there that will help in ways that having someone on the left wouldn't. It's all going to come down to which unqualified clown the Republicans pick for their nominee. And then the big factor will be: How many MAGAs stay at home like they did in '22 and '18?RAMPELL: Yeah, yeah. Excellent questions. August 17th, 2026 9:46 PM Brad Wilmouth 296463 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-spinnato/2026/08/17/peter-alexander-concerned-cnn-after-what-has-happened-cbs  At the start of the second week of his new MS NOW daytime show, former NBC White House correspondent and current State of Play host Peter Alexander worried for the future of CNN amid a possible merger between Warner Bros. Discovery, which currently oversees CNN, and Paramount, which oversees CBS. Alexander showed his concern in a question to California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta, who has tried to stop the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger with antitrust claims.Alexander began his final question to Bonta and said, “Americans have obviously seen what has happened at CBS News. There's concerns right now that something similar could happen at a Warner Brothers-Discovery owned CNN.” On his new MS NOW show, Peter Alexander talked about the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger with Democrat California AG Rob Bonta, who is suing to stop the merger. Alexander seemed to agree with liberal claims that CBS News had somehow turned into MAGA TV, and worried CNN could be… pic.twitter.com/dkBW79X461— Nick (@nspin310) August 17, 2026 Alexander continued his question to Bonta, as he invoked liberal boogeyman and Paramount CEO David Ellison:David Ellison says that this fight is really about whether he can be trusted with CNN. You say that's a distraction from the facts in this case right now. Does California have any interest in one company owning both CNN and CBS News? Why is that so problematic?Bonta responded and said his lawsuit against the merger was simply because of antitrust concerns. He then continued, as he was on a political show to discuss the lawsuit, and said, “That is something that David Ellison, who has politicized this case, wants to talk about. That's not what this case is about.”Bonta concluded,  “Of course, as a[n] American, as someone who's shown public service, as someone who cares about democracy and the rule of law and the future of this country, of course, I care about the independent free press and their ability to ask tough questions, hold the powerful accountable, be truth seekers, and truth finders and truth tellers. But that is separate from this antitrust case. So, we want to talk about this antitrust case. I hope David Ellison will at some point as well.” MS NOW/SnapStream If Alexander actually watched some CBS News programming, he would notice the new operations and its biases were actually not much different than before, with some slight changes seen every once in a while.For just a few examples, CBS Mornings interviewed Michigan Democratic Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed after his primary victory and gave softball questions that did not touch on many of El-Sayed’s controversial opinions and connections to far-left figures. The same CBS show also defended Fauci over school closures after he pled the Fifth Amendment at a congressional hearing and sympathized with the Ceuta, Spain border invaders from Morocco.They also still employ Margaret Brennan as host of Face the Nation.To CBS’s credit, some story selection has improved since the Bari Weiss/Ellison takeover, as last Friday’s CBS Evening News was the only broadcast network evening newscast to mention the vandalism of the Washington, D.C. World War II Memorial. CBS has not changed as much as reported by liberal media outlets and certainly has not turned into CBS Newsmax. CNN would likely see a similar fate under a form of Ellison ownership.The transcript is below. Click "expand":MS NOW’s State of PlayAugust 17, 202611:46:51 AM Eastern(...)PETER ALEXANDER: Let me ask you if I can. Americans have obviously seen what has happened at CBS News. There's concerns right now that something similar could happen at a Warner Brothers-Discovery owned CNN. David Ellison says that this fight is really about whether he can be trusted with CNN. You say that's a distraction from the facts in this case right now.Does California have any interest in one company owning both CNN and CBS News? Why is that so problematic?CALIFORNIA AG RON BONTA (D-CA): We have an interest in antitrust case, and our antitrust case talks about three markets: widespread theatrical release distribution, blockbuster theatrical release distribution, and cable channel licensing. And CNN is not a part of that. That is something that David Ellison, who has politicized this case, wants to talk about. That's not what this case is about. So, we'd like to talk about what this case is about, which is set forth in our complaint. Of course, as a[n] American, as someone who's shown public service, as someone who cares about democracy and the rule of law and the future of this country, of course, I care about the independent free press and their ability to ask tough questions, hold the powerful accountable, be truth seekers, and truth finders and truth tellers. But that is separate from this antitrust case. So, we want to talk about this antitrust case. I hope David Ellison will at some point as well.(...) August 17th, 2026 7:20 PM Nicholas Spinnato 296467 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/steve-malzberg/2026/08/17/ms-now-sharpton-lets-guest-claim-trump-has-given-gays-african In June, in anticipation of the celebration of America's 250th anniversary, the Department of the Interior unveiled an exhibit at Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C., which is named in honor of MLK Jr., featuring a statue of Caesar Rodney, a Founding Father best known for his overnight ride from Delaware to Philadelphia in July 1776, to help secure the vote for independence, along with 12 bronze Revolutionary War soldiers. During the George Floyd riots of 2020, a statue of Rodney in Wilmington, Delaware was removed, due to the fact that he was a slave owner, so Reverend Al Sharpton decided to pursue all of this Sunday on MS NOW's Politics Nation, resulting in severe, unchecked Trump bashing.Sharpton left no doubt where he stands on the display, as he introduced Woody Holton, professor of history at University of South Carolina, calling it, "A slavery statue, or slave owner statue." And it wouldn't take long to see why Holton was chosen as Sharpton's guest. HOLTON: What's not so cool about Caesar Rodney is also true about Washington and Jefferson, and that is that he owned hundreds of his fellow human beings.... And so he is a lot like George Washington in that respect, in that he accomplished something useful for the white Americans who were declaring Independence. On the other hand he did it on the backs of his fellow humans who were from Africa.Holton wasn't even warmed up yet, as Sharpton tossed him the next softball. SHARPTON: It's surrounded by statues of several black soldiers who fought against British rule during the American Revolution.... What kind of narrative do you think the administration is trying to convey here?It was now Trump bashing time.HOLTON: It's a more complex message than we usually get from the President, which the main message is, frankly, an F-U to Martin Luther King and to Washington, DC, which is a majority minority city that wants to be a majority minority state. Holton then made a ridiculous analogy.HOLTON: It's equivalent to when Trump declared Family Month, which happened to be what had been Pride Month. And for most the rest of us is still Pride Month. It was a little, give the finger to gay people. Now we're giving the finger to African Americans, to the city as well as to Dr. King.Of course President Trump never declared June a Family Month. Representative Mary Miller (R-Ill.) introduced a resolution in Congress to declare June as Family Month in 2025, and several states have taken action on their own. Trump, as was the case throughout his first term, has not issued a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month.Sharpton expanded the conversation, but the results were the same.SHARPTON: Whether it's Freedom Plaza or the White House Ballroom or the Kennedy Center, Trump seems obsessed in his second term with remaking so much of our nation's cultural real estate over in his image, or to reflect his idealized view of our history. What do you think is behind it, professor?HOLTON: You say idealized, I say an ugly view of our history because he's all about racial confrontation, getting blacks and whites pitted against each other. And then, it was back to the statue and the display, with six white soldiers and six black soldiers. Apparently, the blacks represents sidekicks.  HOLTON: They are there around the Caesar Rodney statue -- as I did say, cover -- they're kind of playing the Danny Glover role -- they're there to cover -- black partner, so that the white hero can go do his thing. And so it would have been too brazen if Trump had only put the Caesar Rodney statue up there.These six black heroes of the Revolutionary War, along with six white heroes. But they're like the Secret Service.... Your job as a Secret Service agent is not to keep yourself alive.... It's to keep the President alive. And that's what these 12 guys are doing, especially the six black ones, is they're put there for cover. So it's really, to me, it's a profaning of the memory of these of these black heroes.The despicable segment continued with Sharpton asking his guest to speculate on what might happen to the display and other Trump projects if the Democrats take the White House in 2028. Not a word of objection from the good Reverend Sharpton, as Trump was accused of giving an "F-U to MLK", and giving the finger to gay people, and African Americans. That tells you all you need to know. August 17th, 2026 5:13 PM Steve Malzberg 296456 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2026/08/17/broadcast-networks-ignore-new-fauci-texts-covid-vaccine Screenshot via Fox News/Snapstream On Sunday morning, Senators Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rand Paul (R-KY) released a second batch of texts messages from former National Institutes of Health official and far-left deity Dr. Tony Fauci about concerns in early 2021 with the Covid vaccine and pregnant women, but the “Big Three” liberal, elitist networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC saw no reason to cover them on their flagship morning or evening newscasts.The first released text was from January 25, 2021, by a doctor working for Fauci and overseeing an NIH department dedicated to vaccine research: MORE NEWS: Today, @SenRandPaul and I released additional context to Dr. Fauci’s message to Drs. Vivek Murthy and Rochelle Walensky expressing concerns about mRNA COVID shots “theoretically” resulting in “miscarriage in the 1st trimester.” On January 25, 2021, Dr. John Mascola,… pic.twitter.com/HWoRQUVaKs— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) August 16, 2026 The other was a May 2021 email from then-acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock to Fauci and then-NIH Director Francis Collins: THERE’S MORE: In addition to the texts, @SenRandPaul and I released an email from Dr. Janet Woodcock from May 2021.Dr. Woodcock emailed Dr. Fauci about personally receiving reports of patients experiencing hard to classify adverse events: “no one takes them seriously, no one… pic.twitter.com/sVG4zrNWtB— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) August 16, 2026 In contrast, this was covered on both Sunday and Monday by our friends at both the Fox News Channel and Newsmax.The Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends covered the story in its first hour, starting with co-host Ainsley Earhardt declaring there was “some more damning news for Dr. Fauci” as Johnson and Paul continue to “rais[e] red flags” about what Fauci was saying in public versus in private. Surprise, surprise -- ABC, CBS, and NBC didn't mention on Monday morning (or Sunday night) the second set of Fauci texts/emails released by @SenRonJohnson and @SenRandPaul.@FoxandFriends had it in the first hour with @AinsleyEarhardt, @LawrenceBJones3, and @Kilmeade pic.twitter.com/0aCGCLZ6Wk— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 17, 2026 Co-host Brian Kilmeade chimed in and asserted that, while he never had any problems in taking the vaccine, other people did while Fauci and his friends “didn’t care.”“So, [they] just said, ‘Well, these are unrelated under — you know, there was underlying problems. That is not that significant.’ So, they just dismissed all of it, and they would do some — they would start shadow-banning you or banning you entirely on social media,” he added.For his part, co-host Lawrence Jones excoriated Fauci and the public health intelligentsia for their refusal to be transparent with what they said in public compared to private:The sinister part about all of this, Ainsley, is that behind the scenes, they knew this to be true. And look, I understand there is a massive debate right now about vaccines and what does the science say, and part of the reason people are tuned off right now and not listening to the medical professionals — it’s because of things like this, instances like this. So, it’s better to get all of this out, be honest with people, give them the science, and then allow them to make a decision.Later, he addressed those arguing that talking about Fauci in 2026 is a waste of time: “I mean, you just can’t just bypass it. People keep saying. I wish the Republicans would just move on. We’re not moving on because there’s going to be another pandemic at some point. And we need to learn from this situation so we don’t make those same mistakes again.”Kilmeade closed by connecting these private concerns not being made public with what the rest of the Deep State was telling the country in 2020 and 2021:Do you realize that, at the same time, while this is going on, they’re telling us the laptop’s not real? So, we’re saying, “Wait a second. This guy is dealing with Hunter’s doing all this stuff and you’re telling me it’s not real?” The FBI had it. We know the FBI thought it was real, so they’re lying to us. At the same time, we got all these medical experts telling us about this pandemic that dest — told the whole world to stop working and run for the hills, right? And most people — a lot of people got fired and never got their jobs back, and then we find out all the questions that they had about the disease, who’s really susceptible to it, and the vaccines, and who could benefit from us. That was all — all their skepticism was with each other, but to us, they — to — they criticized people for being skeptical.“They also said the border was secure,” quipped Earhardt.The broadcast networks chose a slew of other stories on Monday to cover instead. While ABC’s Good Morning America had multiple segments about Disney's D-23 gathering (reminding us they're corporate whores), CBS Mornings touted a new column by far-left author Molly Jong-Fast about face lifts and NBC's Today trumpeter a new attraction at Dollywood.To see the relevant transcript from August 17, click here. August 17th, 2026 4:02 PM Curtis Houck 296464 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2026/08/17/ny-times-herrera-wildly-offensive-righty-youtuber-hateful-hasans Brandon Herrera via YouTube To the New York Times, inflammatory leftist streamer Hasan Piker, who is close to several DSA-style Democrats, is supposedly charismatic and even sexy. Right-wing GunTuber, firearms manufacturer, and podcaster turned Republican congressional nominee Brandon Herrera? Inflammatory and “wildly offensive,” and a danger to Republican prospects in Texas.From San Antonio, new reporter Bayliss Wagner issued a hostile profile of the gun-rights advocate: “Nazi Jokes and Vulgar Insults: The Edgy Gun Influencer Embraced by the G.O.P. -- Brandon Herrera, long an anti-establishment outsider, is trying to help the party defend a red-leaning House district in West Texas. It’s proving messy.”Wagner even used the same out-of-context joke NewsBusters Associate Editor Nicholas Fondacaro called out Jake Tapper for back in March (of course, she left out how Herrera killed Hitler):A self-described gun-rights absolutist and YouTuber known for his inflammatory humor, Mr. Herrera, 30, was initially opposed this year by both Mr. Johnson and President Trump as he challenged the district’s Republican incumbent, Tony Gonzales, for a second straight time. Mr. Gonzales and his allies spent millions painting Mr. Herrera as extreme, highlighting old videos in which he made wildly offensive jokes like saying that a Nazi-era submachine gun was “the original ghetto blaster” and “Hitler’s street sweeper.”….In an era where candidates’ online pasts are etched into the public record, Mr. Herrera’s rise is testing voters’ tolerance for comments, even those made in jest, that are beyond the pale of public acceptability. Recently, CNN's Jake Tapper cherrypicked soundbites of Texas Republican Brandon Herrera and deceptively edited them in order to suggest the congressional nominee was a Nazi. What CNN left on the cutting room floor was the part about him hating fascism and killing Hitler. pic.twitter.com/lhZqy9Elwe— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 25, 2026 Such outrage is pretty rich, coming from the paper that celebrated leftist streamer Hasan Piker who regularly spouts anti-Jewish, pro-Hamas rhetoric, and claimed Israel was responsible for October 7 and that America deserved 9-11. But while the Times shrugged off Piker’s disgusting rhetoric, it found joking by Herrera extremely troubling and politically harmful:The district leans Republican — Mr. Trump carried it by 15 percentage points in 2024 — but Democrats believe Mr. Herrera’s polarizing nature could give their nominee, Katy Padilla Stout, a chance.….His digital footprint continues to dog him. In the days before Mr. Johnson rallied for Mr. Herrera and held a fund-raiser for him, a video resurfaced of the YouTuber using crude, sexualized insults against a female gun-control activist in 2022.But Mr. Herrera says that the voters he meets are far more concerned about gas and grocery costs than about his online archive.While Hasan’s years of eliminationist rhetoric against Israelis and support for terrorism was downplayed by the Times, and weren’t portrayed as endangering the political prospects of his streaming guests, including Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Wagner politically weaponized Herrera’s comments to the benefit of Democrats:The comments by Mr. Herrera in the latest unearthed video are graphic and, Democrats hope, the kind of thing that could keep some Republican voters home in November.After all the umbrage against Herrera, Wagner still had time to run a little interference for his Democratic opponent.Ms. Padilla Stout said she decided to run to stop a gun influencer from representing Uvalde.She has staked out center-left positions on immigration and public safety, despite Speaker Johnson’s claim that she supported “open borders” and abolishing prisons…. Screenshot via "News Nation" Snapstream Contrast Herrera’s hostile treatment to the deeply weird, man-crush profile of the offensive leftist streamer Hasan Piker that John Crosbie published in the Times in April 2025: “A Progressive Mind in a Body Made for the ‘Manosphere -- Hasan Piker pumps iron, likes weapons and wears pearls. His brand of masculinity has won him many fans online -- and has been a useful vehicle for his politics.”The Piker profile contained some truly weird passages:Mr. Piker’s success on camera, in some part, has been aided by the fact that he is, by conventional standards, a very handsome man. He is 6 feet 4 inches tall and built like a professional athlete, with a square jaw, a beard and a head of thick dark hair….Indeed, tens of thousands of viewers may watch his videos for his political views, but many also tune in for the view of Mr. Piker himself, whose social media profiles are littered with suggestive images of his muscly body in states of undress -- or “thirst traps,” as the pictures are known. Some of his fans scrape, screenshot, clip and repackage them into “fancams” that travel across the internet, glorifying Mr. Piker’s appearance and, indirectly, his beliefs.This was as critical as Crosbie got, a distinctly underwhelming response to Piker’s disgusting rhetoric, in paragraph 27.Mr. Piker is similarly unfiltered with his viewpoints. Some can be extreme.A vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, Mr. Piker has been labeled anti-American by people across the political spectrum for saying the country “deserved” the Sept. 11 attacks. His recent accusations that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza and his diatribes against the Zionist movement have led many supporters of Israel, including liberals like Representative Ritchie Torres of New York, to call Mr. Piker antisemitic.This was all less shocking than the time Hasan shocked his dog on stream. August 17th, 2026 2:34 PM Clay Waters 296452 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-spinnato/2026/08/17/tim-miller-morning-joe-gop-voters-resonate-idea-blood-and MS NOW/SnapStream On Monday’s Morning Joe, the show’s 8 AM hour was heavily filled with a pre-recorded conversation with The Bulwark podcaster Tim Miller. In the interview, Miller took the opportunity to essentially go after Republican voters as he stated, “I’m not saying that every Republican voter is a bad person, but” -- before he used a Nazi slogan, “Blood and Soil,” to describe what he felt they wanted.Host Joe Scarborough asked Miller, “Let's talk about our former party. What happened to Republicans? When did it happen?” and wondered whether he and Miller, who worked as a Republican operative for figures like former Florida governor and presidential candidate Jeb Bush, held any responsibility for the current Republican Party. Miller responded, “Look, I think there's plenty of blame to go around. I mean, I raised my hand. I certainly went along with stuff that I knew was not right in order to kind of appeal to the Republican base voters. I think that there was a lot of, you know, culture war, red-meat stuff that was firing up the base from Republican candidates going back to your class of '94.” Monday’s Morning Joe featured a long, nearly 20-minute interview with The Bulwark’s Tim Miller.In the interview, Miller used a Nazi slogan to describe Republican voters as he stated, “I'm not saying every Republican voter is a bad person, but I think that, on balance, a… pic.twitter.com/RCWCLIdR1U— Nick (@nspin310) August 17, 2026 Then Miller used a former Nazi slogan to describe what the “Republican base voter” wanted:And I think that Donald Trump has spoken to the issue of the Republican base voter. I'm not saying that every Republican voter is a bad person, but I think that, on balance, a majority of Republican voters want, or they resonate with the idea of, like, a blood and soil nationalist party.The Holocaust Memorial Museum defined “Blood and Soil” as “an early Nazi slogan used in Germany to evoke the idea of a pure ‘Aryan’ race and the territory it wanted to conquer.”Miller did not stop with his use of the term for the Republican Party and expanded it to “right-wing parties” everywhere “except the anglosphere”: “Everywhere else, the right-wing party is a blood and soil religious party that is anti-immigration, you know, very culturally conservative.”He expanded and called it “human nature” before he said, “Like that's the strain of like an average conservative voter in Louisiana where I live.”Miller continued, “The majority of Republican voters didn't care about balancing budgets and didn't really care about the rule of law and didn't care about all these, some of these other fundamental classical liberal values. But what they cared about was going after their foes.  And whether that be elites on the coasts, or immigrants, or Muslims, you know, Muslim terrorists, etc.”Miller closed, “That rhetoric is what appealed to those voters. And I think now the party is representative of it.” Later, Miller said that if there were only two future governing routes, he preferred to “become a Scandinavian Democratic socialist country” under the DSA rather than becoming a “Viktor Orban authoritarian country.” pic.twitter.com/xkNBcs3yP6— Nick (@nspin310) August 17, 2026 Later in the show, after the use of Nazi terms, Scarborough and Miller discussed the Democratic civil war between the “moderate” wing and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).Miller’s response: “And, you know, but at this point, like, look, my advice for people always is if you told me, Hey, the two parties in our country, these are the only two routes, we're either going to become a Scandinavian democratic socialist country, or we're going to become a Viktor Orban authoritarian country. Like, that's not a hard choice for me....it's obviously much preferable, you know, that we go down a democratic path where I have some policy disagreements." The DSA folks somehow aren't fans of authoritarians?Miller described his podcast as getting popular in 2024 for people trying to find "center-left information."  Don't buy that label. Centrists would not defend far-left streamer Hasan Piker and use a Nazi slogan to describe the views of their opponent’s voter base.The transcript is below. Click "expand":MS NOW’s Morning JoeAugust 17, 20268:24:37 AM Eastern(...)JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let's talk about our former party. What happened to Republicans? When did it happen? How much responsibility - you know, a lot of people look back to my class in ‘94, the Gingrich revolution and all this other stuff, or George W. Bush's presidency. I don't think it's quite that simple. But I turn around, and I look at all the things I fought for politically my most of my adult life. I look at, you know, evangelicals who were my natural allies all the way through, you know, probably got 80, 90 percent of the evangelical vote. And so many of these people now are the very people that are holding up Donald Trump, a guy who again tried, tried to overthrow a presidential election in 2001, and a guy who is doing everything he can to stand in the way of a fair and free election in 2026.TIM MILLER: Look, I think there's plenty of blame to go around. I mean, I raised my hand, I certainly went along with stuff that I knew was not right in order to kind of appeal to the Republican base voters, I think that there was a lot of, you know, culture war, red meat stuff that was firing up the base from Republican candidates going back to your class of 94, even maybe before that, but certainly was supercharged and kind of the Fox News and internet era on the right. I think basically how I would sum up what happened is that leadership does actually matter.And I think that Donald Trump has spoken to the issue of the Republican base voter. I'm not saying that every Republican voter is a bad person, but I think that, on balance, a majority of Republican voters want, or they resonate with the idea of, like, a blood and soil nationalist party. And if you just look around the world, the right-wing parties, everywhere around the world – except for in the anglosphere, basically, except for England, the US, Canada, Australia – everywhere else, the right-wing party is a blood and soil religious party that is anti-immigration, you know, very culturally conservative. I think that - that is in human nature. Like that's the strain of like an average conservative voter in Louisiana where I live. And I think that there were a lot of Republican leaders that push people away from some of their dark impulses for a while, maybe they didn't do as well as didn't do so as consistently or as well as as we would have liked. And there were certainly times where everybody fell down.But Donald Trump comes through Kool-Aid, man, through the door. And he's like,’ I'm going to let you get everything you want.’ Like, I'm gonna appeal to your most base instincts. And then, everything, kind of, the house of cards kind of collapsed. And it turned out that, you know, there are some obviously, again, we're painting with a broad brush, but the majority of Republican voters didn't care about balancing budgets and didn't really care about the rule of law and didn't care about all these, some of these other fundamental classical liberal values. But what they cared about was going after their foes.  And whether that be elites on the coasts or immigrants or muslims, you know, Muslim terrorists, etc. Like that - that is what the rhetoric - that rhetoric is what appealed to those voters. And I think now the party is representative of it.(...)8:36:09 AM EasternMILLER:. My complaints about the party are mostly like tactical.SCARBOROUGH: Right!MILLER:  I mean, it's just the amount of cutting off their nose, despite their face that they do is extremely frustrating to me. And  I think that the, you know, kind of demands for, you know, making sure everybody falls in line on every issue is really frustrating and turns a lot of people off. And, you know, but at this point, like, look, my advice for people always is if you told me, Hey, the two parties in our country, these are the only two routes, we're either going to become a Scandinavian democratic socialist country, or we're going to become a Viktor Orban authoritarian country. Like, that's not a hard choice for me.SCARBOROUGH: No.MILLER: Like that's neither of those are my ideal option, but it's obviously much preferable, you know, that we go down a democratic path where I have some policy disagreements.SCARBOROUGH: It seems to me - and again, I'm not being critical of the Democrats. I'm simply trying to offer some guidance. I have found now that I want Democrats to win races against people who are anti-democratic, I found that a lot of times they seem more interested in being right or feeling right, like they're right, than doing the things they need to do to win elections.(...) August 17th, 2026 2:15 PM Nicholas Spinnato 296460 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2026/08/17/even-democrat-massachusetts-lawmakers-call-abortion-until Nine Democrat Massachusetts state representatives stood up to 123 of their party colleagues by voting against a bill legalizing abortion up until the moment of birth. Now that Democrat Governor Maura Healy has signed the bill into law, some of them are beginning to speak out publicly.Even though the bill was fated to pass due to the overwhelming Democrat supermajority in the state’s House, the nine Democrats, at least one of whom is pro-abortion, voted against removing Massachusetts restrictions on abortions after 24 weeks. On Monday, August 10, Gov. Healy signed the bill into law.In interviews with Fox News Digital published Friday, four of the nine Democrats who voted against their party’s Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act (H. 5595) went on record to denounce the new law."The new law is barbaric," Democrat State Rep. Jeffrey Turco said:"This new law represents an extremist and dangerous position."To be clear, it allows abortion anytime, unrestricted, and in many cases, publicly funded until the moment of birth."“This bill creates a very slippery slope," Democrat State Rep. Chris Markey, who says abortion should be up to the woman and her doctor, warned:"I believe this law puts doctors in a very difficult ethical dilemma, as well as conflicts with long-standing criminal case law. This law, I believe, is not consistent with the beliefs of the vast majority of my constituents.“While many are pro-choice, you can still be pro-choice and see this law as going beyond the norms of acceptability."Democrat State Rep. Alan Silvia criticized lawmakers who are more determined to pass laws protecting animal life than they are to protect human life:"We go to extraordinary lengths as a society to protect vulnerable life, saving whales and saving strays, yet when it comes to an unborn child, that same sense of protection too often seems to disappear." “I will continue to stand by my convictions and vote accordingly," the pro-life Democrat vowed.The law allowing abortion beyond the previous 24-week limit creates a troubling precedent, pro-abortion Democrat State Rep. Dennis Gallagher told Fox News:“[I]f the health of the mother is fine and the baby's health is fine (after 24 weeks), I just think alternatives should be encouraged for that baby.“So that's what I struggled with. But it should always be between a woman and their doctor."The concern that the majority of Massachusetts voters oppose abortion until birth was exacerbated because the bill was rushed through the state’s House and Senate so that there was no time allowed for voters to provide public comment on it. August 17th, 2026 1:19 PM Craig Bannister 296462 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2026/08/17/cbs-pesters-rahm-emanuel-about-not-helping-dem-socialists CBS via SnapStream In a segment where they directly cited the recent Democratic Party “primaries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and elsewhere” were the Democratic Socialists either won or played huge roles, CBS News Sunday Morning demonstrated why the purported rightward lurch of the network wasn’t actually a thing. In an interview with longtime Democratic politician Rahm Emanuel, national correspondent Robert Costa pressed him about his refusal to help those far-left candidates and nominees appeal to independent voters.The segment started with Costa and Emanuel talking about his career while they hung out on Chicago’s Riverwalk. After getting Emanuel to talk up his toughness in his career, Costa noted that Emanuel had recently directed that toughness against “the left, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic Socialist. This year, Sanders and his allies have been factors in primary after primary.”Costa confronted Emanuel with the Democratic Socialist-wing’s rise within the Democratic Party and their excitement with pushing aside the “establishment” like him:COSTA: They think they`re pushing you aside and your allies inside the Democratic Party.EMANUEL: Well, I just --COSTA: This is not some just academic debate. The arguably the most prominent Democratic socialist in the country, Senator Bernie Sanders recently said this on CBS --SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I, VT) [Clip from July 26, Face the Nation]: People are sick and tired of the Rahm Emanuels and the Democratic establishment and [audio fades out].“Well, here`s what I would say to you, yeah, I`m about flipping red districts to blue; I`m not about taking blue districts and making them midnight blue. You want to see a raise in the minimum wage? Winning over Democratic districts is not the way to get it there,” Emmanuel told Costa, who continued to poke and prod at the infighting. The purported rightward lurch of CBS News has been greatly exaggerated.Here's the network pestering Rahm Emanuel about not helping the democratic socialist-wing of the Democratic Party court "centrist" voters. pic.twitter.com/6zfBh2wyoR— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) August 17, 2026 Costa pushed back with the far-left’s argument that the establishment wasn’t doing enough and that Emanuel didn’t have enough “passion” for leftist causes, but rather passion for standing against them:COSTA: I`ve covered these Democratic socialist candidates. A lot of their voters feel members of the Democratic establishment, long-time Democratic leaders, just don`t get the economic pain they are in. How do you show them the passion, the commitment to their own grievances with the economy?EMANUEL: You -- you don`t think I bring any passion to what I do?COSTA: Emanuel is passionate about keeping the left at bay.As their conversation progressed, Costa took to pressing Emanuel on what he would do if one of the far-left nominees called him up looking for help courting “centrist” voters. Emanuel gave him a reality check:COSTA: If a Democrat Socialist calls you on the phone and says, I want you to come campaign, help me win over centrist voters, what do you say?EMANUEL: I don`t -- well, first of all, it`s a hypothetical. And let me break the news to you --COSTA: The calls haven`t come in --EMANUEL: -- the calls haven`t come in. And everybody knows the number. So, I don`t -- I don`t see that happening. Look, there`s fundamental differences. And that`s -- I`m comfortable with that.“So, you don`t want them to use the Democratic Party as a vehicle,” Costa said. Emanuel responded by calling out their insane policies: “You know, I don`t -- I don`t think they should, because I think they`re a separate party; that`s one. Two, I don`t believe in defunding police. I don`t believe in open borders.”For what it’s worth, while Costa did not that Emanuel had a softer position on Israel than the far-left, he did allow a discussion about “the antisemitism that has emerged alongside it” (click “expand”):COSTA: Emanuel is also offering Democrats his own path on an issue roiling them: Israel.Speaking in Tel Aviv last month, he was sharply critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and called for a peace deal that features, quote, "Palestinian dignity" and "Israeli security."EMANUEL [Clip from July 9]: You cannot fight indefinitely against a world that has stopped believing you have a right to fight. You must instead find a new sustainable path to peace, to security and prosperity.COSTA: As Emanuel, who is Jewish, engages in this fierce debate, he is deeply troubled by the antisemitism that has emerged alongside it.EMANUEL: You don`t have to agree with the Israeli government to be concerned with the rise of antisemitism in America, and more than the antisemitism which always existed, the way it`s being manifested with violence and killing.In all, the CBS segment was largely about piling on against one of the left’s most prominent establishment figures in the media and hammering him from the left; suggesting his lack of support and stubbornness would be what hurt those far-left candidates.The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:CBS News Sunday MorningAugust 16, 20269:28:17 a.m. EasternJANE PAULEY: After this past week`s primaries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and elsewhere, we`re one stop closer to November`s midterms. Former Congressman Rahm Emanuel won`t be on the ballot, but he tells our Robert Costa, he`s keeping close watch on what`s ahead.[Cuts to video]ROBERT COSTA (voiceover): On a sunny afternoon in Chicago, along the Riverwalk he helped expand, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel was beaming about the city he led for eight years.RAHM EMANUEL: All along this Riverwalk, one mile, you have people from all parts of this city, and guess what, all parts of the country and all parts of the world.COSTA: What is it about Chicago that tells us a little bit about you?EMANUEL: Oh, well, its grit, its toughness, it`s no-nonsense.COSTA: And you`re tough.EMANUEL: Yeah, I am tough -- I`m -- yeah, when I -- when I believe something`s right, you`re going to get it done, yeah.COSTA: That toughness extends to interviews, where Emanuel is known for pushing back -- on reporters, and on the left, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic Socialist.This year, Sanders and his allies have been factors in primary after primary.They think they`re pushing you aside and your allies inside the Democratic Party.EMANUEL: Well, I just --COSTA: This is not some just academic debate. The arguably the most prominent Democratic socialist in the country, Senator Bernie Sanders recently said this on CBS --SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I, VT) [Clip from July 26, Face the Nation]: People are sick and tired of the Rahm Emanuels and the Democratic establishment and [audio fades out].COSTA: You`ve taken Senator Sanders on. You wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed, it`s not me pulling something out of thin air, saying, "Bernie bros` could spoil the midterms."EMANUEL: Yeah. Well, here`s what I would say to you, yeah, I`m about flipping red districts to blue; I`m not about taking blue districts and making them midnight blue. You want to see a raise in the minimum wage? Winning over Democratic districts is not the way to get it there.COSTA: I`ve covered these Democratic socialist candidates. A lot of their voters feel members of the Democratic establishment, long-time Democratic leaders, just don`t get the economic pain they are in. How do you show them the passion, the commitment to their own grievances with the economy?EMANUEL: You -- you don`t think I bring any passion to what I do?COSTA: Emanuel is passionate about keeping the left at bay.If a Democrat Socialist calls you on the phone and says, I want you to come campaign, help me win over centrist voters, what do you say?EMANUEL: I don`t -- well, first of all, it`s a hypothetical. And let me break the news to you --COSTA: The calls haven`t come in --EMANUEL: -- the calls haven`t come in. And everybody knows the number. So, I don`t -- I don`t see that happening. Look, there`s fundamental differences. And that`s -- I`m comfortable with that.COSTA: So, you don`t want them to use the Democratic Party as a vehicle.EMANUEL: You know, I don`t -- I don`t think they should, because I think they`re a separate party; that`s one. Two, I don`t believe in defunding police. I don`t believe in open borders.COSTA: Over a long career -- mayor, congressman, ambassador, and top aide for two presidents, including chief of staff in the Obama White House -- Emanuel has been a key, and combative, moderate in showdowns over health care and the economy.These days, he wants Democrats to focus less on taking on capitalism, and more on matters like lowering costs -- and on President Donald Trump.If they win the Senate, they win the House, do you believe Democrats should impeach President Trump next year? You -- you said he has corruption across the board, you`ve called his business deals dirty money.RAHM EMANUEL: Yeah.COSTA: Worse than Castro, one of your phrases.EMANUEL: Yeah. So, I said he`d make an alderman in Chicago blush for the kind of corruption he`s doing.They`re just out there taking money left and right. The president of the United States is $4 billion richer, and you`re $4 trillion poorer. And I think that this is a travesty of his constitutional responsibilities, let alone the responsibilities of what he`s done. He wants a ballroom, you`re going to get the bill. He wants his $450 million Qatari plane, you get $4.50 a gallon. He`s building an arch, and your family can`t afford a meal at the Golden Arches. So that, to me, is the indictment to make.COSTA: Emanuel is also offering Democrats his own path on an issue roiling them: Israel.Speaking in Tel Aviv last month, he was sharply critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and called for a peace deal that features, quote, "Palestinian dignity" and "Israeli security."EMANUEL [Clip from July 9]: You cannot fight indefinitely against a world that has stopped believing you have a right to fight. You must instead find a new sustainable path to peace, to security and prosperity.COSTA: As Emanuel, who is Jewish, engages in this fierce debate, he is deeply troubled by the antisemitism that has emerged alongside it.EMANUEL: You don`t have to agree with the Israeli government to be concerned with the rise of antisemitism in America, and more than the antisemitism which always existed, the way it`s being manifested with violence and killing.And for all of us, regardless of our positions, whether it`s expressions of anti-Muslim attitudes, as some members of Congress have done, or whether it`s encouraging or creating an environment that`s conducive to antisemitism, or not calling out antisemitism when you should call it out so that in fact it doesn`t become violent.COSTA: For Emanuel, this moment rouses memories of relatives who perished in Russian pogroms and the Holocaust.EMANUEL: In our family room there was a wall. In the center of the wall was my grandmother`s little pushka, the little purse, framed. And above it in the frame was Grandma, and Auntie Ida, and Auntie Gitti`s passports. That`s what brought them to this country in 1914.And on either side of that was a picture of relatives of Mom and Dad, who never made it to America. And it was my parents` reminder to us daily that, "You are -- you are the fortunate few. You`re not to be frivolous with this. And you have a responsibility to make other people`s lives better."My faith is important to me. It`s a moral guiding principle for me. And I think the bigger challenge isn`t my faith. Again, if it`s a problem for you, you need to work on that, not me. The faith we need to work on is the fact that Americans have lost faith in America. That`s our joint mission. If you`re an American, that`s what we have to work on together.This is spin free --COSTA: Spin free.EMANUEL: -- tour.COSTA: Working through a presidential campaign might be next; earlier this summer, he was in New Hampshire on a bike tour.You have a small footprint. You know, it`s just you and your friends taking a bike trip across New Hampshire, stop in at coffee shops. You`ve been ambassador, a congressman, a mayor, a White House chief of staff, this is a little different, a little bit more low-key.EMANUEL: Yeah, that`s okay. You meet people where they are.COSTA: At 66, Rahm Emanuel says his fight, now and in the future, is bigger than him, and his party.You put in this river walk expansion?EMANUEL: Yeah!COSTA: Seems like a perfect place to announce your presidential campaign.EMANUEL: We could do it right here on Sunday Morning, but it ain`t going to happen. Okay?COSTA: [Laughter]EMANUEL: I`m at a point in my life where I`m going to leave it all on the field. I think this is a great country. I am the son and the grandson of an immigrant. I think being an American is winning the lottery ticket of life. And I look at a country that I know, that I love, and the passion, that has lost its nerve, has basically raised the white flag. And I`m not about that. And so, given that this is a great country, given everything that I have, sure, could I hang up the jersey? That`s not what I`m about. August 17th, 2026 12:19 PM Nicholas Fondacaro 296459 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/geoffrey-dickens/2026/08/17/poll-results-worst-media-quote-week-winner It’s time to find out who had the Worst Media Quote of the Week. This interactive series is where you — our loyal NewsBusters visitors and MRC supporters — get to vote on which leftist journalist or celebrity had the worst media quote of the week.  Much appreciation to all who voted last week via NewsBusters and the MRC’s various social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, X, and Truth Social).  The results of the Worst Media Quote of the Week are in and the winner is…Jim Acosta! The former CNN White House correspondent won with 57 percent of the vote! Acosta won with his insult of departing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, as he claimed she was the “most shameless liar” that President Donald Trump ever had in that role. Rosie O’Donnell came in second place with 31 percent. NBC moderator of Meet the Press Kristen Welker finished in third place with 12 percent. Check out the following clip (via the MRC Video team) to see the nominees in action:   Watch the worst quotes from @kwelkernbc, @Acosta, and Rosie O'DonnellVideo by @Schineman pic.twitter.com/DfMK6fRbr9— Media Research Center (@theMRC) August 13, 2026 WINNER (57 percent of the vote) Jim Acosta: Karoline Leavitt Became the “Most Shameless Liar” That Trump Has Ever Had as Press Secretary“Kayleigh McEnany, she was going for the Gold in the Lie Olympics but – and I thought coming into this second term, when they announced Karoline Leavitt as the new White House press secretary, I thought - you know - I don’t know - is she ready for primetime? She’s gonna have to do those special exercises that they do inside the Trump White House to really hone their skills at lying to the American people. But by golly, she put in the work. And she has, she has shown some results! She is, I think, by far the biggest and most effective and most shameless liar that Donald Trump has ever had as White House press secretary.” — Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta on his podcast The Jim Acosta Show, August 12.  SECOND PLACE (31 percent of the vote) Rosie O’Donnell Fled to Ireland Because She Thought About “All the People in Nazi Germany Who Didn’t Get Out Early Enough”“When I told my friends, they’re like, ‘We can’t get you to go to Cancun. What do you mean you’re moving to Ireland?’ And so, you know, I was sure after I read that book, I thought about all the people in Nazi Germany who didn’t get out early enough. And I thought, I don’t want that to be my truth. And I also don’t want to be engrossed in every detail of what he’s [Donald Trump] saying and doing every moment, which is what happens when you’re here in the United States.”— Former ABC’s The View co-host and comedian Rosie O’Donnell on The Tangle with Kyle Ridley podcast, August 11. THIRD PLACE (12 percent of the vote) Kristen Welker Runs Interference for Leftist Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed “Let me ask you, you describe Dr. El-Sayed as extreme; your Senate colleague Tommy Tuberville has called him a terrorist. Senator Ted Cruz said El-Sayed wants, quote, Sharia law. To be fair, there’s no evidence to support those claims. Do you believe those attacks go too far, Senator?”— Moderator Kristen Welker to Sen. Jim Banks on NBC’s Meet the Press, August 9.Thanks again to all who participated! Sponsored by James P. Jimirro August 17th, 2026 11:15 AM Geoffrey Dickens 296457 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2026/08/17/npr-host-grants-softball-interview-socialist-presidential-hopeful-ro Screenshot from YouTube/NPR NPR Morning Edition anchor Steve Inskeep should be best known for a series of softball interviews with Barack Obama, so it might not be surprising he'd do a softball interview with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). The online headline for the Thursday segment was "Rep. Ro Khanna shares why he thinks Democrats should nominate a progressive in 2028."Inskeep explained "Khanna represents Silicon Valley, home of trillion-dollar companies. He says he's for the Valley's enterprise and against its inequality." The NPR host began by wondering ever so gently about the electability of the socialist types: "I suggested to Khanna that Michigan's election might reveal if a progressive could win the presidential swing state of Michigan in 2028. He disagreed." Khanna said Abdul el-Sayed is going to win. Then came the Red Scare portion -- devoid of the actual evidence that Hasan Piker and a large chuck of the "Democratic Socialists" identify with communism: INSKEEP: There's been an interesting evolution in President Trump's rhetoric. Recently, he's moved on to calling you all communists.PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The communists want to take their ruinous and deadly ideology of misery and squalor to every state in America...INSKEEP: Which may sound absurd to you, but Republicans have often picked out a label like that and repeated it and repeated it and repeated it, and then it turned out to stick. Are you concerned about?Does it "sound absurd" if you're told Piker thinks Chinese communist Mao Zedong was one of the "greatest" world leaders ever? Or that a big chunk of the DSA comrades identify as communists? Khanna just said labels, schmabels: KHANNA: Labels usually don't matter in American politics, in my view. We've been...INSKEEP: Are you kidding me?KHANNA: We've been calling the guy a fascist for 10 years, and he's won two terms. I mean, you know, I mean, communist, fascist. Well, here's what people care about. What are you going to do for them?The difference is that the liberal elitist media never find it "absurd" to call Trump a fascist. The people crying "fascist" have zero fear of the Fact Checkers. But they all can't stand anyone talking about communists communing with the Democrats. It ended on a weird note. Economic growth is terrifying? INSKEEP: You represent part of the country that has a huge economic growth, as you mentioned, that also terrifies a lot of people. And I think even including some people in the tech world themselves wonder about the end of humanity or the end of democracy. I don't know if you have those fears or not, but I'd like to ask in the biggest way possible, what terrifies you? What keeps you up at night?KHANNA: That we're at a breaking point in America, and that if we don't do something dramatically different, we may break. And I tell people all the time, I'm 49 years old. I'm about to turn 50. I'm the nice guy. I just want a new social contract. Have you met these folks in their 30s? They want pitchforks and torches.A new "social contract" sounds like socialism, if not communism, installed with the "pitchforks and torches." Which party is the one threatening Democracy again? The radio interview cut out Khanna's next sentence: "They want your scalp." That implies violence. This passage is placed at the top of the YouTube interview, but not on the radio. August 17th, 2026 6:10 AM Tim Graham 296455 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2026/08/16/sunday-shows-are-still-pushing-fake-moderate-vs-progressive The Democratic Party is in the throes of an attempted takeover and hollowing out by the Democratic Socialists of America. The Elitist Media are still attempting to explain this away by labeling the sides with anodyne descriptors, falsely framing the primary battle as “moderates vs. progressives.”Here’s how Martha Raddatz framed the primary debate while recapping a last week’s Midwestern primaries on ABC’s This Week: The media framing for the mid-terms: “Moderate and progressive wings” in Democratic Party. ABC’s @MarthaRaddatz described left-wing liberal Democrats as “moderates.” On @ThisWeekABC, she labeled as “moderate” Wisconsin’s David Crowley and Minnesota’s Angie Craig. pic.twitter.com/icnaNhsIDT— Brent Baker 🇺🇲🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) August 16, 2026 MARTHA RADDATZ: Dissatisfaction with the economy is one reason Democrats are bullish on their chances to take back control of Congress. But the party itself is in a fight for its future. The moderate and progressive wings each scoring wins at the ballot box this week. But another divide was on full display as well. This week we traveled to New England, days ahead of a key primary, where a senator who has been in politics since the 1970s is in a tight battle to keep his seat. The fight for the future of the Democratic Party was on overdrive this week, a week that ended with a rather muddled message. Moderates scoring a big win in Wisconsin.DAVID CROWLEY: Together, we will build the broad coalition that this moment absolutely demands.RADDATZ: David Crowley defeating the fiery frontrunner in the polls, Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong in the gubernatorial primary, a major upset in the high-stakes battleground test for progressives. But in Minnesota:PEGGY FLANAGAN: This campaign was about The Many versus The Money.RADDATZ: It was the progressive lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan who carried the day, beating moderate congresswoman Angie Craig in the primary battle to replace retiring Senator Tina Smith. There are no specific definitions as to what defines a “moderate” or progressive” here. There are certainly no stated policy preferences. There is only the label. An opaque label that leaves viewers to define for themselves what these labels mean, or if they even matter.It was no different on NBC, as Kristen Welker introduces Meet the Press: WATCH: NBC's Kristen Welker falsely frames the ongoing Dem primary as between its "progressive and moderate wings:"KRISTEN WELKER: Good Sunday morning. We are just 79 days until the midterm elections and both parties are facing a test. Democrats are racing to unite a party… pic.twitter.com/v7DSWnB2o3— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 16, 2026 KRISTEN WELKER: Good Sunday morning. We are just 79 days until the midterm elections and both parties are facing a test. Democrats are racing to unite a party pulled between its progressive and moderate wings, while Republicans face rising gas prices and an Iran war that is getting harder to control.  Here Welker talked policy but only to tie Republicans to Iran and gas prices. Where is the comparable tie-in for defunding the police, abolishing Thanksgiving, abolishing the Senate or allowing men to compete in women’s sports? You don’t see one. The only bit of intellectual honesty across the Sunday dial comes from CBS’s Ed O’Keefe, sitting in for Margaret Brennan, who makes the distinction on Face the Nation that “socialist-backed” is synonymous with “progressive:” CBS’s @edokeefe also described liberal Democrats as “moderates,” opening @FaceTheNation: “After weeks of high-stakes primaries that pitted moderates versus progressive or socialist-backed Democratic candidates...” pic.twitter.com/YoobwZKl9a— Brent Baker 🇺🇲🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) August 16, 2026 ED O’KEEFE: Good morning and welcome to Face the Nation. Margaret is out today. After weeks of high-stakes primaries that pitted moderates versus progressive or socialist-backed Democratic candidates, and raised questions about the future of the (Democratic) Party…But the truth is that these labels mean nothing. “Moderate” is used here as an implied synonym of “conservative.” But what does an actual “moderate” sound like, if allowed to speak for any length of time? Here’s “Moderate” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, sounding like a DSA member and calling for the abolition of the Electoral College: WATCH: "Moderate" KYGOV Andy Beshear calls for the abolition of the Electoral College, thinking this would compel presidential candidates to visit Kentucky (vis-a-vis the practical effect of parking candidates in Los Angeles, NYC, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Miami) pic.twitter.com/RRCnIoKWQL— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 16, 2026 ANDY BESHEAR: But I tell you what: people also think this government is broken. So fix the darn government constitutional amendment, it is time. It should outlaw partisan redistricting and enshrine part of the Voting Rights Act right there in the constitution. It should create term limits for Congress and the Supreme Court. No more gaming those appointments. It should also overturn Citizens United and I think call for direct elections of the President and the Vice President. That could actually make things work. A big idea that would, yes, change government but in a way enshrined in the Constitution where people know it’s going to get better.ED O’KEEFE: I didn't realize you support abolishing the Electoral College if you’re saying direct election of the President and Vice President.BESHEAR: Yeah, I've said it a number of times. It’s because in Kentucky, we will never see a candidate for President or Vice President unless they’re from here. Why? Because people just expect that it’ll go one way or the other. It's the idea that someone would get elected not just knowing about seven states but having to earn votes all over the United States. I certainly think it’s time.Even O’Keefe was shocked to hear "moderate" Beshear calling for the end of the Electoral College. O’Keefe didn’t follow up afterwards, which was unfortunate given Beshear's rationale for ending the Electoral College: that such a move would force candidates to campaign everywhere. The practical effect of the end of the EC would be to park candidates in New York City, Miami, Chicago, Houston, and Dallas, with your margin of victory coming exclusively from Los Angeles. A follow-up would have been nice.Moreover, what this Beshear segment really illustrates is that there are no “moderates” in the Democrat Party. There is only far-left and extreme left. And if the Elite Media don’t necessarily frame it that way, it’s because they’re also in on the joke. August 16th, 2026 6:23 PM Jorge Bonilla 296454 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2026/08/16/awful-jake-tapper-uses-fall-kabul-hit-trump-hegseth-iran Today’s terrible end-of-show editorial by Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union is a desecration of the memory of the Fall of Kabul at the expense of The Current Thing. Tapper took duct tape and baling wire and tied the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan to the ongoing operation in Iran and the current narrative over conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.Watch the editorial as aired to close out CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, August 16th, 2026: WATCH: Today’s terrible end-of-show editorial by Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union is a desecration of the memory of the Fall of Kabul at the expense of The Current Thing. JAKE TAPPER: It was five years ago this weekend that Kabul and Afghanistan fell to the Taliban,… pic.twitter.com/7BW3VC2gSE— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 16, 2026 JAKE TAPPER: It was five years ago this weekend that Kabul and Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, bringing a disastrous end to America's longest war. The horrific scenes that followed still, to this day, shock the conscience. The crowds of desperate Afghans on the tarmac or packed into planes trying desperately to escape, or the 13 American service members killed in the Abbey Gate bombing along with countless Afghan civilians. Five years later, more than 2 million Afghan girls are currently blocked from attending school by the Taliban, according to UNESCO. It's now legal in Afghanistan for men to beat their wives, as long as they don't break any bones or leave any lasting injuries. Meanwhile, many Afghans who fought with the U.S., risked their lives for the U.S., remain stranded abroad after the Trump administration halted the Special Immigrant Visa program. And many of those who did make it to the United States, to this day, live in fear that their green cards will be revoked. With that legacy from the war in Afghanistan, you can forgive the American people for wondering why they should trust our leaders when they tell us that our brave service members are engaged in a vital mission. And when today's leaders glibly dismiss questions about their current mission in Iran, what the end game is? What's the plan? Whether there are adequate protections for our service members in Jordan or Kuwait, whether President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are covering up the deaths of Iranian civilians from U.S. strikes or hiding poor conditions for sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. They are just the latest in a tradition that we would struggle to call proud. The first thing that jumps out from Tapper’s Very Deep Thoughts is that he never once mentions by name the administration in charge during the fall of Kabul. There is no mention of Joe Biden or of the flippant way in which his administration handled the withdrawal. There are no images of Biden looking at his watch during the Dignified Transfer of the brave service members that were killed during the Abbey Gate bombing, or an examination of the subsequent drone strike that killed innocents. Tapper goes from the fall of Kabul to the current parade of horribles that is today’s Afghanistan. Interestingly, Tapper mentions the many Afghan allies left behind. Which administration left them behind? Tapper also mentions Trump halting the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, without ever mentioning that this action was subsequent to a SIV holder shooting up a pair of West Virginia National Guard members in Washington, D.C., killing one. What follows next is the desecration: the cheap tie-in to the current situation in the Persian Gulf. There was a whole show Tapper could’ve devoted to coverage of the current situation aboard the USS Lincoln other than a throwaway question and flipping the issue off to the panel discussion. The Fall of Kabul deserved solemn commemoration on its own, without a cheap partisan tie-in. So, too, did our service members who died or were injured during the withdrawal. August 16th, 2026 4:52 PM Jorge Bonilla 296453 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2026/08/16/journalistic-eod-sunday-shows-help-dems-defuse-aocs-woke-one-was The Elitist Media had a narrative bomb on its hands after Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said last week that “Woke One is crazy.” This week, several Sunday shows enabled Democrats as they tried to defuse that bomb and scurry away unscathed.The original “Woke One is crazy” quote, of course, was delivered during Jon Karl’s softball interview of AOC on ABC’s This Week. There was no followup. As we noted, this stemmed from Karl’s interest in helping Democrats disavow everything that might be controversial coming from the current crop of DSA Democrats.After a week of controversy, it’s clear that simple disavowal isn’t enough. Watch as CNN’s Jake Tapper puts the Woke One question before Governor Wes Moore (D-MD) on State of the Union: WATCH: CNN's Jake Tapper enables Gov. Wes Moore to run away from AOC's "Woke One" quote. Zero followup on the actual question as Moore: 1. Denies 2. Deflects 3. Pivots to policy via third-party storyJAKE TAPPER: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to have acknowledged… pic.twitter.com/qnR7MBGjYU— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 16, 2026 JAKE TAPPER: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to have acknowledged the- the overreach of the 2020 era of progressivism last week. She said, quote, “Woke One was crazy.” Woke 1.0 was crazy. You were asked about that. You said you didn't know what Woke One was. So I've been trying to figure out how to ask this question. There's no official definition. I think Woke One generally refers to what are now viewed as excesses of the progressive movement. Um, Defund the Police. A far-left view of the world that views the world in terms of only oppressor and oppressee. Language policing. Holiday policing. Cancel culture positions that turned off a lot of middle-of-the-road voters. What is your take on that era, even if that wasn't part of how you ran or thought or governed; and what does the Democratic Party need to do if you- if they hope to win outside of blue states and congressional districts?WES MOORE: Well, it's funny, it's true. I said I don't know what Woke One is, but frankly, I don't know what Woke Two or Woke Three is either. Uh, you know, just last night I was over at, uh, watching our, our (Delmarva) Shorebirds play, which is our, uh, you know, our Single-A affiliate for the Baltimore Orioles over here in the Eastern Shore. And I was speaking to a woman who was just saying how difficult it is right now when she was saying how gas prices just continue to spike. And, you know, she's a person who's on disability. She says she can't work because of her back. And she's now noticing that just getting anywhere to her doctor's appointments are now becoming oppressively expensive because of gas prices. And, and, and I think when we're talking about those issues, what she didn't come up to me? She didn't come up to me and say, “What's your political ideology?” She didn't say, “What wing of the party do you represent?” She was talking about the fact that gas prices are too high. TAPPER: Yeah.MOORE: And I think that that's the thing we have to better appreciate- is when people are talking about this, you know, Washington oftentimes can play this Political Science 101 game. Um, but that's not where people are. They are just hurting and they're looking for someone who is going to honor their promises because as the woman last night told me at the Shorebirds game, she's like, “the President said he was going to do something about this, and it's only gotten worse under him.” That’s the thing I think people are so frustrated about. And people want to see real results being delivered, like what we’re working to do here in the State of Maryland. By asking the Woke One question, Tapper gave Moore the space to disarm the issue in three simple steps: 1. Deny knowledge of what Woke one even is, 2. Deflect with a bridge statement, and 3. Pivot to policy via a third-party story. Moore never bothers to address the substance of Tapper’s question and Tapper never bothers with a follow-up. In this case, Tapper takes the “affordability” segue tossed to him by Moore and moves on.There is no interest in exploiting the (ongoing) societal damage caused by Woke One because it necessitates the Elitist Media to acknowledge their role in propagating Woke One. Furthermore, acknowledging Woke One (featuring the pandemic as its cornerstone event) requires the acknowledgement of Woke Two, which is underway and undergirded by the barbaric October 7th attack against Israel. It is better instead, both for Elite Media and elected Democrats, to try to dissolve AOC’s “Woke One” into the ether.We saw the same tactic on display on NBC’s Meet the Press, in this exchange between Kristen Welker and U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA): WATCH: Kristen Welker enables Ro Khanna's spinning away twice from AOC's "Woke One" quote with a familiar playbook: 1. Deny 2. Deflect 3. Insert policy via third-party story. Khanna then deflects Welker's timid follow-up with personal stories about Indian-American thanksgiving… pic.twitter.com/qdHF0QEkCp— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 16, 2026 KRISTEN WELKER: Let me ask you about something that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview last week. She, of course another progressive leader- she said “Woke One was crazy,” effectively suggesting some progressive views just went too far in the 2020s. Do you agree with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that Woke One was crazy?RO KHANNA: Well, I don't know what these labels mean. I'll tell you what I’ve always stood for. I have never been for defunding police. Our district in Silicon Valley is one of the safest districts in the country. We’ve actually had more police in San Jose and Fremont. But I believe in police reform, so people aren't racially profiled. I have never believed in open borders, I have always been for a secure border but I’ve called for abolishing ICE. You know, I was just in Austin and I talked to Benny who was a Trump supporter and he said that the Lorenzo Salgado’s killing, a father's killing who was a construction worker, has changed him. He thinks ICE should be abolished. He thinks it's crazy that ICE officers are arresting people for pouring concrete. So my view on all of this is: have common sense. You can be for borders but abolishing ICE, you can be for police, but making sure we don't racially profile.WELKER: Francesca Hong, obviously, got a lot of attention for a post calling to get rid of Thanksgiving, she tried to explain that. Does that type of rhetoric hurt the overall progressive cause, do you think?KHANNA: You know, I really feel bad for what happened to Francesca. And I know it's fashionable to distance yourself. I am not. I was proud to endorse her and she’s far more than the caricature that was presented. The main reason she was running was to stop data centers and to have childcare. And she’s a daughter of Asian immigrants. Look- I love Thanksgiving. I grew up in an Indian-American household, we would go to Indian uncles and aunties to have Thanksgiving, we’d watch the Michigan/Ohio State game. But to judge her and caricature her based on a tweet was just, I think, unfortunate. And of course, you know, we should love and revere the history of this country but we also have to understand for someone like her, a single mother Asian-American, how hard it is to break into politics. She doesn’t have multimillionaire donors. She doesn’t have Speaker Pelosi or someone clearing her path. Khanna ran the same playbook run by Wes Moore: Deny, Deflect, and Pivot with a Story. Welker, unlike Tapper, engaged Khanna with a follow-up question on the recently-defeated Francesca Hong. The question was soft and open-ended. By reducing Hong to the absurd (“abolish Thanksgiving”) while omitting other statements on race and on abolishing the police, Welker allowed Khanna to just spin out.Khanna never addressed the substance of Hong’s calling for the abolition of Thanksgiving, instead offering assurances of his own love of Thanksgiving- a reliability proxy. Welker then moves on.This stands in stark contrast to how Republicans are routinely asked to address any and every controversy: which is to say, with howling interruptions until a specific answer is provided. When controversy is on the left? The Elite Media turn into Explosive Ordnance Disposal. August 16th, 2026 3:50 PM Jorge Bonilla 296451 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2026/08/16/chuckle-chelsea-handler-she-says-roe-vs-wades-still-effect-and-hates It's absolutely amazing sometimes to ponder how leftist celebrities think they are the smartest people in the room, and no one on their side seems to correct them when they step in a puddle of stupid. Breitbart News tweeted out on Friday that comedian Chelsea Handler appeared on Kara Swisher's Pivot podcast, and somehow claimed that Todd Blanche was going to overturn Roe vs. Wade -- when the Supreme Court did that four years ago. HANDLER: We're gonna get Todd Blanche. He's gonna be confirmed -- and he's gonna overturn Roe v. Wade. We're all sitting around -- all these men have powerful platforms are sitting around watching this happen to women, to communities you instead could be supporting. You don't have to like, turn over a whole new leaf. It's just being a decent human being, you know?Chelsea Handler warns that if Todd Blanche is confirmed as U.S. Attorney General, "he's gonna overturn Roe v. Wade."(Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022) pic.twitter.com/5Kt1RfYvsk— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 14, 2026Wouldn't you think one of Hollywood's most fervent supporters of abortion would know the basic legal facts?But wait, the faceplant gets funnier. In another clip from Chief Nerd, Chelsea shamelessly proclaimed that Joe Rogan is paid many millions of dollars to spew misinformation, to be misinformed -- which she had demonstrated on this program: HANDLER: Joe Rogan made $82 million … And I commented something about That's a lot of money for something to do with the misinformation, being misinformed …So you go into Joe Rogan, who's got the biggest platform in podcasting, and is pretty responsible -- is one of the biggest factors in getting Donald Trump elected -- has this platform, and it would really behoove us to use that for good! In this moment, when there are so many people who are, you know, former Trump supporters who are ready to admit how horribly wrong this has been going, and how horrible this administration has been...in multiple ways.CHELSEA HANDLER: “Joe Rogan made $82 million … That's a lot of money for misinformation … Joe Rogan was one of the biggest factors in getting Donald Trump elected.” pic.twitter.com/goJhqnGdIB— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) August 15, 2026Put aside the stupidity, and marvel at the arrogance, that the Left feels that anyone who has amassed a following must be commanded to use it "for good" -- for the Left, for DEI, for abortions for everyone. The only smart Trump supporter is a former Trump supporter who realizes the horrendous error of his or her ways. Anyone who doesn't support the Left isn't just evil -- they're misinformed, according to this bright bulb.  August 16th, 2026 3:46 PM Tim Graham 296450 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2026/08/16/pbs-prods-judge-blame-rhetoric-trump-administration-threats Wednesday’s PBS News Hour crusaded for nine minutes against threats to federal judges with two guests, both with personal experiences of attacks and harassment, one scary, one tragic, supposedly riled up by inflammatory rhetoric emanating from the Trump Administration.Yet the News Hour itself, under the guise of objective journalism, has lobbed its own inflammatory rhetoric against its conservative ideological enemies that currently hold positions at the Supreme Court, vilifying them and corroding citizen trust in the high court.William Brangham, Host: Hundreds of federal judges across the country have received threats against themselves and their families this year. The U.S. Marshals Service reports security incidents of -- quote -- "significant concern" jumped nearly 60 percent in the 2025 fiscal year and are on track to rise again this year. This comes amid a litany of verbal and written attacks by President Trump and members of his administration about judges who have ruled against them. Justice correspondent Ali Rogin has more.Ali Rogin, Justice Correspondent: U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell received an unexpected pizza delivery to his home last year. While it was certainly strange, McConnell says he was deeply disturbed when he noticed the name on the order, Daniel Anderl. That's the name of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas' son, who was fatally shot at their family's home in 2020 by a disgruntled lawyer….McConnell says that was just one of multiple death threats he's received. They began escalating in 2025 when he temporarily blocked the Trump administration freeze on billions of dollars in federal funding.Rogin talked to McConnell and Salas about their experiences via video feed.Ali Rogin: The president and members of his administration have launched verbal attacks against judges in the past. Recently, the general counsel to DHS, James Percival, wrote a list of federal judges on X whom he called the worst of the worst. We're not going to show that here. You were on our show last year talking about this and the harmful inflammatory rhetoric that these administration officials are using. Have things changed, in your opinion?....PBS played part of a threatening voice-mail and set up the Trump Administration as responsible. Then Rogin prodded:PBS reporter Ali Rogin: "Do you think attempts to intimidate you like this are a result of the rhetoric coming from the Trump administration? Judge John McConnell: "There's no doubt in my mind that the fact that certain of our leaders in this country have chosen dog whistles..." pic.twitter.com/jq1CJ6TO6x— Clay Waters 🇮🇱 (@claywaters44) August 15, 2026Rogin: It's deeply disturbing to hear. Do you think attempts to intimidate you like this are a result of the rhetoric coming from the Trump administration?McConnell: There's no doubt in my mind that the fact that certain of our leaders in this country have chosen dog whistles, there is no other way to describe it, when they talk about judges….PBS has spread its own “dog whistles” against individual Supreme Court members, covering a decision on transgender surgery for minors with a tone of emotional blackmail, playing on fears of suicidal ideation (a false narrative exposed by Justice Samuel Alito) by teenagers if the Supreme Court ruled against their rights to permanent surgical modification.Speaking of Justice Alito, PBS leapt into the May 2024 controversy over two flags being flown over two of Alito’s homes – an American flag hung upside down at his residence and the “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside his beach home in New Jersey.The New York Times’ Jodi Kantor appeared on the News Hour to suggest Alito had “insurrectionist” January 6 views, since his flags were allegedly symbols of the “Stop the Steal” movement in support of Donald Trump having won the 2020 election. Substitute anchor Laura Barron-Lopez: “Tonight on PBS News Weekend, the Supreme Court’s credibility is called into question after a photo emerged of a Stop the Steal flag outside a justice’s home….”A follow-up story was introduced by co-anchor Geoff Bennett: "....The [Appeal to Heaven] flag has origins dating to the Revolutionary War, but is now associated with Christian nationalism and efforts to overturn President Biden's 2020 election win. The flag was also carried by rioters at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021…."PBS was far more interested in the Alito family flags than an actual threat to a Supreme Court judge: When a man showed up outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house intending to assassinate him, the News Hour relegated it a few sentences  to “in other news” briefs. It didn't get nine minutes of alarm. A transcript is available, click “Expand.”PBS News Hour8/12/267:28:21 p.m.Substitute host William Brangham: Hundreds of federal judges across the country have received threats against themselves and their families this year. The U.S. Marshals Service reports security incidents of -- quote -- "significant concern" jumped nearly 60 percent in the 2025 fiscal year and are on track to rise again this year.This comes amid a litany of verbal and written attacks by President Trump and members of his administration about judges who have ruled against them.Justice correspondent Ali Rogin has more.Ali Rogin: U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell received an unexpected pizza delivery to his home last year. While it was certainly strange, McConnell says he was deeply disturbed when he noticed the name on the order, Daniel Anderl. That's the name of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas' son, who was fatally shot at their family's home in 2020 by a disgruntled lawyer.Several other judges also received pizza deliveries under Anderl's name. McConnell says that was just one of multiple death threats he's received. They began escalating in 2025 when he temporarily blocked the Trump administration freeze on billions of dollars in federal funding.To discuss, Judge McConnell joins me now, along with Judge Esther Salas.Thank you both so much for being here.Judge McConnell, I'd like to start with you. What was going through your mind when you saw the name on this unsolicited pizza delivery?Chief Judge John McConnell, U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island: U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island: Well, heartbreak originally that some people for political reasons would invoke the name of Judge Salas' beloved son who was murdered when a person was actually attempting to murder her and then ultimately wanting to do the same to Justice Sotomayor.So it was heartbreak turned to outrage turned to disappointment that we had gotten to that stage in our discourse in the country.Ali Rogin: And, Judge Salas, what was going through your mind when you heard that someone had received a pizza delivery under your late son's name, and also to find out there that there have been other cases like this.Judge Esther Salas, U.S. District Court of New Jersey: Yes, just sadness, but anger too, because Daniel stands for light and love, and he gave his life as an act of love for his dad, Mark, my husband, and me.And for people to be using and weaponizing his name to inflict fear on judges all throughout this country just tells me where we're at in terms of trying to intimidate the judiciary and trying to really strip the judiciary of its constitutional independence.Ali Rogin: The president and members of his administration have launched verbal attacks against judges in the past. Recently, the general counsel to DHS, James Percival, wrote a list of federal judges on X whom he called the worst of the worst. We're not going to show that here.You were on our show last year talking about this and the harmful inflammatory rhetoric that these administration officials are using. Have things changed, in your opinion? And, if so, have they gotten better or worse?Judge Esther Salas: I mean, they have gotten a whole heck of a lot more dangerous for judges.I think we are devolving as a nation with the leadership that chooses to continue to dehumanize judges. I mean, for general counsel of DHS, who enjoys a certain level of respect for the position, for DHS to be using government Web sites and using official handles to spread disinformation, it's just a sad state.And I think we need to pump the brakes here, and we need to start coming back to a place where we can agree to disagree. And we can maybe disagree on the merits, but we have to stop personalizing and villain -- villainizing, rather, judges.Ali Rogin: Judge McConnell, this pizza delivery was not the first threat you have received. Your office has been flooded with calls and e-mails leaving threatening messages. They really picked up after your ruling to block that freeze on federal funding last year.We want to play a part of one of those voice-mails.Caller: So you better tell little (expletive deleted) Judge McConnell I don't know who the hell he thinks he is. I double dare you to try to put charges on Donald J. Trump, you (expletive deleted). And I wish somebody would (expletive deleted) assassinate your (expletive deleted).Ali Rogin: It's deeply disturbing to hear.Do you think attempts to intimidate you like this are a result of the rhetoric coming from the Trump administration?Chief Judge John McConnell: There's no doubt in my mind that the fact that certain of our leaders in this country have chosen dog whistles, there is no other way to describe it, when they talk about judges.Our own new attorney general said that we were at war with the courts. We have been called traitors. We have been called all sorts of names and that serve as dog whistles to the population that says that judges are fair game for going after, for attacking.We know that, when these personal attacks on judges are said by our governmental leaders that the threats against judges go up. I can attest to that specifically. They started. And they doxxed my daughter. My wife got threatened. The comments made that dehumanized myself and others -- I'm not the only judge. Judges across this country have been subjected to what I have been subjected to.Ali Rogin: And, Judge McConnell, have you had to change the way you do anything within the confines of your work or your life more generally?Chief Judge John McConnell: The answer is yes. I'm certainly not going to go into it, for security reasons, et al, but the work is the work.And, as Judge Salas and I both, as do the hundreds of District Court Courts of Appeals judges throughout the country, our North Star is the rule of law. We follow that regardless, but it sure does make it a lot harder to safely live in this world and do our jobs when we're continually under dehumanizing attack from government leaders and the executive from the top on down.Ali Rogin: And right at the top, Judge Salas, we have seen Supreme Court Justices Barrett and Kagan testify about the need for increased security budgets. Justice Barrett memorably recounted how her son saw her put on a bulletproof vest.So what do you think can and should be done with larger security budgets to protect judges? And, also, what do you think the balance is between the need for more security measures, but also the need to tone down the rhetoric?Judge Esther Salas: You know, I first of all, think that the worst of the worst series that was launched by the general counsel of the DHS came just weeks after these two justices historically testified to Congress about the threats to the Supreme Court.It doesn't seem to matter, I mean, whether it's a judge that's appointed by a Republican president or a justice that's appointed by or nominated by a Democrat president. We're seeing that this type of rhetoric just gives people license to take matters into their own hands.The person who killed my Danny, the person who came to my home and murdered my only child felt emboldened, if you will, to take matters into his own hands. And so what needs to happen is, our leaders need to lead by example, and we need to all start toning down the rhetoric.If you want to criticize us on the merits, by all means, appeal us and criticize us on the merits. But that's not what DHS is doing. It's irresponsible. It is not true leadership. And I would ask our leaders, let's start leading in a responsible way.Ali Rogin: Judge John McConnell, Judge Esther Salas, thank you both so much for joining us and sharing your...Chief Judge John McConnell: Thanks so much, Ali.Judge Esther Salas: Thank you so much, Ali.  August 16th, 2026 1:04 PM Clay Waters 296444 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/steve-malzberg/2026/08/16/cnns-burnett-platforms-courtroom-sketch-artist-saying-mangione On Friday, Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty in federal court to stalking and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December of 2024, by shooting him in the back at point blank range outside a Hilton hotel in Manhattan. Even the liberal media almost unanimously reported that Mangione, who had attained hero status to some on the radical left, had showed no remorse while admitting his guilt, or said nothing at all about his demeanor, but on Friday night CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront, found an exception.Friday morning, minutes after the guilty plea, on CNN's Inside Politics, Dana Bash brought on Correspondent Kara Scannell, who was in the courtroom, to get her take.  SCANNELL: As he explained his motivation for committing this murder, he said he was essentially failed by the healthcare system.... And then he described how he had made a partial gun, using a 3D printer, added a silencer, and then intentionally shot Brian Thompson. He shot him dead, and he said that he knew what he was doing was illegal....There was not a sense of remorse in Luigi Mangione's voice. He just stated it as a fact.Scannell would again refer to Mangione, this time getting more specific.SCANNELL: And at that moment, I again saw a big reaction in that front row by Brian Thompson's family members, again grabbing themselves, wiping tears from their eyes, kind of just hearing the coldness of this murder, this assassination that had taken place, and throughout Mangione not showing any signs of remorse, being very calm in his speaking, no voice cracking, no reaction, and he didn't look over toward the family when he said this and then he was escorted out of the court.Later on Friday's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Stephanie Gosk reported from outside the courthouse: "He shot the husband and father of two children in back and today showed no remorse for what he did." And while neither ABC or CBS's nightly newscasts weighed in on Mangione's demeanor, over on the PBS News Hour, Justice Correspondent Ali Rogan, reported that Mangione, "Expressed no contrition or remorse."But over on CNN, Burnett introduced sketch artist Christine Cornell, who was in the courtroom for it all, and she had a most unique take on Mangione. CORNELL: You know, I've been watching Mangione now through many hearings. In the very beginning, there was something a little bit distance-y about him. He carried himself not exactly cocky, but as if he was somehow out of touch with what was going on around him. I thought he looked like a husky, you know, nice markings, but what's going on up here?Today we saw that crack. His voice shook when he put his hand up close to his face. Honestly, I think he was right on the verge of crying, although he did not. He was feeling it though.I mean, you said, oh my goodness, the man actually has empathy and has a sense of what he's what he's admitting to here. So, it was -- I guess it was something. It was very surreal, but it's kind of a relief.Burnett then appeared to want to clear up some of Cornell's observations, and would go on to make it clear that she, herself, sees nothing sympathetic about Mangione.BURNETT: Yeah, I mean, when you're talking about his voice shaking, verge of crying, he didn't actually cry.Did you see or hear how they (Thompson's family) reacted -- Was there any relationship between what he was saying and the people whose lives he so destroyed?CORNELL: Luigi never ever turned to look at anyone in the audience today, he was completely focused on what he was doing here. Burnett then asked about Mangione's possible motives for reading his confession. BURNETT: Could you tell whether he was playing the room in a sense?  You use the word empathy....obviously you can't be inside someone's mind, but did you see it as remorse or possibly that he was playing up the moment to the judge? CORNELL: Absolutely not playing up the moment. Absolutely not. I thought it was the first time I saw him maybe even think a thought that didn't have to be about him.And I really thought it was genuine. Especially since it didn't turn into tears. He held himself back.BURNETT: Right, right, because he controlled, that's an interesting point, that he could do, yes.And that would be all for Cornell, who was the lone guest on the subject following a taped report and brief live follow-up. We don't know if Burnett knew how her guest would portray the murderer, and although she appeared to slightly push back on her, she certainly didn't go far enough. This is CNN!  August 16th, 2026 6:44 AM Steve Malzberg 296449 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2026/08/16/fox-highlights-california-illegal-who-murdered-after-his-ice In the past several days, a number of Fox News shows have informed viewers of how blue sanctuary states endanger their residents after an illegal alien from Venezuela murdered a California man after an ICE detainer was ignored. Fox also showed part of the surveillance video that actually recorded the murder.On Wednesday's Fox News @ Night, reporter Chanley Painter recounted for viewers that Marcos Iriarte-Valdez had been arrested twice for burglary, and committed a murder the day after a judge released him: Fox Highlights CA Illegal Who Murdered After Detainer Ignored pic.twitter.com/TxbYfpqlXo— Brad Wilmouth (@bradwilmouth) August 14, 2026 So 36-year-old Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, a Venezuelan national, already allegedly assaulted a girlfriend when in April, according to court records, he was arrested for two burglaries, but a judge released him to home detention. Well, last Tuesday, police re-arrested him for violating that release, but, the next day, a judge released him again on his own recognizance.She added that Iriarte-Valdez seemed to be preparing for another burglary when he stabbed to death homeowner Todd Stewart.On the same night's broadcast, host Trace Gallagher called out Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) for shamelessly trying to blame ICE for the murder even though California authorities had repeatedly ignored an ICE detainer:But Governor (Gavin) Newsom's office responded to "Common Sense," saying, quote, "Nothing in California law prevents federal authorities from enforcing immigration law." What the statement fails to say is that federal authorities who try to enforce immigration get zero help and face many obstacles. In fact, the very same illegal immigrant accused of killing the 68-year-old man already had a detainer placed on him by ICE. And the detainer was ignored three times, including after allegations of felony burglary and allegations of assaulting a girlfriend.On Thursday's Fox & Friends First, fill-in co-host Nate Foy noted that the illegal alien also had a history of DUI and hit-and-run.As the same day's Fox & Friends covered the story, co-host Brian Kilmeade discussed the issue with border czar Tom Homan. Homan called out Governor Newsom's lame effort to blame ICE, and declared that the state's law enforcement could have simply called ICE and informed them that he was about to be released from jail. Here's Homan:And what really upset me, the response from the governor's office was that, "Well, ICE has billions of dollars -- they should be doing their job." We did our job. We located this person in their facility. We did investigation, found out he is illegally in the United States, he has a criminal history, he is deportable, so we issued a detainer asking them to notify us before they released him.He added:Now, I don't care about sanctuary policies -- oh, they said, "We can't honor detainers -- we don't think they're legal." There's nothing illegal -- there's nothing against a sanctuary law in California for a deputy to just pick the phone up and say that, "Hey, this guy's being released in an hour." You don't have to hold him one minute longer than you would normally hold him. Just call us before you release him.Transcripts follow:Fox News @ NightAugust 12, 202611:28 p.m. EasternCHANLEY PAINTER: So 36-year-old Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, a Venezuelan national, already allegedly assaulted a girlfriend when in April, according to court records, he was arrested for two burglaries, but a judge released him to home detention. Well, last Tuesday, police re-arrested him for violating that release, but, the next day, a judge released him again on his own recognizance.Then, on Thursday, according to police, Valdez was apparently casing houses when he was confronted by 68-year-old Todd Stewart. Valdez, wearing a tactical vest, allegedly stabbed Stewart to death.(...)TRACE GALLAGHER: But Governor (Gavin) Newsom's office responded to "Common Sense," saying, quote, "Nothing in California law prevents federal authorities from enforcing immigration law." What the statement fails to say is that federal authorities who try to enforce immigration get zero help and face many obstacles. In fact, the very same illegal immigrant accused of killing the 68-year-old man already had a detainer placed on him by ICE. And the detainer was ignored three times, including after allegations of felony burglary and allegations of assaulting a girlfriend.(...)Fox & Friends FirstAugust 13, 2026NATE FOY: According to the New York Post, not only was he let out of jail the day before the alleged murder, he has a whole bunch of previous arrests that include DUI, hit-and-run, burglary, trespassing, and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse.(...)Fox & FriendsAugust 13, 20267:28 a.m.TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: And what really upset me, the response from the governor's office was that, "Well, ICE has billions of dollars -- they should be doing their job." We did our job. We located this person in their facility. We did investigation, found out he is illegally in the United States, he has a criminal history, he is deportable, so we issued a detainer asking them to notify us before they released him.Now, I don't care about sanctuary policies -- oh, they said, "We can't honor detainers -- we don't think they're legal." There's nothing illegal -- there's nothing against a sanctuary law in California for a deputy to just pick the phone up and say that, "Hey, this guy's being released in an hour." You don't have to hold him one minute longer than you would normally hold him. Just call us before you release him. August 16th, 2026 6:04 AM Brad Wilmouth 296448 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2026/08/15/pbs-news-hour-pours-cold-water-trumps-dc-crime-drop-thats-expensive The PBS News Hour on Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of President Trump declaring a crime emergency in Washington, D.C. and deploying National Guard troops to fight it. Despite crime statistics heading downward over the course of the year, some drastically so, petulant PBS declared the action a mixed bag at best.Co-anchor Geoff Bennett: It has now been one year since President Trump declared a crime emergency in the nation's capital and deployed thousands of members of the National Guard to its streets. As Lisa Desjardins reports, questions continue to mount over the mission's cost, its legality, and its effectiveness in fighting crime.Reporter Lisa Desjardins loaded the dice from the start against the National Guard deployment.Lisa Desjardins: When President Trump announced the deployment last August, combined with a surge of immigration enforcement, it immediately sparked protests and drew criticism from experts, who said the data showed violent crime in D.C. was already at a 30-year low.Thomas Abt, Senior Fellow, Council on Criminal Justice: D.C., it's no secret, has had above-average levels of crime for many, many years. But crime at the time of the announcement was falling quite rapidly. So there really was no urgent situation that needed to be addressed.Desjardins: Total crime in Washington has continued to drop over the last year, down another 20 percent, according to the D.C. Police Department….But there is debate over the root causes of the decline, particularly if the Guard impacts violent crime at all….Abt worked for President Obama and Governor Andrew Cuomo. After some dueling soundbites, PBS's analysis of the topic came from Richard Hahn of the Niskanen Center, “a nonpartisan think tank,” which positions itself in the political center. Hahn refused to give the Trump Administration much credit for the indisputably improved crime statistics.Desjardins warned of “complexities” before getting to the good news.PBS on crime drop in DC, via guest Richard Hahn: "....the National Guard seems to have impacted mostly low-level opportunistic property crimes...it doesn't seem like the National Guard had much of an effect on violent crime...the banner issue that they were brought in to combat." pic.twitter.com/us8xK0uyCN— Clay Waters 🇮🇱 (@claywaters44) August 13, 2026Desjardins: ….Major crime is down in the nation's capital. Let's look at some statistics. This is just year over year from the D.C. Police Department, homicides down 32 percent, robberies down 15 percent, car theft down 53 percent. Again, that's today year to year since the National Guard arrived. In your research, what kinds of crime do you think the National Guard actually affected or impacted?Richard Hahn, Senior Manager for Research and Evidence, Niskanen Center: Well, the National Guard seems to have impacted mostly low-level opportunistic property crimes, things like petty thefts, people breaking into cars. These are really vexing problems for residents in D.C. As a D.C. resident, I know that this is something that bothers me and plagues many of my neighbors. However, it doesn't seem like the National Guard had much of an effect on violent crime, which was, of course, the banner issue that they were brought in to combat.Desjardins: That has been going down though. So why do you think it's not due to the National Guard presence?Hahn: So the decline in all crimes in D.C. has been going on for the last three years, really since we saw those peaks in 2023. All types of crime had have been going down. So what we did was try to distinguish between the effect the National Guard had and what was already going on in D.C. And what we found is, the National Guard had a great impact on low-level property crimes. They declined by about a quarter since the Guard deployed. However, there was very little change in violent and other serious crimes after the Guard deployed…Hahn also downplayed the National Guard getting weapons off the streets, as both he and PBS seemed determined to spin the figures in negative fashion, with Hahn noting “The National Guard is very costly...over $600 a day.”Desjardins instantly chimed in with "That's expensive."Hahn: It's a very expensive intervention, whereas a police officer in D.C., which is a relatively expensive place to police, is still under about $400 a day….A transcript is available, click “Expand.”PBS News Hour8/11/267:27:57 p.m.Geoff Bennett: It has now been one year since President Trump declared a crime emergency in the nation's capital and deployed thousands of members of the National Guard to its streets.As Lisa Desjardins reports, questions continue to mount over the mission's cost, its legality, and its effectiveness in fighting crime.Lisa Desjardins: From Metro stations to monuments, these days, soldiers in D.C. are almost as common as sightseers.Nearly 5,000 troops from more than 15 states currently patrol the capital, a controversial symbol of the president's authority in this overwhelmingly Democratic city.President Donald Trump: I'm announcing a historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor.Lisa Desjardins: When President Trump announced the deployment last August, combined with a surge of immigration enforcement, it immediately sparked protests and drew criticism from experts, who said the data showed violent crime in D.C. was already at a 30-year low.Thomas Abt, Senior Fellow, Council on Criminal Justice: D.C., it's no secret, has had above-average levels of crime for many, many years. But crime at the time of the announcement was falling quite rapidly. So there really was no urgent situation that needed to be addressed.Lisa Desjardins: Total crime in Washington has continued to drop over the last year, down another 20 percent, according to the D.C. Police Department. The White House credits the Guard and the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which it says includes 20 federal and local law enforcement agencies and has made 16,000 arrests in the past year.But there is debate over the root causes of the decline, particularly if the Guard impacts violent crime at all. Yesterday, on TRUTH Social, the president threatened to sue the author of a study from the liberal Center for American Progress, calling the research a radical left scam.In July, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said critics of the operation were blinded by ideology.Pete Hegseth, U.S. Defense Secretary: There's nothing political about this exercise. Law and order is something all Americans deserve, black, white, rich, poor, man or woman from D.C. or far-flung places in this country.Rodney Miller, 50-Year D.C. Resident: It's really unnecessary. It's a kind of a horse-and-pony show.Lisa Desjardins: Polls have shown a majority of D.C. residents oppose the deployment, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates the total cost of taxpayers so far has been at least $660 million.In November, West Virginia National Guard specialist Sarah Beckstrom was killed and another Guardsman injured in an ambush-style attack not far from the White House. An Afghan national is charged.The president has also tried deploying troops to other Democratic cities in his second term, like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland. Courts ultimately blocked those efforts, but Joseph Nunn at the Brennan Center says they are concerning and unprecedented.Joseph Nunn, Brennan Center for Justice: No prior president has attempted to use the military for domestic law enforcement in such a wide variety of ways and on the scale that the Trump -- second Trump administration has attempted to use the military.Lisa Desjardins: Meanwhile, in D.C., where Trump has direct control of the National Guard, the Pentagon confirmed last month troops will remain on patrol through the end of the president's second term. The Department of Defense estimated the cost over the next 2.5 years would be at least $1.4 billion.For more on what the data say about the impact of the National Guard on crime in the nation's capital, we're joined now by Richard Hahn. He is a senior manager for research in the Criminal Justice Department the Niskanen Center, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.Richard, thank you for joining us.This is not a simple discussion. We will be getting into some of the complexities here, but I want to start with something clear. Major crime is down in the nation's capital. Let's look at some statistics. This is just year over year from the D.C. Police Department, homicides down 32 percent, robberies down 15 percent, car theft down 53 percent.Again, that's today year to year since the National Guard arrived. In your research, what kinds of crime do you think the National Guard actually affected or impacted?Richard Hahn, Senior Manager for Research and Evidence, Niskanen Center: Well, the National Guard seems to have impacted mostly low-level opportunistic property crimes, things like petty thefts, people breaking into cars. These are really vexing problems for residents in D.C.As a D.C. resident, I know that this is something that bothers me and plagues many of my neighbors. However, it doesn't seem like the National Guard had much of an effect on violent crime, which was, of course, the banner issue that they were brought in to combat.Lisa Desjardins: That has been going down though. So why do you think it's not due to the National Guard presence?Richard Hahn: So the decline in all crimes in D.C. has been going on for the last three years, really since we saw those peaks in 2023. All types of crime had have been going down.So what we did was try to distinguish between the effect the National Guard had and what was already going on in D.C. And what we found is, the National Guard had a great impact on low-level property crimes. They declined by about a quarter since the Guard deployed. However, there was very little change in violent and other serious crimes after the Guard deployed.And that's looking at the difference between what was already happening, what sort of the trend looked like before, and after the National Guard got here. So, yes, year over year, all crime types are down, and that's a great thing. That's a wonderful story for D.C. But it doesn't seem like the Guard actually contributed much to that.Lisa Desjardins: And you're saying that they didn't have an effect over and above the trend that was already happening.Now, the White House, and I reached out to them today, they argue that federal officers and part of the kind of program that they put in place in Washington, D.C., one thing that they did was take weapons off the streets. Is it possible that that kind of effect could have impacted violence in the nation's capital?Richard Hahn: I absolutely think it has impacted violence in the nation's capital.I think the thing is that you got to look at you got to zoom back out and you have to look at what's been happening for the last three years. And gun arrests have been going up for the past three years. Arrests involving guns by Metropolitan Police have been going up for the past three years, and gun crimes have been going down for the past three years.So this is really part of a larger trend that's been driven by our local police department that's not really been much affected by the National Guard's presence.Lisa Desjardins: I know that's one of your main points here is, you stress after looking at all this that something that may be overlooked here is the job the D.C. Police Department has been doing.And you also found and calculated that they have a smaller force now, but yet crime has been going down. How?Richard Hahn: That's correct.So our theory behind this really great trend in D.C. is that police have actually been better at being more proactive. A greater share of their arrests over the past three years have come from stopping crimes that are actually occurring when they arrive, as opposed to waiting in their cruiser or on the corner for a call to come through dispatch for them to respond to.So they're catching more crimes happening in the act. And that's not something that the National Guard would really be good at. The National Guard tend to be untrained as professional police officers. Their duties entail a whole lot of other things besides policing, things like traffic safety, greening and cleaning.And as it turns out, they have no arrest power. They can simply detain someone. So a National Guard troop should really not be judged by the same standards as of a police officer. You get much more crime prevention out of a police officer than you do out of a National Guard soldier.Lisa Desjardins: And you sound like, in the police conversation, you're seeing less reactive policing, more proactive policing, make a difference in Washington.Richard Hahn: That's correct.Lisa Desjardins: To finish this conversation about the National Guard, they did have a positive effect, as you say, on things like carjacking that are important to so many people, but it will cost. Did you look at sort of the efficiencies here and how that worked?Richard Hahn: Yes, we did. The National Guard is very costly.So, per person, the National Guard costs a little bit over $600 a day, and that's because not only do we have to pay their salaries, but we also have to feed them, clothe them, transport them. And outside of that $600 figure, there's also a hidden cost to the economy in terms of people leaving their civilian jobs to do their tour with the Guard and also leaving their families, and that can't be captured in the figures that Congress released that on which we based the...Lisa Desjardins: That's expensive.Richard Hahn: It's a very expensive intervention, whereas a police officer in D.C., which is a relatively expensive place to police, is still under about $400 a day.So that's a considerable difference in cost, and you get much more crime prevention out of a police officer than you do out of a soldier.Lisa Desjardins: Richard Hahn, thank you so much for looking at this, not a simple topic, but you're helping us understand it better. August 15th, 2026 9:42 PM Clay Waters 296414 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2026/08/15/new-yorker-magazine-gets-weird-about-aocs-announcement-shes YouTube Screenshot The New Yorker magazine reflecting the same assertion by its subject, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, claims that it is conservatives who have gotten "weird" over her announcement that she is freezing her eggs. However, when you actually read the Friday story by Anna Russell, "A.O.C.’s Eggs and the Working Woman’s Inconvenient Truth," the weird ones appear to be both New Yorker magazine and AOC. And the W-word was invoked right away in the first paragraph:On Sunday, the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez uploaded a video to her Instagram stories. She’s seated on a beige sofa, in jeans and a cardigan, with her French bulldog, Deco, by her side. The vibe is intimate, with the jittery undercurrent of an unboxing video. On a coffee table in front of her, a series of small vials and swabs are laid out. “All right, everyone,” she says. “Day One of freezing my eggs. I’m diving into the process.” She sweeps her hair back and takes a deep breath. Then she pulls up her shirt and injects herself in the stomach. “Don’t be weird about this,” she says. “Even though I know all of you will be.”Spoiler: people were weird about it. Ocasio-Cortez’s choice to share her egg-freezing publicly has kicked off furious debate and confused hand-wringing among conservatives.Spoiler: Conservatives were actually quite bemused by it since it provided enough comedy material to launch 10,000 memes. As to weird, check out this story excerpt of the very weird scene where AOC initiated her egg freezing process:...In one video, she tells viewers that she’ll be going on the ABC talk show “This Morning,” “as part of my job.” “Because of the timing of it, I’m going to have to take my shots in the greenroom before my interview. And I want you all to see that, because women can do anything,” she says. “And I think it’s badass that I’m going to be, you know, giving myself shots in the greenroom, get my glam on, roll out, talk about international events, domestic policy, elections, pop out, live my life, do my thing.”Weird, very weird. Instead of initiating the egg freezing in the privacy of a clinic or at least her home, AOC is doing her performance art in the green room of a television news show. Weird.But what of her fiancé in all this? Despite the couple having been together for over ten years, the New Yorker now tells us their relationship is currently in the technical state of dumped.In the days after Ocasio-Cortez began documenting her egg-freezing, rumors swirled around her relationship status. Was she still engaged to her college boyfriend, the red-headed web developer Riley Roberts? What did he think about her decision? Commentators noted that she had not been wearing her engagement ring lately, and that Roberts had not been photographed by her side. On Wednesday, the Times reported that the relationship had “quietly ended some time ago.”And since AOC (and the New Yorker) have been acting so "weird" about the egg freezing shtick, it has inevitably led bemused normal people to naturally laugh at the situation. One example is from the Babylon Bee with this comedic gem, "AOC Has Her Boyfriend Frozen In Case She Wants Him In The Future." The satire came complete with fans proclaiming "You go, girl! We can have it all! Freeze the patriarchy!"X as could be expected has become a treasure trove of multitudes of AOC Egg Freeze memes, including the current owner of X: AOC is single.Eggs frozen.Elon, this is your moment.Fulfill the prophecy. 😂 pic.twitter.com/yc5HgXlNYF— Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) August 12, 2026So why so many memes on this topic? Because, sorry New Yorker, AOC and her frozen eggs situation is just plain WEIRD. August 15th, 2026 9:20 PM P.J. Gladnick 296441 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2026/08/15/cnns-sanchez-describes-mangione-fans-merely-controversial CNN likes to think of itself as a network that knows that there is an objective difference between an apple and a banana, but on Friday, The Source guest host Boris Sanchez chose a bizarre news story to claim the people who think an apple is actually a banana are merely “controversial.” Those people would be supporters of Luigi Mangione, the man who pled guilty in federal court on Friday to stalking resulting in death charges related to the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.Introducing a clip of Mangione’s defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Sanchez, “Mangione, of course, spoke in front of Thompson's emotional family today. The story he told of enduring years of pain after a broken back is part of why he's drawn a controversial wave of public sympathy among some followers, as his story became a focal point for anti-corporate frustration.” CNN's Boris Sanchez tries portraying Luigi Mangione groupies as merely "controversial," "Mangione, of course, spoke in front of the Thompson's emotional family today. The story he told of enduring years of pain after a broken back is part of why he's drawn a controversial wave of… pic.twitter.com/jnTxkfulTO— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 15, 2026 Tax policy is controversial. People who unapologetically assassinate other people and the people who defend them are evil, and it is not complicated.As it was, Agnifilo was shown in the clip making excuses for her client, “As Luigi explained in court today, he endured years of severe, debilitating pain following a broken back while struggling to navigate our health care and health insurance systems.”Committed to his newfound respect for journalistic neutrality, Sanchez teed up clips from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jamie McDonald and NYPD police commissioner Jessica Tisch as if they had a simple disagreement with Mangione, “Ever since Mangione's arrest, this case has become a vehicle for people to make a point about health care, corporate power, politics, and more. But today, prosecutors pushed back on that idea, saying this case is about one thing: the law.”Sanchez’s sudden desire to be journalistic Switzerland when it comes to defending political assassinations is not just morally wrong. It is also downright weird. Sanchez is a man who has previously done segments that try to defend the idea that biological sex is not dichotomous is an objective fact. It is one thing to say that Mangione supporters’ existence is newsworthy, but it is another to claim they are anything other than abhorrent, and Sanchez failed in that distinction.Here is a transcript for the August 14 show:CNN The Source with Kaitlan Collins8/14/20269:20 PM ETBORIS SANCHEZ: Mangione, of course, spoke in front of Thompson's emotional family today. The story he told of enduring years of pain after a broken back is part of why he's drawn a controversial wave of public sympathy among some followers, as his story became a focal point for anti-corporate frustration.KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO: As Luigi explained in court today, he endured years of severe, debilitating pain following a broken back while struggling to navigate our health care and health insurance systems.SANCHEZ: Ever since Mangione's arrest, this case has become a vehicle for people to make a point about health care, corporate power, politics, and more. But today, prosecutors pushed back on that idea, saying this case is about one thing: the law.JAMIE MCDONALD: We live in a civilized society governed by the rule of law. We debate. We disagree. We protest. We do not commit murder. No grievance, political belief or ideological cause can ever justify murder. There can be no celebrity in assassination.JESSICA TISCH: And to those who idolize Luigi Mangione, I say this violence is not a cause. Murder is not a message and a killer is certainly not a hero. August 15th, 2026 2:09 PM Alex Christy 296447 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jeffrey-lord/2026/08/15/early-media-take-28-will-any-republican-distance-themselves-trump As if the country didn’t already know, the 2028 presidential race in the GOP (and with Democrats!) to succeed President Donald Trump is already on.Yes, there are still a few months to go before voters head to the polls for the 2026 midterm cycle.But, hey? The Big Enchilada is 2028. Big Media is on that trail. And they won’t let you forget it, either.As but one piece of evidence, here’s this recent headline from The Washington Post:Sizing up the 2028 Republican presidential contendersCan anyone win by distancing themselves from President Donald Trump?And there you have it. The Big Media Big Questions that they will be asking from now until election day in November 2028 are:  Who is replacing Trump?  Who is disassociating themselves from Trump? Who is campaigning to be the next Trump? After all, for the Big Media, 2028 is all about Trump. They ignored him the first time he ran in 2016 and they won’t make that mistake again.In fact, a look back at 2016 and, if you’re looking for amusement, the media had headlines like this one from The Nation:  Relax, Donald Trump Can’t WinEven before you get to his campaign’s incompetence and lackluster fundraising, the numbers just aren’t on his side.From Politico:GOP insiders: Trump can't winFrom The Atlantic: Why Trump Won’t WinHis threats to democracy make him dangerous. They also make him a weak candidate.And on and on -- and on and on -- went similar Big Media headlines assuring readers a Trump candidacy was ridiculous. Even more to the point? Looking forward, who in the GOP, as The Post story illustrates, will run in 2028 and “distance” themselves from the President?  Anyone? Anyone?So, on goes the inevitable game leading up to the presidential election in which someone else - Yes! Gasp! Someone Else! - will be chosen to replace America’s favorite 45th and 47th President. Over at The Hill there was this:Why Marco Rubio probably won’t ever be presidentThe article reaches back into history, saying this of Rubio and the office he currently holds -- Secretary of State. Writes the reporter: Moving from the Senate to the Secretary of State’s office seems like a step up for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and perhaps a way to position himself for a presidential run in 2028. Rubio may have good reasons for moving into the Cabinet, but improving his prospects in four years is not one of them. Indeed, the Cabinet has long been a graveyard for presidential contenders.This sounds surprising, as some of the most notable names in American history — Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren — led the State Department. But that was all during the early days of the republic. The last president to have previously held that position was James Buchanan, right before the Civil War.…Rubio, at only 53 years old and with a significant presidential run in his past, seems to have accepted the secretary of state position with a look to the future. But the track record suggests that there is a good chance that heading a Cabinet department is actually an end to a political career.Let's guess they didn't write that about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before she ran against Trump, and she was 68, not 53. If one one broadens the field to include both Republicans and Democrats, one got this from Politico at the end of 2025, with a mere three years left to go in the 2028 presidential sweepstakes. The headline:  The 2028 Race Has Begun. Here’s Who’s Winning. White House hopefuls in both parties are maneuvering for the post-Trump era. Here’s where they stand at the end of 2025.So the essence here from Big Media? There will be endless stories coming - say again, endless stories - in which the media is speculating on the latest twitch from this, that or another office holder that allegedly shows that public office holder X is leading or failing in the 2028 race for president.  The headlines - like the ones from Politico and The Hill, above - will keep on coming. Until the primary elections begin, it will be lighter than air.  August 15th, 2026 1:30 PM Jeffrey Lord 296440 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2026/08/15/jeff-daniels-reagan-reykjavik-movie-we-are-all-one-world Liberal actor Jeff Daniels plays President Ronald Reagan in the movie The Brink of War about the 1986 Reykjavik Summit, but during a promotional interview with CBS Saturday Morning, he appeared to have completely missed the point of the story. According to him, the key takeaway is that we should all aspire to the amoral hippie-ism of John Lennon, “We’re all one person. We are all one world. You know, John Lennon wasn't wrong in his song ‘Imagine.’”  Co-host and interviewer Kelly O’Grady asked Daniel and co-star Jared Harris, who plays Mikhail Gorbachev, “This film arrives at a time when there are a lot of high-stakes negotiations happening around the world. If a world leader were to watch this, what would you want them to take away?” Actor Jeff Daniels, who is playing Ronald Reagan in "The Brink of War" about the 1986 Reykjavik Summit, appears to have missed the point, telling CBS, "We’re all one person. We are all one world. You know, John Lennon wasn't wrong in his song 'Imagine.' I hope world leaders,… pic.twitter.com/gEPuGVHyGC— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 15, 2026 Harris responded with broad generalities, “You know, you think about why these two people, the heads of these two countries, chose to meet in person and you realize it is all personal. You know, you have to sit down with the opposing leader and see if you can form a relationship.”Daniels, however, tried to get philosophical, “We’re all one person. We are all one world. You know, John Lennon wasn't wrong in his song ‘Imagine.’ I hope world leaders, plural, from all around the world will see it and, as Jared said, get in the room and talk about—and maybe we can learn something from what two great leaders did back in 1986.Of course, the Reykjavik summit did not occur in a vacuum. It came after years of “Peace through Strength” policies and ended without an agreement because Reagan refused to compromise on the Strategic Defense Initiative. The real lesson of Reykjavik and its subsequent nuclear arms reduction agreements is therefore to compromise where you can, but stand firm where you can’t, and that it helps to enter high-stakes geopolitical and arms control summits from a position of strength. It is not to “Imagine” an anti-human world without private property, countries, or religions, which either sounds like communism or a world that believes in nothing.Back in studio, O’Grady wrapped up the whole interview by claiming, “The thing I find so interesting is at the time this was considered a failure. They walked away. They were very frustrated with each other, but it was later. That was the thing that made it possible to get to an agreement, and I love what Daniels said there, it’s just finding that groundwork. Hey, we are actually just two humans.”Daniels’s misdiagnosis does not mean that The Brink of War will be a bad movie or that it is an injustice to the real Reagan. However, it does mean that people risk taking the wrong lessons from it, and that could have dangerous consequences for today’s foreign policy.Here is a transcript for the August 15 show:CBS Saturday Morning8/15/20268:16 AM ETKELLY O’GRADY: This film arrives at a time when there are a lot of high-stakes negotiations happening around the world. If a world leader were to watch this, what would you want them to take away?JARED HARRIS: You know, you think about why these two people, the heads of these two countries, chose to meet in person and you realize it is all personal. You know, you have to sit down with the opposing leader and see if you can form a relationship.JEFF DANIELS: We’re all one person. We are all one world. You know, John Lennon wasn't wrong in his song “Imagine.” I hope world leaders, plural, from all around the world will see it and, as Jared said, get in the room and talk about—and maybe we can learn something from what two great leaders did back in 1986.O’GRADY [In Studio]: The thing I find so interesting is at the time this was considered a failure. They walked away. They were very frustrated with each other, but it was later. That was the thing that made it possible to get to an agreement, and I love what Daniels said there, it’s just finding that groundwork. Hey, we are actually just two humans.  August 15th, 2026 12:03 PM Alex Christy 296446 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2026/08/15/stohr-defends-woke-10-claims-we-are-seeing-results-its-warnings As various socialists’ old social media posts come back to haunt them now that they are trying to take over the Democratic Party, there is an attempt by some to renounce “Woke 1.0” and offer up what they claim is a different kind of leftism. However, on Friday’s PBS News Hour, Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr cautioned against discarding Woke 1.0 and claimed “we are seeing the results of what people were talking about then.”Host William Brangham had a leading question, “I mean, Kimberly, the—some Democratic critics of the president say that, yes, the Republicans do like to fetishize the woke era, but they argue you also have a Republican Party that is in virtual lockstep with Donald Trump. And what they argue is his very open war on all of the democratic norms of our society, and that that is a much bigger liability. Do you think that that's true?”Stohr was filling in for MS NOW host Jonathan Capehart during the weekly news recap segment with The Atlantic staff writer David Brooks, and those two aren’t exactly the greatest defenders of “democratic norms.” PBS's William Brangham had a leading question for Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr on what has now been called Woke 1.0 , "I mean, Kimberly, the—some Democratic critics of the president say that, yes, the Republicans do like to fetish the woke era, but they argue you… pic.twitter.com/fNytxl8u0J— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 15, 2026 Still, Stohr replied, “I think multiple things can be true at once. That's certainly a big liability… But at the same time, to push back against your point about how what a disaster Woke 1.0 was, we are seeing the results of what people were talking about then.”She also lamented, “We are seeing a work force where the federal work force is—was decimated, including black women disproportionately hit. You are seeing Republicans vilify trans people and LGBTQ people with zest and zeal. You are seeing DEI, whatever they call DEI, being eliminated in a way that even the president is putting up signs on Smithsonian saying that it's a lie if it talks about the plight of black or brown Americans, which is factual. You're seeing such a backlash against all of those things, which is in part because Democrats were walking away from it.”Obviously, Stohr’s depiction of the Smithsonian controversy is wildly caricataured. She also made the common refrain that the Democrats need to accommodate the crazy people because, “I think Democrats have to build a big tent that focuses on all of the things that are happening as a result of the Trump administration, both economically and otherwise. And I think that's what Democrats are trying to do at this point. They need a big tent. They need to make the big case to Americans that you can—if you want to keep with all of—everything that's going on, keep voting Republican. If you want that to end, give someone else a shot.”For his part, Brooks offered up some big-picture public opinion analysis, “Just one quick thing. I think we lived through the era of what we will call neoliberalism: Clinton, Obama, Bush. That may have died, much as I would lament that fact. But it's been replaced by two successor ideologies, one on the left, which Ibram Kendi, Robin DiAngelo, one on the right, which is MAGA.”He also claimed that “I think both those successor ideologies are now in the process of cracking up. And the question would—becomes, what's next? How—is there a new moderate? Is there something else, something? One has a sense of a succession of belief systems that we're now on the end of. And I wish I knew what came next.”2020 and “Woke 1.0” were not that long ago. The candidates running on them just realize they need to do a better job of not saying the quiet part out loud, but unfortunately for them, the internet is forever.Here is a transcript for the August 14 show:PBS News Hour 8/14/20267:41 PM ETWILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, Kimberly, the—some Democratic critics of the president say that, yes, the Republicans do like to fetishize the woke era, but they argue you also have a Republican Party that is in virtual lockstep with Donald Trump. And what they argue is his very open war on all of the democratic norms of our society, and that that is a much bigger liability. Do you think that that's true? KIMBERLY ATKINS STOHR: I think multiple things can be true at once. That's certainly a big liability. People—Donald Trump's approval ratings on all the things he ran on, affordability, two to three down in the polls. Immigration, more than half of Americans are disagreeing with his policies and the way that immigration policy is going. So you have that. But at the same time, to push back against your point about how what a disaster Woke 1.0 was, we are seeing the results of what people were talking about then. We are seeing a work force where the federal work force is—was decimated, including black women disproportionately hit. You are seeing Republicans vilify trans people and LGBTQ people with zest and zeal.You are seeing DEI, whatever they call DEI, being eliminated in a way that even the president is putting up signs on Smithsonian saying that it's a lie if it talks about the plight of black or brown Americans, which is factual. You're seeing such a backlash against all of those things, which is in part because Democrats were walking away from it.I think Democrats have to build a big tent that focuses on all of the things that are happening as a result of the Trump administration, both economically and otherwise. And I think that's what Democrats are trying to do at this point. They need a big tent. They need to make the big case to Americans that you can—if you want to keep with all of—everything that's going on, keep voting Republican.If you want that to end, give someone else a shot.DAVID BROOKS: Just one quick thing. I think we lived through the era of what we will call neoliberalism: Clinton, Obama, Bush. That may have died, much as I would lament that fact. But it's been replaced by two successor ideologies, one on the left, which Ibram Kendi, Robin DiAngelo, one on the right, which is MAGA.I think both those successor ideologies are now in the process of cracking up. And the question would—becomes, what's next? How—is there a new moderate? Is there something else, something? One has a sense of a succession of belief systems that we're now on the end of. And I wish I knew what came next. August 15th, 2026 9:50 AM Alex Christy 296445 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-spinnato/2026/08/15/cbs-only-broadcast-network-cover-world-war-ii-memorial CBS/SnapStream On Friday, of the three major broadcast networks, CBS was the only network to cover a deranged act of vandalism at the World War II Memorial in the nation's capital.In a news brief, anchor Tony Dokoupil described the vandalism while images played of the monument covered with spray paint.Here is the full report from CBS Evening News read by Dokoupil:  Friday’s CBS Evening News was the only network show to cover the vandalism of the World War II Memorial in Washington DC, with anchor Tony Dokoupil sharing how the deranged vandal wrote “clean hands, dirty money” on the memorial and posted videos of the vandalism on social media. pic.twitter.com/4pDRPaw7Kx— Nick (@nspin310) August 15, 2026 TONY DOKOUPIL: Someone vandalized the World War II memorial on the National Mall in Washington yesterday, and today federal officials say they have the suspect in custody. It's a 41-year-old woman from Kentucky, allegedly seen here spray painting the words "Clean hands, dirty money,” using the symbol for money. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office said the woman posted those videos on social media.ABC and NBC did not choose to even briefly mention the vandalism on their newscasts. However, as NewsBusters noted, Friday’s NBC Nightly News was the only network newscast to note the historic violent crime decrease in the first year of President Trump’s second term. ABC decided to spend some of its airtime to complain about the ballroom instead of covering the crime decrease or the memorial vandalism.FOX News’s Special Report with Bret Baier had a long report on the subject with correspondent David SpuntBaier noted, “It's the second case involving damage to one of the featured structures in the area.” FOX News's Special Report with Bret Baier had a longer story on the WWII Memorial vandalism with correspondent David Spunt.Baier noted, "It's the second recent case involving damage to one of the featured structures in the area." https://t.co/AvOkN5zKz9 pic.twitter.com/lStizMT2Zv— Nick (@nspin310) August 15, 2026 Spunt expanded on the details of the vandalism:Park police were called to a report of a disorderly woman. They found bubbles in the World War II Memorial. They believe a cleaning agent was dumped in it. They found foam in the fountain area and found the phrase, quote, "Clean hands dirty dollar sign.” meaning money, in spray paint. Melissa Farris was arrested and appeared in court earlier this afternoon. She faces, Bret, up to ten years behind bars and up to $250,000 in fines. Authorities say they have a live stream where she admitted to damaging the memorial. They say before she vandalized that memorial, she recorded this video, posted it to social media, and is quoted as saying, I want to quote this, quote, “I am accountable for the things I do and the choices that I make and our government needs to be accounting for their choices, too,” end quote.In an interview with Fox, an Army veteran commented, “People fought and died for our country. And it's dishonoring this country and all we have been through.”With such a disgraceful act that dishonored the many veterans of World War II, it was a shame ABC and NBC did not feature it as part of their evening newscasts.The full transcripts of the segments from CBS Evening News and FNC’s Special Report are below. Click “expand”:CBS Evening NewsAugust 14, 20266:38:15 PM EasternTONY DOKOUPIL: Someone vandalized the World War II memorial on the National Mall in Washington yesterday, and today federal officials say they have the suspect in custody. It's a 41-year-old woman from Kentucky, allegedly seen here spray painting the words "Clean hands, dirty money,” using the symbol for money. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office said the woman posted those videos on social media. (...)FOX News Channel’s Special Report with Bret BaierAugust 14, 20266:29:51 PM EasternBRET BAIER: Breaking tonight, a woman accused of defacing the World War II Memorial along the Washington Mall is looking at federal charges tonight. It's the second recent case involving damage to one of the featured structures in the area. Correspondent David Spunt is outside the courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia tonight. Good evening, David.DAVID SPUNT: Bret, good evening to you. Hours ago, the suspect appeared behind me in court. The 41-year-old from Kentucky is in federal custody. She will remain in jail at least over the weekend, possibly even longer. You've got to remember, this happened yesterday on a busy day in Washington, D.C., with hundreds of tourists around. Park police were called to a report of a disorderly woman. They found bubbles in the World War II Memorial. They believe a cleaning agent was dumped in it. They found foam in the fountain area and found the phrase, quote, "Clean hands dirty dollar sign.” meaning money, in spray paint. Melissa Farris was arrested and appeared in court earlier this afternoon. She faces, Bret, up to ten years behind bars and up to $250,000 in fines. Authorities say they have a live stream where she admitted to damaging the memorial. They say before she vandalized that memorial, she recorded this video, posted it to social media, and is quoted as saying, I want to quote this, quote, “I am accountable for the things I do and the choices that I make and our government needs to be accounting for their choices, too,” end quote.Fox News spoke with veterans on the scene at the memorial.[Cuts to video]DEBRA MORTENSEN (US ARMY VETERAN): People fought and died for our country. And it's dishonoring this country and all we have been through.[Cuts back to live]SPUNT: U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on social media called the attack despicable.The announcement of the criminal charges against Farris comes after the DOJ dropped their case against Davey Hearn for reflecting pool vandalism. U.S. Attorney Pirro says the Interior Department withheld important information during that investigation that showed Hearn was not a vandal, but the damage was done from a rushed job by the contractor. That case dismissal infuriated President Trump, who called the people or person behind this vandalism case I'm talking about today, quote, “animals.”But at this point, all evidence is pointing to one accomplice in this case - or one person, I should say, in this case, and authorities believe she is the one behind bars. Bret?(...) August 15th, 2026 1:14 AM Nicholas Spinnato 296443 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-spinnato/2026/08/14/nbc-covers-historic-crime-drop-abc-remains-obsessed-ballroom NBC/Snapstream While all of Friday’s network evening news shows led with the guilty plea of United Healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione, NBC Nightly News was the only show to mention the release of FBI crime statistics that showed a large decrease in violent crime in the first year of President Trump’s second term. Instead of coverage for the decreased crime statistics, ABC dedicated a segment to hit on the construction of the White House ballroom.Near the middle of the show, anchor Tom Llamas read, “President Trump also, tonight, touting new crime stats from the FBI. The biggest one-year drop in violent crime since the bureau began tracking those stats nearly 100 years ago.”He then read off the drops in violent crime: “In 2025, murder and manslaughter dropped more than 18 percent. Rape offenses decreased and estimated 7.6 percent, and robberies, the FBI says, were down 18.5 percent.” Friday's NBC Nightly News was the only network news show to cover the FBI crime statistics release that, as anchor Tom Llamas said, showed the "biggest one-year drop in violent crime since the bureau began tracking those stats nearly 100 years ago." pic.twitter.com/ZEKroKHrKo— Nick (@nspin310) August 15, 2026 Fox News reported it was the “largest drop in violent crime and murder since 1937.”Apparently ABC and CBS did not feel the subject was important enough to mention on their nighttime newscast.But ABC was the worst offender, as they instead dedicated around a minute and a half on White House ballroom construction and a Trump appeal to the Supreme Court that asked for construction to be resumed.ABC’s Mary Bruce reported from the White House and seemed obsessed with gold and other features of the ballroom in her report: Instead of covering the decrease in violent crime, ABC continued its obsession with the ballroom and a Trump appeal to the Supreme Court to resume construction.ABC’s Mary Bruce put her focus on gold features of the ballroom as she described it as a “Lavish new ballroom, adorned… pic.twitter.com/PEiJrjhQ8Z— Nick (@nspin310) August 15, 2026 BRUCE: Tonight, a new look at President Trump's plans for his lavish new ballroom, adorned with gold and marble as he takes his fight to complete it to the Supreme Court. The White House asking the justices to allow construction to continue, arguing the project is beyond the point of no return.PRESIDENT TRUMP: It's going to be one of the most beautiful buildings that's ever been built in the country or in Washington DC.BRUCE: A district court ruled most above-ground construction must stop next week unless the president gains congressional approval. But the White House argues the president doesn't need their permission and says halting the project threatens the security and safety of the president, citing, quote, “recurrent assassination attempts.”The president deeply involved. New renderings showing the massive 900,000 square foot project, adorned with Corinthian columns and a new detail: gold presidential seals. Inside, yellow marble floors and more gold finishes.For a topic like crime that was at the top of the mind for many Americans in their everyday life, ABC’s omission of the stats for more DC-centric ballroom coverage was an interesting choice.Even a segment like NBC’s brief report would have sufficed. Why avoid the topic entirely?The full transcripts from NBC and ABC are below. Click "expand":NBC Nightly NewsAugust 14, 20267:13:58 PM EasternTOM LLAMAS: President Trump also tonight touting new crime stats from the FBI. The biggest one-year drop in violent crime since the bureau began tracking those stats nearly 100 years ago. In 2025, murder and manslaughter dropped more than 18 percent. Rape offenses decreased and estimated 7.6 percent, and robberies, the FBI says, were down 18.5 percent.(...)ABC World News TonightAugust 14, 20266:41:43 PM EasternWHIT JOHNSON: To Washington now, and President Trump filing an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court to resume construction on his $400 million White House ballroom. After nearly a year of work, the White House claiming the project is too far along to be stopped. ABC's Mary Bruce at the white house tonight.[Cuts to video]MARY BRUCE: Tonight, a new look at President Trump's plans for his lavish new ballroom, adorned with gold and marble as he takes his fight to complete it to the Supreme Court. The White House asking the justices to allow construction to continue, arguing the project is beyond the point of no return.PRESIDENT TRUMP: It's going to be one of the most beautiful buildings that's ever been built in the country or in Washington DC.BRUCE: A district court ruled most above ground onstruction must stop next week unless the president gains congressional approval. But the White House argues the president doesn't need their permission and says halting the project threatens the security and safety of the president, citing, quote, “recurrent assassination attempts.”The president deeply involved. New renderings showing the massive 900,000 square foot project, adorned with Corinthian columns and a new detail: gold presidential seals. Inside, yellow marble floors and more gold finishes. The president has said his design was inspired by the halls of Versailles. In a statement, the White House saying, “Thanks to the builder in chief, the White House will be properly glorified.”[Cuts back to live]And White, in response to the filing, the National Trust for Historic Preservation says the White House is, quote, actively attempting to outrun the courts by ramping up construction to try and finish this project before President Trump leaves office. Whit?(...) August 14th, 2026 10:03 PM Nicholas Spinnato 296442 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/business/joseph-vazquez/2026/08/14/forbes-editor-who-threatened-firms-hiring-trump-fabulists It’s no secret that Forbes magazine has largely betrayed its capitalist foundation by becoming a megaphone for some of the most vile left-wing, cultural Marxist tripe in the media ecosphere. But a new scandal did show that its top leadership didn’t completely abandon free markets when it suited their own interests.The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Forbes chief content officer Randall Lane was fired after “the company discovered that he had received a payment of about $6 million from the founder of a firm that does business with the magazine.”The payment was made after RJ Shook, the founder of the firm that worked with Forbes to publish wealth adviser rankings, “sold a majority stake in Shook Research to PPC Enterprises, a private equity firm, last August.” Lane made himself a spectacle of anti-Trump furor in 2021 when he threatened companies that dared to hire people who formerly worked with President Donald Trump, such as former White House press secretaries Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, and Kayleigh McEnany.Reading his virtue-signaling now about “truth reckoning” in light of his own duplicitous violation of journalistic ethics is poetic justice. At the time, Lane promised his outlet will “scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet” any company that hires one of the forbidden Trumpsters in his arbitrary blacklist: “Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie.“Lane doubled down on his threats: “Want to ensure the world’s biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away,” Lane quipped.It’s reasonable to assume Lane wasn’t expecting his own outlet to eventually “scrutinize, double-check” and “investigate” himself for malfeasance. Karma doesn’t miss.Oh, but it got funnier. In his 2021 screed, Lane praised former Obama White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and former Clinton White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart as having “left the White House with their reputations in various stages of intact, made millions taking their skills — and credibility — to corporate America.” It would take but a few years before Lane nuked his own “credibility” and “reputation” as a judge of character into orbit. The Times outlined the clear Forbes company policies that emphasize the gravity of Lane’s undisclosed conflict of interest:Forbes has policies requiring its employees to seek permission before conducting outside business activities and prohibiting them from gaining personally — directly or indirectly — from the company’s business dealings, according to a copy of the employee handbook obtained by The New York Times. Traditional newsrooms usually forbid journalists to accept payments from sources or business partners to avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of a conflict.Oof! Not even a defibrillator could resuscitate Lane’s image as a journalist at this point.But wait, there was more! It turns out a pursuing of Lane’s time at Forbes showed he played a key role in helping MS NOW’s Morning Joe co-host Mike Brzezinski launch a partnership between her Know Your Value initiative and Forbes with a 50 Over 50 list for businesswomen making a difference across four categories (Lifestyle, Impact, Innovation, and Investment).Lane was also an occasional guest on Morning Joe and other shows across the network. His most recent appearance was on the July 2 Morning Joe, promoting his role in a musical about Benjamin Franklin: One has to ask: What did MS NOW know and when did they know it? August 14th, 2026 8:46 PM Joseph Vazquez 296433 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2026/08/14/npr-activism-101-transgender-debate-painted-doctors-say-gop-harms NPR health reporter Selena Simmons-Duffin is a lesbian activist in the formerly taxpayer-funded news room. She's best known for puff pieces for trans activist Rachel Levine in Biden's Health and Human Services department. The crusade continued on Friday's Morning Edition under the headline "Doctors say Medicaid change to gender-affirming care will harm vulnerable youth."It's conservatives vs. "doctors." That's not loaded at all.The online summary was more specific: transgender-enabling doctors. Federal Medicaid dollars can no longer pay for gender-affirming care for youth. Doctors who treat trans kids say it will harm vulnerable people."Harming vulnerable people" is the Republican position, according to "public radio."The Trump position gets a sound bite from Dr. Mehmet Oz, leader of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services: "When the harms of sex-rejecting procedures are so serious, and the evidence is weak, the government cannot keep signing these checks."  After a rebuttal from Georgetown law professor Katie Keith, Simmons-Duffin noted the Trump administration made a video titled "Wolves In White Coats," asserting doctors engaged in "gender-affirming care" have a profit motive. NPR wasn't having that, engaging in their ritual habit of keeping leftists anonymous so they can make the Trump team and conservatives look extra evil. How much retribution could they dish out?SIMMONS-DUFFIN: After all this came out, NPR spoke to the mother of a transgender teenager who's on Medicaid in California. She asked NPR not to use her voice on air because she fears her family could be targeted or her children could be taken away by the federal administration. She asked to be called by her initials, A.W.She tells NPR the narrative about doctors driven by greed, forcing families to make decisions couldn't be further from her experience. She says her child's care has been slow and thoughtful, and the idea that doctors are driven by profit is, quote, "laughable because the population is so small." Lindsey Dawson makes the same point. She's director of LGBTQ health policy at the nonpartisan health policy organization KFF.LINDSEY DAWSON: It's very unlikely that providers are engaging this work solely to generate revenue.NPR noted that the blue states are rallying to make up the difference, like for Mama A.W, in California: SIMMONS-DUFFIN But A.W. is still worried. She says, quote, "it's heartbreaking and devastating to have your child used as basically a political football," unquote. Jennifer Levi, senior attorney with GLAD Law, expects the rule to face legal challenges.JENNIFER LEVI: This has to be seen in the broader context of this long ongoing attack on the transgender community.SIMMONS-DUFFIN: So far, she says, the Trump administration has had a lot of losses on this issue in court, which may be why - in addition to making policy - the administration is also making videos. Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News.This is how the Libertine Left fights. When taxpayers are forced to fund surgical amputations for children, it's only a "political football" when you oppose it. When you oppose the left, it's an "attack" on a whole "community." They wage a culture war on the "gender binary," but they don't call it a "culture war" until normal people resist.  August 14th, 2026 8:00 PM Tim Graham 296438 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2026/08/14/democratic-socialists-celebrate-100-years-fidel-demand-us The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) commemorated “100 Years of Fidel (Castro)” on Thursday and provided the U.S. a list of “unequivocal demands,” including “reparations payments” to Cuba.The Cuban dictator, born on August 13, 1926, led a successful revolution and seized control of the country in 1959. Since that time, the Communist Party has ruled as a Socialist regime.“Today is the centenary of Fidel Castro, and the Democratic Socialists of America recognize the historic significance of both this day and the man. Fidel was an organizer, a fighter, and endures as a stalwart symbol of anti-imperialist struggle and self-determination for the Global South,” the statement begins.“DSA has a long history of solidarity with the Cuban people, their revolution, and their self-determination,” the Democratic Socialists declare.In the same statement, DSA denounces U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for an alleged “genocidal war against the Cuban people” caused by the Trump Administration’s blockade of the communist-controlled, one-party socialist nation.“By intentionally imposing conditions calculated to kill a civilian population, Marco Rubio is leading a genocide,” DSA claims, citing a leftist think tank’s study linking poverty to mortality.DSA provides a list of U.S. actions it says it “unequivocally demands” - including “reparations payments to be made to Cuba for the trillions of dollars in damages the blockade has cost the Cuban people.”DSA also demands “the prosecution of Marco Rubio for crimes against humanity.”Other demands include an end to the blockade, an end to all U.S. “aggression” against Cuba and the normalization of relations between the United States and the dictatorship.Cuba’s current ruler, Miguel Díaz-Canel, rose to power in 2018 and is the first Cuban leader since the 1959 not related by blood or marriage to the Castro family – though, he was handpicked by Raúl Castro to be his successor.Díaz-Canel is also First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.Read full DSA statement here. August 14th, 2026 4:12 PM Craig Bannister 296439 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2026/08/14/mika-never-walks-back-congressman-liar-moment-mocking-mike Morning Joe 8-14-26 Today's Morning Joe brought on Cait Conley, the Democratic challenger to Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in New York’s 17th district, and gave her a lengthy opportunity to attack the Trump administration and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over problems on the USS Abraham Lincoln. When the conversation finally turned to the race itself, Mika Brzezinski posed the natural question: why should voters choose Conley over the incumbent? Except . . . Lawler’s name came out sounding a lot closer to “Lawyer.” Conley seized on it instantly. “Mika, I think your slip there actually hits him spot on. He is a liar.” Joe Scarborough later tried to clean it up, insisting Mika had said “Lawyer.” Conley was having none of it: “Sorry: I heard what I know [about Lawler.]” Mika never rejected the “liar” reading. To the contrary, she responded to Joe's "lawyer" claim with an ironic, long "W-e-l-l-l." And as you'll see in the screencap, she and Conley shared a knowing laugh over the slip. No distance. No apology. Just a chuckle that left the clear impression the accidental smear was rather convenient.   Mika Never Walks Back 'Congressman Liar' Moment pic.twitter.com/cSIukEy4nK— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) August 14, 2026 Conley piled on, claiming Lawler has done nothing but support Trump “100% of the time.” That figure comes from a selective VoteHub analysis of 2025 floor votes on which the president took a clear position — a score shared by 182 of 219 House Republicans. Conley ignored Lawler’s actual record. Independent measures consistently rank him among the most bipartisan members of Congress: Bridge Grades recently gave him a 99.2 score (tied for sixth in the House and the highest in the New York delegation), and earlier Lugar Center/Georgetown rankings placed him near the top for working across the aisle. He has broken with party orthodoxy on district priorities such as raising the SALT deduction and joining Democrats on Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. Watch the exchange. Mika’s laugh and the lack of any correction on her part speak louder than Scarborough’s subsequent cleanup attempts. Here's the transcript. MS NOW Morning Joe 8/14/26 7:14 am EDT MIKA BRZEZINSKI: All right, let's talk about what else is at stake in this election, in this choice between you and Congressman Lawyer. Why should—Lawler—why should voters in New York 17th, choose you? CAIT CONLEY: I mean, Mika, I think your, your slip there actually hits him spot on. He is a liar. Like, this guy sits there and will look you in the eye and try to tell you the things he's done to make your life better. And in the reality, the only thing he's done is support Donald Trump 100% of the time.JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, Mika actually said "Lawyer," then some people kind of changed it to -- CONLEY: Sorry: I heard what I know. [Conley and Mika share laugh.]  August 14th, 2026 3:15 PM Mark Finkelstein 296432 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2026/08/14/cbs-relegates-major-2a-win-streaming-admit-nothing-can-stop Much like NewsBusters reported Thursday, the liberal broadcast and cable news networks have been largely silent about a major legal win for the Second Amendment and gun rights advocates; where a federal judge in Texas ruled the registration of suppressors, as well as short-barreled rifles and shotguns, as unconstitutional. The ruling opened the floodgates across the country, but it did not receive any mention on much of TV news. Well into Friday, only CBS’s streaming service CBS News 24/7 gave the story any airtime, Thursday evening, and they even admitted there was basically nothing to stop it.“Some Americans can now own short-barreled rifles, shotguns and silencers without registering them with the federal government,” announced Lindsey Reiser on The Daily Report. “Last week, a federal judge in Texas ruled the registration requirements under the National Firearms Act are unconstitutional. (…) The judge gave the Justice Department until today to appeal, but for now, it chose not to.” So, "The Big Three" broadcast networks still have not mentioned the massive legal win for the Second Amendment and gun rights advocates in the gutting of the National Firearms Act on their flagship morning and evening newscasts. CBS relegated the news to their streaming network… pic.twitter.com/sz3Ruy694w— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) August 14, 2026 Reiser spoke with CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson, who actually gave a fair explanation of the judge’s reason for finding the registration of now-formally NFA items when the taxing function of the law was rolled back by Congress:So, the judge is saying this actually not based on the Second Amendment. I know we all look at a statute that deals with gun control, and we think Second Amendment. This is about whether or not Congress had the power to enact the statute, and whether it continues to have that power.As we've talked about when it comes to the federal government, you have to point to part of the Constitution that allows it to act. When it comes to Congress, there are certain enumerated, meaning listed powers. One of those is the taxing clause. And there used to be basically a $200 tax or fee that people who are making transactions or purchases related to these short barreled guns or silencers had to pay. Then in 2025, in the Big Beautiful Bill, Congress zeroed out that tax. So, you're not paying $200 anymore.What the judge said today or this week - excuse me - is that when it comes to Congress using its taxing power, you need to have some tax. You need to have something that raises revenue. And when you zero that out in the Big Beautiful Bill, there is no more tax, so Congress no longer has a power that it can use to pass or at least continue to enact this part of the statute.When Reiser wondered if “this the end of the road” for the registration of suppressors, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, Levinson admitted it likely was. CBS via SnapStream “So, this is fascinating because it actually might be,” she said. “Because you need standing in federal court. And what you would need briefly is a plaintiff that has enough of an injury in order to say, ‘I can bring this case.’ And if we're looking at - You know, who are we looking at here? Individuals, members of Congress, maybe states. I see standing problems with each of those groups.”Although, she did hedge her prediction slightly: “So, it may be if the DOJ doesn't appeal that this is the end of the road for this particular case with this particular judge.”At least they weren’t claiming it was going to lead to an increase in gun violence like the liberal organizations behind the civilian disarmament movement were doing. For now.The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:CBS News 24/7’s The Daily ReportAugust 13, 20266:39:06 p.m. EasternLINDSEY REISER: Some Americans can now own short-barreled rifles, shotguns and silencers without registering them with the federal government.Last week, a federal judge in Texas ruled the registration requirements under the National Firearms Act are unconstitutional. This act is the primary law that regulates the purchase and sale of certain specialized weapons and equipment.The judge gave the Justice Department until today to appeal, but for now, it chose not to. A DOJ spokesperson told CBS News, quote, “The Department respects Americans’ Second Amendment rights and is currently assessing the impact of the ruling.”CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson joins us now. She's also a professor at Loyola Law School.So, why is the judge saying that this part of the National Firearms Act is unconstitutional?JESSICA LEVINSON: So, the judge is saying this actually not based on the Second Amendment. I know we all look at a statute that deals with gun control, and we think Second Amendment. This is about whether or not Congress had the power to enact the statute, and whether it continues to have that power.As we've talked about when it comes to the federal government, you have to point to part of the Constitution that allows it to act. When it comes to Congress, there are certain enumerated, meaning listed powers. One of those is the taxing clause. And there used to be basically a $200 tax or fee that people who are making transactions or purchases related to these short barreled guns or silencers had to pay. Then in 2025, in the Big Beautiful Bill, Congress zeroed out that tax. So, you're not paying $200 anymore.What the judge said today or this week - excuse me - is that when it comes to Congress using its taxing power, you need to have some tax. You need to have something that raises revenue. And when you zero that out in the Big Beautiful Bill, there is no more tax, so Congress no longer has a power that it can use to pass or at least continue to enact this part of the statute.REISER: The Supreme Court has been skeptical of whether federal judges have the power to impose nationwide injunctions. So, who does this apply to?LEVINSON: So, this only applies to the plaintiffs in this case. But these plaintiffs include groups and individuals beyond just the Northern District of Texas, where the judge made the decision.So, for instance, there's one group of plaintiffs Gun Owners in [sic] America, GOA, and that includes a great number of individuals who are covered by this particular ruling. In addition, there are 15 states that are plaintiffs.Now, not everybody in each of those states is covered, but state agencies are. So, this is not a nationwide injunction, but in effect, it covers a good deal of plaintiffs who get the benefit of this decision.REISER: Is this the end of the road? If the Justice Department doesn't step in?LEVINSON: So, this is fascinating because it actually might be. The Justice Department opted not to challenge the particular ruling, at least on an emergency basis. We're all looking to see if the Justice Department appeals this.As we have talked about. Why does that mean that maybe there's nobody left to challenge this judge's decision? Because you need standing in federal court. And what you would need briefly is a plaintiff that has enough of an injury in order to say, ‘I can bring this case.’And if we're looking at - You know, who are we looking at here? Individuals, members of Congress, maybe states. I see standing problems with each of those groups.So, it may be if the DOJ doesn't appeal that this is the end of the road for this particular case with this particular judge.REISER: Jessica Levinson, as always, thank you. August 14th, 2026 2:29 PM Nicholas Fondacaro 296437 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2026/08/14/pbs-hints-constitution-system-control-right-has-imposed-us To call Michel Martin’s nearly 18-minute talk with former Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler on Thursday’s Amanpour and Company a softball interview would be to give her too much credit. Martin seemed to view himself more as a guide for Wikler to continue his book tour about how Democrats need to win in order to save democracy. While Wikler never explicitly said the word "Constitution," in the context of his federal agenda, he did claim that constitutional bodies like the House of Representatives, Electoral College, and the Supreme Court need to be radically altered or dismantled because they are how “the right has imposed” control over the country.How Martin approached her final question was representative of how she conducted the entire interview: by simply putting the ball on the tee and letting Wikler ramble, “Well, I'm going to ask you to tell us the plan because that's the title of your book, This is the Plan. So, what's the plan?”Wikler had a three-step plan. The first involved electing Democrats in 2026 to save democracy, “First step in the plan, recognize the country is on fire. I have a fire extinguisher on the cover of the book. The first fire in this moment is a government that is testing out ways to subvert democracy itself to stop the public from being able to choose who wields power, who holds office. And the most critical safeguard against an authoritarian, you know, all the way breakthrough in this country is actually state and local governments in 2026.” Former Wisconsin Democratic Chairman Ben Wikler stopped by PBS last night for a T-ball interview with NPR's Michel Martin, who wondered, "Well, I'm going to ask you to tell us the plan because that's the title of your book, 'This is the Plan'. So, what's the plan?"After… pic.twitter.com/Zcv4zU4cod— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 14, 2026 After finding a newfound respect for states’ roles in administering elections, Wikler arrived at step two of his plan: electing even more Democrats in 2028, “Step two is in 2028 for people who believe in expanding democracy to win a federal trifecta, the presidency, the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate. States still matter enormously as well in that moment. But that is the one chance that we have coming up to win a unified federal government that takes this crisis seriously.”Wikler then moved on to step three, which would require several constitutional changes, although it is unclear if Wikler even knows that, “And then step three, in 2029, everyone who volunteered, who donated, who got involved, who voted to elect that government that wants to actually end America's meltdown, all those people need to stay mobilized to press the government to actually take action. And that means ending the filibuster, banning partisan gerrymandering. I argue for proportional representation in the U.S. House, U.S. Supreme Court reform. I think term limits on the U.S. Supreme Court, so it's not kind of a locked in partisan body in the way it is right now.”By proportion representation, Wikler means within multi-member districts. That along with SCOTUS term limits would require constitutional amendments, but Wikler was not done:And then there's also a plan to turn the Electoral College into a kind of sideshow by getting states to enact laws that make the winner of the national popular vote the president of the United States. And while we're at it, D.C. statehood and referendum for statehood in Puerto Rico, all those policies, if you take them together, they dismantle the system of control that the right has imposed on the country over a period of decades and make every voter in this country actually have a voice in who is the U.S. House majority, who is the U.S. Senate majority, who becomes the president of the United States, and it allows Congress and the president to pass laws without having a U.S. Supreme Court that only strikes down laws and executive actions when they're done by Democrats.According to Wikler, saving democracy means a state should possibly cast its electors for the candidate its voters did not vote for. He also advocates for unconstitutional D.C. statehood and falsely claimed the Supreme Court only strikes down Democratic laws and executive orders. Republicans have gained power through constitutional means, and Wikler does not like that, so he seeks to portray constitutional institutions as part of a rigged system that needs dismantling. Martin, however, did not offer even the slightest pushback. Instead, she simply thanked Wikler for joining her.Here is a transcript for the August 13 show:PBS Amanpour and Company8/13/2026MICHEL MARTIN: Well, I'm going to ask you to tell us the plan because that's the title of your book, This is the Plan. So, what's the plan?BEN WIKLER: First step in the plan, recognize the country is on fire. I have a fire extinguisher on the cover of the book. The first fire in this moment is a government that is testing out ways to subvert democracy itself to stop the public from being able to choose who wields power, who holds office. And the most critical safeguard against an authoritarian, you know, all the way breakthrough in this country is actually state and local governments in 2026.And the reason for that is the Constitution puts the control of the election system into the hands of state governments regulated by federal law, but it's states that administer elections. This has been, you know, throughout our history, the kind of readout of segregationists and white supremacists, people who tried to block, you know, anyone who didn't look like Donald Trump from being able to cast a ballot.But right now, it means that if Donald Trump tries to seize the voting machines in Fulton County, Georgia, that it's actually state officials and can be state courts that can block those kinds of efforts. This is -- it's very clear that Trump is fantasizing about doing this. He's talking about, you know, invoking the National State of Emergency, the Insurrection Act, but state governments can be the line of defense.So, in 2026, step one of the plan is to ensure that the people who will run the elections in 2028 are people who believe in democracy itself. And that can mean Keisha Lance Bottoms as governor of Georgia. It can mean David Crowley as governor of Wisconsin. It means secretaries of state. I mean, state supreme court justices. Those are the key decision makers that will determine whether democracy gets through this moment of extreme peril. That’s step one.Step two is in 2028 for people who believe in expanding democracy to win a federal trifecta, the presidency, the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate. States still matter enormously as well in that moment. But that is the one chance that we have coming up to win a unified federal government that takes this crisis seriously.And then step three, in 2029, everyone who volunteered, who donated, who got involved, who voted to elect that government that wants to actually end America's meltdown, all those people need to stay mobilized to press the government to actually take action. And that means ending the filibuster, banning partisan gerrymandering. I argue for proportional representation in the U.S. House, U.S. Supreme Court reform. I think term limits on the U.S. Supreme Court, so it's not kind of a locked in partisan body in the way it is right now.And then there's also a plan to turn the Electoral College into a kind of sideshow by getting states to enact laws that make the winner of the national popular vote the president of the United States. And while we're at it, D.C. statehood and referendum for statehood in Puerto Rico, all those policies, if you take them together, they dismantle the system of control that the right has imposed on the country over a period of decades and make every voter in this country actually have a voice in who is the U.S. House majority, who is the U.S. Senate majority, who becomes the president of the United States, and it allows Congress and the president to pass laws without having a U.S. Supreme Court that only strikes down laws and executive actions when they're done by Democrats. August 14th, 2026 2:13 PM Alex Christy 296436 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2026/08/14/anti-trump-slop-liberal-narratives-dominate-edward-r-murrow-awards Screenshot via CNN/Snapstream On Thursday afternoon, the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards were announced by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and, like we saw with the Pulitzers and White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) Awards, liberal, elitist outlets like ABC, CBS’s 60 Minutes, CNN, MS NOW, The New York Times, and NPR secured wins for tiresome anti-Trump topics like DOGE (including the story on the image accompanying this blog) and age-old liberal concerns about Gaza, immigration, guns, and policing.The RTDNA – which bills itself as “the world's largest professional organization devoted exclusively to broadcast and digital journalism” – handed out 33 awards for work in TV and radio (with roughly half having a leftist tinge), starting with ABC and the now-defunct CBS News Radio capturing the top awards in their respective mediums for “overall excellence.”ABC also took a top honor for “Continuing Coverage” in Trump’s “Immigration Crackdown” in 2025 (so, pre-Minneapolis) and “Newscast” for a World News Tonight episode covering California wildfires, while CBS News Radio’s other award was for a “newscast” covering the January 2025 air disaster over the Potomac River.The biggest tell for how much of a leftist crock these awards are? TV and radio each had a category called “Excellence in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.”For TV, that went to Arizona State University students and PBS’s Frontline for a package titled “Alaska's Vanishing Native Villages.” Over in radio, the DEI prize went to “Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting” with their DOGE-centric story, “Will the National Parks Survive Trump?”The Trump-hating CNN took three awards, starting with “Breaking News Coverage” for the June 2025 U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.Their win in the “Digital” category was where we got the Gaza pity party. The title of the piece read: “Three Voices from Gaza: What survival looks like after 15 months of war.”CNN’s third win was for “News Series” that also targeted the President’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal government. CNN debased itself as pro-Taliban for this one: “The Trump administration says no one has died due to aid cuts. We went to the Taliban's Afghanistan to investigate.”60 Minutes also had a few wins that Status’s Oliver Darcy made sure to trumpet in his newsletter Thursday night, with both coming from correspondents who’ve left the show (one resigned, the other fired).“Excellence in Writing” went to pompous Scott Pelley for a story titled “The Bus on Route 62,” which was about the war in Ukraine, and “Feature Reporting,” was from Anderson Cooper for his profile of what became an Oscar-winning documentary called The Empty Rooms, starring CBS correspondent Steve Hartmann’s visits to the bedrooms of children murdered in school shootings.NBC only took home one award, but it was no less political. For “Excellence in Innovation,” NBC teamed up with Stanford University for a series on “The Vaccine Divide.”Elsewhere on the TV side, woke winners included the top “Podcast” title to MS NOW for a Rachel Maddow-hosted, anti-immigration-enforcement series entitled, “Burn Order.” In an unsurprise move, the episode linked to would seem to make reference to the Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s rounding up of Japanese-Americans in World War II.Of course, the implication would be President Trump has been doing something similar in his second term.Pivoting to radio, National Public Radio (NPR) still won seven of the 16 categories for its work in 2025 despite having been defunded (thanks in large part to the Media Research Center). The awards haul showed they both deserved to be defunded and could survive on their own.Two of its awards screamed virulent partisanship. In the “Digital” category, they won for screeching about “The Trump Administration's Dismantling of Immigration Courts” and a gag-worthy, pompous set of stories in the news series category, branded as “The State of the First Amendment: The Right From Which All Other Rights Flow.”PR also took home the top “Breaking News Coverage” award for its reporting on Pope Leo’s election, “Excellence in Innovation” for the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, “Excellence in Sound” for a story involving the war in Ukraine, “Excellence in Writing” for a piece on the post-Assad regime in Syria, and “Feature Reporting” on AI.Three other awards of note went to ABC News Radio for a fear-mongering piece, “Start Here: Inside El Salvador’s Mega-Prison” that took the “Hard News” honor, and then the Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting team (think Mother Jones on the radio) for stories in “News Documentary” about “The Landlord Gutting America’s Hospitals” and “Investigative Reporting” for a series about a wildly corrupt police department in Mississippi (in conjunction with The New York Times and Mississippi Today).In other words, nothing on TV or radio for, say, Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax, or Salem Media Group. August 14th, 2026 1:00 PM Curtis Houck 296435 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/steve-malzberg/2026/08/14/cnns-democrat-pundits-say-ice-murdered-renee-good-alex-pretti On Tuesday, a cellphone and dashboard video started going viral, showing an ICE agent pointing a gun at anti-ICE agitator Carolina Molina, through the window of her car, in Falls Church, Virginia on Monday. The agent claimed she had tried to run over agents. Despite the fact that video of what led up to the confrontation was not available, the left wing media sprinted to Molina's defense, while attacking ICE, and that was the case Wednesday night on CNN's NewsNight With Abby Phillip, hosted by CNN Contributor Lulu Garcia-Navarro, a New York Times podcaster.  Garcia-Navarro played a portion of the video.AGENT: Yes, you recorded us. You almost ran us over.MOLINA: I didn't almost run you over.AGENT: You almost ran us over. Stop playing.MOLINA:: You are full of (expletive).AGENT:: I will arrest you. Keep it up.MOLINA: I'm a legal citizen.AGENT: I don't care.MOLINA: I got recording, I got dash cam. That's a lie.Garcia-Navarro, then mentioned that ICE plans to spend $20 million on gloves that deliver electric shocks for ICE to use, and gave Josh Rogin of the Washington Post, first crack at ripping the ICE agents, and he didn't didn't disappoint, even after she put a qualifier on the whole situation.GARCIA-NAVARRO: Of course we don't know the full context of this, what happened before this video was taken, but we see him exit the vehicle with his gun pointing it in the face of Carolina Molina. What does this say to you?ROGIN: He's pointing a gun at someone's face. He clearly is threatening the person. The justification that he used was, you tried to run me over, was the exact same justification that ICE agents used, in that case falsely, before they shot Renee Good to death in Minnesota.That the ICE agent's claim was false is Rogin's opinion, and he left out that the agent who shot Good, was injured by her car and was taken to the hospital. Rogin continued to draw his own conclusions about the Virginia video.ROGIN: That's not a random thing to say, you were about to run me over. That's clearly a threat against this driver. And that's scary, that's thuggish. That's, in my view, un- American....I think there's plenty of video to show that what the ICE agent was saying was not true, and until more evidence emerges, I think that's the preponderance of the evidence. Next up, CNN's Scott Jennings who brought common sense to the table, which was too much for Rogan. JENNINGS: I don't think we've seen near enough to pass judgment on it one way or the other....I do find it strange. We see people showing up. They're in their cars, and they're somehow in very close proximity to people.ROGIN: You're allowed to tape the police.JENNINGS: I know, but you're not allowed to threaten them with a vehicle....They're facing an environment and rhetoric from Democrat politicians in this country that have put a target on their backs.ROGIN: You set up an army of masked thugs running the streets and rounding people up and then blaming people for reacting. It is just gaslighting.In fact there has been a 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks on ICE agents from January 21, 2025, when Trump was sworn in, to January 26 of this year. CNN's liberal pundits don't care. Next up, former WH Deputy Press Secretary in the first Trump administration, turned Trump critic Sarah Matthews, who reached a new low.MATTHEWS:  Obama was able to deport more than 3 million people without all of this chaos, without having to give agents these shock gloves, and there weren't murders of American citizens in our streets.JENNINGS: What murder are you talking about?MATTHEWS: I'm talking about Renee Good, Alex Pretti.JENNINGS: Have there been convicted murderers in these cases?MATTHEWS: We've seen the video evidence, which shows a very -- No, they were overly aggressive.JENNINGS: Is that what you're saying, for the record?MATTHEWS: I'm saying that they look like they murdered those people in cold blood, in broad daylight.JENNINGS: I'll say it one more time. They murdered her, is that right?MATTHEWS: I'll say it. It looked like those agents murdered those innocent American citizens in our streets. Remember that Team Obama used funny math, that if someone was turned around at the border without entering, they were still "deported." CNN's Bakari Sellers, would also claim, without prompting, that Good and Pretti were murdered by ICE. SELLERS: You're talking about people being run over by cars....You're seeing ICE agents actually put themselves in the line of danger.... When you're talking about Pretti and you're talking about Renee Good, were they murdered? The answer is yes. The fact is they were murdered in the street.The segment continued with more blasting of ICE and their agents. Presumption of guilt outrageous, period. Having three panelists make that assumption is abhorrent. This is CNN! August 14th, 2026 12:51 PM Steve Malzberg 296427 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cnsnews/craig-bannister/2026/08/14/royce-white-cnns-2-cis-women-refusing-affirm-my-black CNN is “disgusting and bigoted” for refusing to acknowledge him as a transgender female declaring eligibility for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) draft, former NBA player Royce White said Thursday.“CNN this is so disgusting and bigoted. 2 cis women refusing to affirm my Black Trans Lesbian identity,” White wrote in a social media post, commenting on an embedded clip of CNN’s coverage of his announcement that he has decided to identify as a woman so he can play in the women’s professional league, which has previously had a transgender player and may allow a biological male playing in a French female league to enter the WNBA draft.“1 of them is White, so that’s her white privilege and the other is a self hating Uncle Tom bootlicker! They are gatekeeping femininity and womanhood,” White continued, employing liberal activist mantras.CNN this is so disgusting and bigoted. 2 cis women refusing to affirm my Black Trans Lesbian identity. 1 of them is White, so that’s her white privilege and the other is a self hating Uncle Tom bootlicker! They are gatekeeping femininity and womanhood. Royce White for President… pic.twitter.com/DnAZlrZKq0— Royce White 🇺🇸 (@Highway_30) August 13, 2026In other posts responding to attacks, threats and criticism, White invokes even more liberal clichés:“To my Black Trans Lesbians, BIPOC Trans and Trans adjacent... Don't let people rain on your parade! These mainstream media outlets and commentators are dead naming me or misgendering me, it's GENOCIDE. People on the left are spewing a lot of nonbinary hate. Silence is violence, where are all the advocates and allies? Who are they to tell me I'm not a Black woman? I'm slayyyyyin, kweeeens stand up! CLOCK IT!”“Genitalia doesn't determine gender. That's a cis normative fallacy. My trans-affirming doctor told me I can think of my genitalia as 9 inches of clitoris.”“That’s hate, I’ve lived as Trans for over a week now! You’re denying my existence. When you deny Trans our identity it’s genocide.”“My body, my choice! You don't tell a Black woman what to do with her body.”“You misgendered me again. That's toxic heteronormative bigotry... We've moved on from that way of thinking about womanhood. Why are you so pressed? We only make up a tiny percentage of the population. You're obsessed, you must be jealous of STRONG beautiful Black kweeeens!”“Don't tell me how to be a Black woman! Taking hormones are optional. The idea that a Trans woman has to subject herself to BIG PHARMA, is just another way for cis normative people to turn us into a commodity. I’m an ALL NATURAL Black trans lesbian with a penile aesthetic.”“I’ve been misgendered and dead named by the Democrats for days now… This is what hate looks like boo boo. You really need to do some soul searching and figure out why you’re still living in cis gender bigotry. Black Trans Lives Matter! We have always mattered, we will always matter. If you don’t refer to me as kweeeen, you hate Black women.”“I haven't even been publicly trans for 72 hours and I'm already getting so much hate. I just want to hoop with my girls in my feminine era! Why can't y'all be happy for me?”In yet another swipe at transgender ideologues, White even adopted self-identifying pronouns:“Pronouns: Pay/Me”White’s campaign to play in the WNBA appears to be an effort to draw attention to the incongruity of allowing biological males to compete against, and dominate, female athletes by simply “identifying” as females. August 14th, 2026 11:51 AM Craig Bannister 296434 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/business/joseph-vazquez/2026/08/14/too-stoned-tds-evening-nets-ignore-drug-prices-recording Remember when President Trump pledged to lower drug prices? Well, they just recorded their sharpest drop in decades and the ABC, CBS and NBC evening news networks were nowhere to be found. SnapStream The Washington Post reporters Steve Thompson, Federica Cocco and Christopher Rowland reported August 13 that drug prices fell a whopping 3.1 percent in July, the steepest decline “since 1963” according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The journos typically tried to do everything to avoid give Trump credit and instead toss the kudos to — *checks notes* — former President Joe Biden! “The White House took credit for the good news, saying President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash drug prices were working. Some experts said a Biden-era policy that requires Medicare to negotiate prices for some popular prescription drugs is more likely to be driving down costs.” Did The Post provide any evidence for that assumption? Of course not. They just threw Biden’s insane $739 billion climate change bill out there as a generally accepted source for drug price relief:The Inflation Reduction Act was a signature accomplishment of former president Joe Biden, a sprawling measure enacted in 2022 that aimed to lower prescription drug prices by requiring Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly, to begin negotiating the prices it pays drugmakers for an array of popular and costly prescription drugs.It’s as if TrumpRx, which the White House announced in February to offer a comparative database for prescription drugs with the subsequent landmark support of billionaire Mark Cuban and Amazon Pharmacy, wasn’t even a thing. In fact, “TrumpRx” wasn’t even mentioned until the eighth paragraph. The liberal Kaiser Family Foundation even noted in February that “TrumpRx may be an economical option for those who face high out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs before they meet their plan’s deductible, especially those who do not reach their annual deductible at all.” Even The Post reporters ended up undercutting themselves: “While the results are stark, teasing out the cause is complicated, independent experts said.”But irrespective of the newspaper’s ridiculous spin, ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News didn’t cover the news at all. And why should they make Trump’s policies look good right before the midterms? ABC News Live just tried throwing cold water on the broader BLS data showing that consumer prices were cooling in July. In fact, none of the evening networks even mentioned the consumer price news during their August 12 coverage either. It was just one all-around media blackout on the stuff directly impacting people’s wallets! ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir did find precious airtime to talk about elks in at the Redwood National and State Parks August 13 though.Apparently elk coverage was more important to David than the fact that drug prices had their sharpest decline in 60 years. pic.twitter.com/SLeNfQvKJp— Joe Vazquez (@JV3MRC) August 14, 2026These media hacks really think their viewers and readers shouldn't know anything that might be considered good news under Trump.  August 14th, 2026 11:21 AM Joseph Vazquez 296428 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-spinnato/2026/08/14/ms-nows-peter-alexander-reunites-jen-psaki-implies-leavitt MS NOW/SnapStream On Thursday, near the end of the first week hosting his new MS NOW program, State of Play, former NBC News chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander reunited with former Biden Press Secretary and current MS NOW primetime host Jen Psaki as they implied departing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had lied to the press throughout her tenure.After a brief reminiscing about their interactions in the briefing room during the Biden Administration, the now-coworkers first discussed Leavitt's departure. Alexander, who said “I think of myself as an advocate not for Republicans or for Democrats, but as an advocate for the facts” in a promotional campaign for his new show, asked Psaki about a rule from her book:In your book, the first rule that you wrote for a press secretary is “don't lie.” Is it possible to serve as press secretary to Donald Trump and maintain that rule Former NBC White House correspondent turned MS NOW host Peter Alexander was reunited with former Biden Press Secretary and current MS NOW primetime host Jen Psaki on Thursday.After they reminisced about their times at the press briefings, Alexander posed a question to Psaki… pic.twitter.com/7PqTWCG1m8— Nick (@nspin310) August 13, 2026 Psaki answered, “No, because you have an audience of one. Donald Trump is her audience.”Psaki may have been guilty of failing her own rule in her time as press secretary, especially during the aftermath of the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021.She then expanded with slight praise and a hit on the new briefing room makeup:He clearly loves her, as far as we know. She is very good at commanding that room, though I will say, as you know well, the room has massively changed since I was there. It's much more filled with people who are there to kind of applaud Donald Trump and people who fare there to spit out the Republican talking points than the room that I was working in.Psaki then seemed to resonate with her departure and said, “Let me say one thing about her, though. I was the communications director when I had a baby. It is very hard to do that. And she has a toddler, and she just had a newborn. I don't know her. I don't know all of the reasons, but I certainly understand the difficulty of trying to balance those things.”Alexander then expanded off Psaki’s briefing room “changes” complaints, and added, “I witnessed this firsthand, having been there for Obama, then Trump, then Biden, then Trump again. There were a lot more sort of friendlies, as they're sometimes described, those people who support the president's view as opposed to view themselves as an independent journalist.”Psaki explained how she worried viewers would not differentiate the reporters who asked questions and said, “Therefore, people are not getting actual transparent information, or they're not able to rely on the journalists who are in the room to ask the questions that need to be asked.” Later in his show, Peter Alexander worried the release of American Robert Gilman from Russian imprisonment was being politicized, as he did not like Gilman and his family wearing ‘Trump Was Right About Everything’ hats.“Clearly, everybody celebrates an American coming home. But… https://t.co/ky8gmpGXei pic.twitter.com/WVhJ89pAtA— Nick (@nspin310) August 13, 2026 Later in the show, and on a different subject, Alexander continued to showcase his new MS NOW bias and asked if the release of American Robert Gilman from Russian imprisonment was politicized. Alexander began, “We are glad that he is back home and hopefully getting all the care that he deserves right now.” However, there was a “but”:Clearly, everybody celebrates an American coming home. But is there a danger to maybe politicizing his return? The fact that he's not wearing a U.S. hat, but a “Trump Was Right About Everything” hat handed to him by Sebastian Gorka and Steve Witkoff there on the plane with his family.Interestingly enough, as Alexander mentioned the “Trump Was Right About Everything Hat,” the picture of Gilman onscreen showed him wearing a black American hat and a black American flag sweatshirt.If the first week was a guide for the rest of Alexander’s program, instead of “advocate for the facts," he seemed poised to follow the MS NOW liberal host playbook like the rest of the daytime programming had turned into.The transcript is below. Click "expand":MS NOW’s State of PlayAugust 13, 202611:03:58 AM Eastern(...)PETER ALEXANDER: We want to bring in the host of The Briefing, Jen Psaki. She joins us here. Jen, thank you so much for being here.JEN PSAKI: It's great to be - First of all, as someone who has been on the receiving end of some relentless  -ALEXANDER: Careful.PSAKI: - Peter Alexander grilling, I'm very happy you're here. I think that's needed in this moment and will definitely be needed as we look ahead to a huge primary in 2028.ALEXANDER: I'm grateful for you saying that. My favorite moments were when you would call on me, and your eyes would start to go like this, like, where are we going to go with this?PSAKI: It was always a tell. [Laughs]ALEXANDER: I get to do I get to do it again right now. Let me ask you some questions. You were the former White House press secretary, the current White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has just announced that she's going to be departing. She'll leave at the end of the month. She just had a second baby. She wants more time, she has said, with her family hereIn your book, the first rule that you wrote for a press secretary is “don't lie.” Is it possible to serve as press secretary to Donald Trump and maintain that rule?PSAKI: No, because you have an audience of one. Donald Trump is her audience. He clearly loves her, as far as we know. She is very good at commanding that room, though I will say, as you know well, the room has massively changed since I was there. It's much more filled with people who are there to kind of applaud Donald Trump and people who are there to spit out the Republican talking points then the room that I was working inLet me say one thing about her, though. I was the communications director when I had a baby. It is very hard to do that. And she has a toddler, and she just had a newborn. I don't know her. I don't know all of the reasons, but I certainly understand the difficulty of trying to balance those things.ALEXANDER: You talk about the changes in the White House briefing room. I witnessed this firsthand, having been there for Obama, then Trump, then Biden, then Trump again. There were a lot more sort of friendlies, as they're sometimes described, those people who support the president's view as opposed to view themselves as an independent journalist. What is the risk of the sort of changing system in the way the president relates to the press and those people who are invited into the room?PSAKI: Well, I think if you're watching the briefing, and most Americans are not watching the totality of the briefing, but -ALEXANDER: Or in the Oval Office -PSAKI: Or in the Oval Office in both places. Look, I think, first of all, as you know, well, but for anybody watching, there's still excellent journalists who are there to grill the white house, no matter who the press secretary is and who the president is in the room. It's just that they are a smaller percentage of people in the room. And what is difficult, if you're a viewer watching the briefing or clips of it, or watching the president be questioned in the Oval Office, is you don't know how to differentiate. How do you know who these people are? Is it Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend, who is literally - or now her husband, who is literally one of the people asking questions about Trump's fitness, physical fitness?ALEXANDER: Sean Spicer, a former White House press secretary, was sometimes in the room asking the new press secretary questions.PSAKI: Exactly. And it becomes a larger percentage of the questions asked in the room. So, therefore, people are not getting actual transparent information, or they're not able to rely on the journalists who are in the room to ask the questions that need to be asked.(....)11:52:45 AM EasternALEXANDER: I want to ask you more about those other Americans in a moment. Let me just follow up with one other thought on Robert Gilman. And first of all, the president and the Trump Administration certainly deserve credit. They're the ones who got Mr. Gilman home. So we are glad that he is back home and hopefully getting all the care that he deserves right now. But as we saw in some of the video, he and his mom were given these red trump hats before they even reached U.S. soil. Only the administration, obviously not the family or your organization, has released the images of Robert now being free. Clearly, everybody celebrates an American coming home. But is there a danger to maybe politicizing his return? The fact that he's not wearing a U.S. hat, but a “Trump Was Right About Everything” hat handed to him by Sebastian Gorka and Steve Witkoff there on the plane with his family.KIERAN RAMSEY: You know, the tough thing is with any of these cases, while they're being held and then when they're coming home, we don't want this to be a political issue. And we talk about this a lot with members on the Hill. We never want this to even be described as a bipartisan issue. We want this to be a nonpartisan issue, an American issue. And getting these people home should be one of the top priorities of the U.S. Government, whether it be from Russia, from China, from Iran, from Afghanistan, and the list goes on. And, again, when they come home, the most important consideration is getting them the mental health, the physical health treatments, everything else like that, because they went through a living hell, quite honestly.(...) August 14th, 2026 11:08 AM Nicholas Spinnato 296426 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/heather-moon/2026/08/14/google-news-floods-daily-morning-feeds-leftist-anti-trump Google News highlighted opinion pieces that overwhelmingly pushed a leftist narrative and are negative toward right-leaning policies, politicians and people. MRC Graphic The best description for the majority of the opinion pieces Google News chose to feature since November of 2025 is anti-Trump. Selected headlines tell the tale better than any deeper analysis could. For example, from The New York Times and featured by Google News on Nov. 15: “The Outstanding Question About Epstein and Trump.” A week later, Google News featured a San Francisco Chronicle headline on Nov. 21 that exclaimed: “Trump just threatened Democrats with ‘death.’ Is the SEAL Team 6 assassination theory now in play?” MRC Graphic Google News highlighted another banger headline from one of its favorite leftist outlets, The New York Times, on Feb. 7: “Trump’s Obama Derangement Syndrome.” The news aggregator returned once again to the reliably leftist New York Times on July 21 with the ominous headline: “Trump’s Kiss of Death.”The vast majority of opinion pieces Google News has promoted since the Media Research Center began tracking its morning feeds have presented leftist ideas (45 out of 60) and, perhaps unsurprisingly, a majority of the opinion pieces Google News pushed came from leftist outlets (48 out of 60). Between November 1, 2025 and July 31, 2026, MRC researchers tracked the top twenty stories highlighted by Google News each morning, for a total of more than 5,400 stories.  MRC Graphic Google News included 48 opinion articles from left-leaning outlets over the nine months analyzed. Of these, only three reflected positively on the United States under President Donald Trump. One of the leftist opinion pieces Google News promoted was such a seething screed of lowbrow, anti-Trump administration insults that it must be called out on its own. The piece, promoted on July 18 was a feature of The New York Times headlined “Low-T, High Chair.” The New York Times’s attempted indictment on Trump’s prime time speech two nights prior crammed a litany of smears all into one opinion piece. The headline itself referred to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s previous announcement that his department would be monitoring troops for low-testosterone, and the point that he should have been running straight to Trump as his first step. The headline also resorted to calling Trump’s behavior childlike by referencing a “high chair.” How this possibly passed the Google News filter for must-read news for that day is a question the tech giant should answer.  MRC Graphic Examples of some of the other more egregiously biased opinion articles from leftist outlets include: “A sickening moral slum of an administration: Regarding Venezuela, Ukraine and much more, Trump and his acolytes are worse than simply incompetent,” from The Washington Post, promoted on Dec. 3, 2025.“Letters to the Editor: Trump’s European tariff threat proves he doesn’t understand the purpose of tariffs,” from the Los Angeles Times, promoted on Jan. 21, 2026.“‘He’s Debased This Country’: The Best and Worst Moments From Trump’s State of the Union,” from The New York Times, promoted on Feb. 25, 2026.“Chuck Norris Was a Great Action Star – but Politics May Overshadow His Legacy,” from Variety, promoted on Mar. 21, 2026.“Trump has created a slush fund of taxpayer money to give to his friends,” from The Guardian, promoted on May 21, 2026.  MRC Graphic Google News featured only five opinion pieces from right-leaning outlets over the nine months examined by MRC. The outlets featured included Fox News, New York Post and The Bulwark. The piece from The Bulwark deserves an asterisk at best, as even it took a swipe at Trump directly, though the headline sounds more like an attack on the media.On Jan. 24, Google News featured the opinion piece from The Bulwark headlined “How the Media Fails With Trump. Over and Over. (And Over.).” Despite the misleading headline, the piece actually referred to Trump as “an aspiring authoritarian force,” and blamed the media for falling for anything “normal, safe, or sane [that] comes out of Trump’s mouth.” Only one of the seven opinion pieces that were sourced from AllSides-rated center outlets was favorable toward Trump. At least four of the other six were negatively framed against the sitting president. For example, Google News promoted a piece from The Wall Street Journal on June 17, headlined, “Trump Stages an Iran Retreat.”Methodology: Using MRC’s Digital News Tracker, MRC researchers examined the top 20 stories promoted by Google News during the time period of Nov. 1, 2025 - July 31, 2026 at approximately 10:00 AM ET from Nov. 1, 2025 through Jan. 12, 2026 and approximately 8:30 AM ET from Jan. 13, 2026 through July 31, 2026. MRC researchers examined stories specifically identified by the originating media outlet as “opinion,” “editorial,” or “op-ed.” MRC Researchers then used the AllSides media bias ratings, which categorize an outlet as “left,” “lean left,” “center,” “lean right” or “right” to determine the overall bias presented by Google News and analyzed the results.  August 14th, 2026 9:40 AM Heather Moon 296431 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2026/08/14/anderson-doesnt-know-who-believe-authoritarian-psychopaths-or Anthony Anderson closed out his week of guest hosting ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday by doing his best Kimmel impersonation when talking about the situation with the Strait of Hormuz. According to Anderson, it is difficult to know who to believe, “The authoritarian psychopaths or the Iranians?”After coming off a bit about advice for the Powerball jackpot winner, Anderson turned to Hormuz, “Speaking of greedy mother[bleep], Donald Trump—yesterday, yesterday he went on Truth Social and said the U.S. ‘has total control over the Strait of Hormuz.’ Well, it turns out that may not be true. Because today Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is actually under their control, and ‘the baseless claims made by the United States are nothing more than lies and falsehoods.’” Jimmy Kimmel guest host Anthony Anderson claims to not know who to believe on the Strait of Hormuz situation "The authoritarian psychopaths or the Iranians?" pic.twitter.com/gEV5QLO4ND— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 14, 2026 Anderson then got to what was supposed to be his punchline, “Now, at this point, I don't know who to believe. The authoritarian psychopaths or the Iranians?”This was not the first time Jimmy Kimmel Live! tried to pull a reverse joke that portrays the Iranian regime as the normal one juxtaposed to the supposedly authoritarian Trump. Back on April 8, in a joke that landed so flat, his own liberal audience struggled to laugh at it, Kimmel retorted, “How is this negotiation even going to work? This is a government of religious fanatics who don't believe in democracy, and they use domestic security forces to terrorize their own citizens. And now we expect Iran to negotiate with them? I—never mind.”Whatever one thinks of the war or the way it has been fought, the Iranian regime is the one run by authoritarian psychopaths. It has the blood of thousands of its own people on its hands. That was true before the war, during the war, and it will be true after the war.Here is a transcript for the August 13 show:ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!8/13/202611:39 PM ETANTHONY ANDERSON: Speaking of greedy mother[bleep], Donald Trump—yesterday, yesterday he went on Truth Social and said the U.S. “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz.” Well, it turns out that may not be true. Because today Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is actually under their control, and “the baseless claims made by the United States are nothing more than lies and falsehoods.” Now, at this point, I don't know who to believe. The authoritarian psychopaths or the Iranians? August 14th, 2026 9:30 AM Alex Christy 296430 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2026/08/14/bitter-unglued-comedian-claims-were-middle-trans-genocide Advocates for transgenderism consistently present opposition to their agenda as not just incorrect, but dangerous.We’re used to the Trevor Project folks asserting that resisting someone’s urge to identify as the opposite of their actual biology creates a risk of suicide. Sadly for them, last December, ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio had to admit to Justice Samuel Alito that, despite years of media and activist claims, no evidence existed that surgical procedures actually reduce suicides of people identifying as transgender.Comedian and actress Margaret Cho is currently starring on the ABC drama Will Trent as a therapist, but her proclamations on these issues are unglued. TV therapist, heal thyself. Paul Bois at Breitbart captured her on the “Who’s With Me?” podcast with former CNN star W. Kamau Bell.Cho turned to her colleagues in comedy as causing death: “I think trans lives has become a very big thing in comedy, because they want to contest it. They don’t understand that when you take trans lives lightly in a comedy routine, trans people die, and they don’t have that understanding. There are real consequences to your actions, because they don’t affect you personally, but this will affect a trans person’s life.”So where is the evidence of how “trans people die” after jokes about transgenderism? Suicide? Homicide? Where are all the TV hosts throwing the “No Evidence” card at this alleged expert? For his part, Bell simply replied “Thank you for bringing that up” and hailed her LGBTQ activism.From there, it was on to politicians. “It’s really scary and the way our government treats trans lives. You know, insane bathroom laws and identity laws, or taking people’s driver’s licenses,” Cho said. The state of Kansas recently revoked “updated” driver’s licenses.Then it turned really crazy, with “genocide” accusations: “It seems endless whether it’s re-legalizing conversion therapy. Supreme Court on down. You have all of these things that, you know, we’re in the middle of a trans genocide, and we have to do anything that we can to stop it. We have to make sure that trans people are safe and then start working on restoring equality to their lives.”No “fact checkers” will get involved to ask where in America a “trans genocide” is under way. It’s easier to start listing transgender mass shooters if violent crime is going to be implied. Bell’s podcast just shifted to the next topic, like facts weren’t horribly mangled.This isn’t a one-time gig for Cho. On a podcast called “The Creative Asylum” in April, she uncorked accusations against Team Trump: “It's their kink, is cruelty. They love to see the suffering of immigrants and trans people. And they wanna put children in concentration camps.” Come again? Then Cho said “We need a feral, bloodthirsty, you know, violent Democrat,” one who “will put them all in prison.”A few weeks ago in a video on her Instagram page, Cho cheered the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, claiming: “Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham – it does happen in threes – hope.” Threes? She included the hashtag “#FDT,” so she meant Donald Trump.It’s a little hard for Cho to complain that comedians are too rough in their jokes when she is so rough in these statements. She doesn’t like anyone searching for what’s “edgy” about the “marginalized,” but she loves to be outrageous about people she despises.The saddest part is when comedians like Bell and Cho speak warmly of comedians “speaking truth to power.” Cho doesn’t speak the truth. She uncorks vile and malicious falsehoods and conspiracy theories, and pretends it’s the truth. August 14th, 2026 6:00 AM Tim Graham 296423 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge-bonilla/2026/08/14/nbc-casts-biological-parents-victims-surrogates-refusal-abort The Elitist Media continue to struggle to report the story of Baby Gabriel, whose very first act of defiance was to be born despite the wishes of his biological parents- thanks to his courageous surrogate mother. NBC took a shot at the story but ended up with the wrong heroes.Watch the report in its entirety, as aired on NBC Nightly News on Thursday, August 13th, 2026: WATCH: @NBCNightlyNews casts the bio parents of Baby Gabriel as the purest victims of this fiascoTOM LLAMAS: And in Texas, a story that is garnering a lot of headlines. A couple’s surrogate is now fighting for custody of the baby boy she carried, arguing she should be given… pic.twitter.com/5ummphFfgu— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 14, 2026 TOM LLAMAS: And in Texas, a story that is garnering a lot of headlines. A couple’s surrogate is now fighting for custody of the baby boy she carried, arguing she should be given parental rights instead of the biological parents who are also fighting for him. Brian Chandler explains what led to this legal battle.BRIAN CHANDLER: In Dallas, a boy's birth triggering a dramatic custody battle, pitting the baby’s biological parents against the surrogate who carried him. The boy’s California-based parents face a devastating decision after a diagnosis at 20 weeks. They learned the baby, who was being carried by a surrogate from Alaska, had a serious heart condition: Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. They chose to terminate the pregnancy. But gestational carrier McKenna West objected, fleeing to Texas for medical care and legal refuge.McKENNA WEST: I didn't think that I could live with myself doing that.CHANDLER: West sharing her story with the anti-abortion organization Live Action. She’s fighting for legal parenthood over the baby she carried to term in Texas.WEST: I just know that he- he's a fighter and he deserves to be surrounded by people who are 100% willing to fight alongside him.CHANDLER: The boy was born Wednesday. West is calling him Gabriel, but he’s Rumi to his parents, who want to take him back to California for medical care. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervening to support the surrogate, urging a court to prohibit the child’s removal from the state. The court sided with the state in part, blocking any attempt to transfer the child while prohibiting the gestational carrier from asserting parental rights over him. Tonight, the biological parents’ attorneys telling NBC News: “As if the heartbreak of his condition were not enough, they are devastated today to see their family tragedy transformed into political theater,” adding: “Our clients’ only focus at this time is ensuring that their baby receives the medical care that he vitally needs and that they as his parents are able to spend every precious moment they can with their beautiful baby son.” Brian Chandler, NBC News, Dallas.When CBS reported this very story last night, anchor Tony Dokoupil included the fact that Gabriel’s biological parents wanted him aborted up front, in his introduction to the story:TONY DOKOUPIL: Meanwhile, to Texas now, and a battle over the future of a baby born with a serious heart condition. The California parents of the child wanted to end the pregnancy months ago when they learned of the condition, but their surrogate refused and then went to Texas, where the state has now stepped in. Jason Allen reports. In Tom Llamas’s intro, Gabriel’s bio parents are simply “fighting for him.” Viewers don’t hear about the abortion demand until correspondent Brian Chandler’s report. The report then goes on to list the baby’s condition, and the surrogate’s decision to seek safe haven for the baby in Texas. Once again, Live Action is labeled as an “anti-abortion organization,” as opposed to “pro-life” or “right-to-life.” Chandler then casts Attorney General Ken Paxton as a villain for ensuring that Gabriel receives medical care.It is then that Chandler closes out the report by eliciting sympathy for the bio parents that demanded the baby be aborted in the first place. Now that he’s here, he’s “beautiful.” Chandler amplifies the parents’ message lamenting “their family tragedy transformed into political theater.” There’s a lot of that in this report but no examination as to why the theater began in the first place. And the brave surrogate who saved the baby got about 32 seconds out of a report that ran 2 minutes and 9 seconds.For those keeping score, CBS and NBC have reported this story. That leaves ABC, who could have reported the story but instead ran 10 minutes of David Muir traipsing through the redwoods. Make of that what you will. August 14th, 2026 12:01 AM Jorge Bonilla 296429 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2026/08/13/newsbusters-podcast-lefts-kooky-fringe-just-progressives Screenshot/Fox News The broadcast networks are allergic to finding a "far left" within the Democrat Party, so every far-left candidate is hailed as a "progressive" (or a "populist"), or even "capitalist." The label is "moderate" if you oppose the socialist in a primary. If you like Thanksgiving and deplore 9/11? "Moderate." MRC Director of Media Analysis Geoff Dickens and NewsBusters Associate Editor Nick Fondacaro joined the show to discuss our latest research efforts, beginning with the midterms.Bill D'Agostino looked at the labeling on ABC, CBS, and NBC newscasts from August 1 to 11.  When discussing radical left-wing candidates, they relied on vague, euphemistic labels like “progressive” 80% of the time. Journalists actually denied Abdul El-Sayed’s socialist leanings more often than they acknowledged them. They said he identified as a "capitalist" -- while he stood between AOC and Bernie Sanders. Without exception, every Democrat running against a socialist or DSA-backed candidate was described exclusively as “moderate,” "establishment," or both.That pattern continued into Wednesday, ABC, CBS, and NBC each covered the results of Tuesday’s primaries in six states on their morning shows. This led to more labeling slant, with 12 combined uses of “progressive” and “socialist” versus nine for “centrist,” “establishment,” or “moderate.” Of course, there was none for “far-left” or “communist.” But most egregiously, ABC and CBS conveniently chose to wait until Wisconsin’s Francesca Hong lost to let their viewers know about a few of her radical positions.Then there's the bias by omission on defrauding the federal government. On August 5, Vice President J.D. Vance announced at a roundtable meeting that the White House Anti-Fraud Task Force had uncovered and halted more than $200 billion of taxpayer dollars that could have been wasted on fraudulent spending. Network coverage? Zero. That’s odd, since they will tell you about millions being “wasted” on reflecting pools and ballrooms and National Guard patrols in the nation’s capital. This is going to be an issue in the Minnesota Senate race, where Democrat Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan let it all happen.Tuesday’s CBS Evening News shattered the bias by omission seen across the flagship morning and evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC regarding pandemic text messages from Dr. Anthony Fauci. It showed Fauci privately showing initial concern about pregnant women and the Covid-19 vaccine while voicing full-throated support for taking it in public. All told, anchor Tony Dokoupil covered it for a healthy two minutes and 52 seconds across two segments. This must be why the Left hates CBS now.Nick, as someone who covers Second Amendment issues, explains the bias by omission on the disabling of the National Firearms Act.Enjoy the show below.    August 13th, 2026 10:51 PM Tim Graham 296424 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-spinnato/2026/08/13/scarborough-relates-ice-what-happened-soviet-union-and-nazi MS NOW/SnapStream On Thursday’s Morning Joe, in a revival of attacks on ICE from the MS NOW liberal morning show, host Joe Scarborough compared ICE agents to “shock troops” and claimed, “Hispanics are having to carry their papers.” Scarborough did what he usually did when he talked about ICE and related immigration enforcement to “what happened” in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.The actual discussion was based on an AP report that said ICE planned to buy and equip “shock gloves,” which essentially act as a taser.Frequent guest David Drucker actually made the first comparison to an authoritarian regime, as he likened “Americans who are Hispanic who are called now to carry their passports” to the Soviet Union. On Thursday’s Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough likened ICE agents to “shock troops” before he compared parts of immigration enforcement to “what happened in the Soviet Union” and “what happened in Nazi Germany," as he claimed "Hispanics are having to carry their papers." pic.twitter.com/Otu9R4fPxX— Nick (@nspin310) August 13, 2026 He remarked, “There are Americans who are Hispanic who are compelled now to carry their passports, in a sense, to be able to show their papers. Which, you know, Joe, for you and I, as people who remember the Soviet Union and that old joke about having to show your papers and how it was different in the United States. And for now, a group of Americans, it is not different.”After more conversation on the “shock gloves,” Scarborough began to bash ICE actions.He first remarked on the gloves plan, saying it, “gave new meaning to the term shock troops,” and then said, “You're actually going to use shock troops in the United States of America to go after not only people who are immigrants, but also Americans themselves.Scarborough continued, “Time and time again, Americans are getting caught up in this, getting gunned down in the streets of America.”He added, “And you look at Hispanics, what David Drucker said: they're having to carry their papers now. This is like - this is what happened in the Soviet Union. This is what happened in Nazi Germany. Hispanics are having to carry their papers.”Scarborough then connected the situation to the Texas Senate race: “But Hispanics were actually breaking Republicans' way, and they have bent over backwards to implement policies, continue implementing policies that will drive Hispanics further and further away from ever voting Republican again.”Morning Joe had spent much of the year with attacks on ICE, with most from the beginning of the year amid the Minneapolis unrest over ICE operations. On the show, Scarborough himself likened ICE to “Secret Police” and lauded other comparisons to the KKK. He also called ICE detention “much worse than Japanese internment.”Another guest worried that ICE could turn into a “paramilitary, private police of Donald Trump” to be used in the midterm elections.His co-host and wife, Mika Brzezinski, had also joined the ICE attacks, as she had a meltdown back in February over Border Czar Tom Homan and “ICE Bros.”Scarborough's new comparisons to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union just added to the list of his own dramatized attacks on ICE to regimes that committed actual atrocities, like the Nazis and Soviets.The transcript is below. Click "expand":MS NOW’s Morning JoeAugust 13, 20266:44:04 AM Eastern(...)DAVID DRUCKER: There are Americans who are Hispanic who are compelled now to carry their passports, in a sense, to be able to show their papers. Which, you know, Joe, for you and I, as people who remember –JOE SCARBOROUGH: YeahDRUCKER: – the Soviet Union and that old joke about having to show your papers and how it was different in the United States. And for now, a group of Americans, is not different. And I think that that is why this has been so devastating politically, but also just so jarring - devastating politically for the Republicans, but also just so jarring for Americans who are clued in on this because it's antithetical to how we think of ourselves as a country.(...)6:46:57 AM EasternSCARBOROUGH: Yeah. I just had somebody that's been in law enforcement their entire life who said it gives new meaning to the term shock troops. That you're actually going to use shock troops in the United States of America to go after not only people who are immigrants, but also Americans themselves. Time and time again, Americans are getting caught up in this, getting gunned down in the streets of America. And you look at Hispanics, what David Drucker said: they're having to carry their papers now/ This is like - this is what happened in the Soviet Union. This is what happened in Nazi Germany. There have -  Hispanics are having to carry their papers. And Republicans wonder why Ken Paxton is losing in Texas, other than the fact he's just an absolutely horrible political candidate. But Hispanics were actually breaking Republicans' way, and they have bent over backwards to implement policies, continue implementing policies that will drive Hispanics further and further away from ever voting Republican again.(...) August 13th, 2026 10:07 PM Nicholas Spinnato 296419 https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/steve-malzberg/2026/08/13/cnn-presents-one-sided-view-situation-wnba-ex-espn-host Ever since Sophie Cunningham of the WNBA's Indiana Fever told ESPN, last month, that she does not favor biological men playing in woman's sports, the league has been involved in multiple controversies, almost all of them self inflicted. Tuesday on CNN's The Situation Room, host Pamela Brown brought on CNN Contributor Cari Champion, formerly of ESPN, to discuss some of what was going on, in what was a one sided session that also left out many relevant facts.Brown began by asking Champion about Cunningham's comments, claiming the remarks have pulled the league into a culture war, and Champion downplayed the whole situation. CHAMPION: It's really not an issue. There are no biological men attempting to really, truly try to play in the WNBA....not on the NCAA level, not on the Olympian level. So, if you can't play college sports, you definitely won't make it to the pros.Whoa! First, no mention that NCAA President Charlie Baker told a Senate panel in December of 2024, that there were less than 10 transgender athletes in college sports, although he did not say if that includes transgender men. No mention that in March of this year, that the IOC issued a new policy on the protection of the women's category for Olympic sports. And no mention of injuries suffered by girls in High School sports, at the hands of biological boys playing against them. Champion continued to throw cold water on the legitimacy of the whole subject, before Brown brought up that there  are indeed two biological men who are planning on entering the WNBA Draft.CHAMPION: I think this is a conversation that has been brought up by certain people.... and more importantly, political folks who want to use this league as their avatar to get their opinions off, to push narratives they want to talk about. And unfortunately, we're all falling for it because we're talking about it.BROWN: You do have two former NBA players, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, who are declaring for the 2027 WNBA, draft, claiming they now identify as women. This appears to be performance, publicity stunt, whatever you want to call it. Brown then asked how the league will handle this, and Champion got out the violin.CHAMPION: I think that the Players Association, as well as the League will probably be a little more clear about what they mean by women playing in the WNBA. Unfortunately, those two retired players were looking for some attention and trying to prove a point....And they (WNBA) have just gotten to the point where they finally have the attention that they deserve, that they've worked so hard for all of these years. And people are co-opting this message.Champion continued to present the WNBA as the victim in all of this, which was fine with Brown. CHAMPION: When this league started, these women, it was sweat equity....There's some excellent basketball being played by these ladies, and they will continue to keep the main thing the main thing, and try to quiet this narrative of what is a woman playing in sports. I think we shouldn't even answer those questions. These issues are not being pursued by just league outsiders. It wasn't mentioned that last month the co-owner of the league's Seattle Storm was suspended for verbally harassing young girls, who were displaying signs in favor of Sophie Cunningham's stance. Earlier this month, Minnesota Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve wore a "Trans Kids Belong" shirt.Brown then brought up the ejection last week of Chicago Sky's DiJonai Carrington, who is black, for a flagrant foul against Cunningham, and Carrington's post game post of "white privilege". Champion then seemed to blame white and straight WNBA players, and those in the general population, for the league's current problems.CHAMPION: There's a race problem in the WNBA as much as there is a race problem in this country. It is now black versus white, a league that is 68 percent black, has players that are LGBTQ-plus. They are very well aware of what's going on in the world and culturally we are fighting these wars.Champion went on uninterrupted, for another 80 seconds, making an excuse for Carrington's white privilege post, before admitting, "I got to be honest, I can't say I know what she meant by that."Another key issue left out by Brown and Champion, Cunningham's coach Stephanie White's original defense of the foul on her own player, saying she didn't oppose the hard foul, before telling her critics to "go to hell", although that happened Tuesday night, well after the interview was conducted.All in all, a segment with some outrageous claims, devoid of inconvenient facts, with no pushback. This is CNN! August 13th, 2026 7:15 PM Steve Malzberg 296409