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Everything Wrong With The America 250 Celebrations

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America 250

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Vanilla Ice

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is being absolutely trashed online for saying that no one can legitimately become a billionaire.
“You can’t earn a billion dollars. You just can’t earn that,” the democratic socialist congresswoman <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTZzXzRCA50">told</a> comedian Ilana Glazer on an episode of the “It’s Open” podcast. 
“You can get market power, you can break rules, you can do all sorts of things,&#8221; AOC said. “You can abuse labor laws, you can pay people less than what they’re worth. But you can’t earn that, right? And so you have to create a myth that — since you didn’t earn that, you have to create a myth of earning it.&#8221; 
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The Democrat seemed laser focused on billionaires in business without commenting on billionaire entertainers like Taylor Swift. When the critics started calling her out, AOC doubled down in an X post she <a href="https://x.com/AOC/status/2052529622655402174">shared</a> Thursday evening.
“The single largest form of theft in America is wage theft. $50 billion a year are stolen from American workers,” she wrote. 
“Some people get enraged that I draw attention to this. That’s on them. Let them call me shrill, dumb, inexperienced, girly, uneducated – these folks will say anything to distract from or undercut the truth that working people are getting screwed, and giving people a fair shake means we must have a grown conversation about reigning in abuse of power.”
Commenters with common sense pointed out the multiple flaws in her argument.
“Lies. Billionaires get rich by innovating and risk-taking, offering new and better goods and services at prices people are willing to pay. Government makes cash through confiscation. AOC&#8217;s conspiratorial, envious view of the world leads to impoverishment and tyranny,” Ben Shapiro, the editor emeritus of The Daily Wire, <a href="https://x.com/benshapiro/status/2052576063738269819">wrote</a>. 
“Socialists don’t run businesses,” author Helen Raleigh <a href="https://x.com/HRaleighspeaks/status/2052521924090097961">wrote</a>. “They produce nothing valuable or desirable that others want. They enrich themselves only by taking from others by force. Therefore, they don’t understand how entrepreneurs can be so wildly successful in a free market simply by providing goods or services many people want and are willing to pay for.”
“What a naive and wrong point of view. So much of leftist politics and thinking these days is about justifying envy,” entrepreneur and venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale <a href="https://x.com/JTLonsdale/status/2052452637245657095">agreed</a>. “I’ve co-founded six different multi-billion dollar companies, with more on the way. AOC perhaps isn’t bright enough to make a lot of money without massive grift &#8211; sure. But 10000’s who worked with me are rich; some are also billionaires!”
He added, “Our innovation sector is the best in the world, solving problems and growing the pie with US talent for a brighter future for all. I’m aligned against cronyism. But demonizing success is totally unAmerican.”

Did AOC Just Spark Bad Blood With Taylor Swift?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Billionaire

Business

Capitalism

Money

British commentators have a habit of looking at both Britain and the United States through the same distorted lens, which needs a good clean: that they are “poor societies with a few very rich people.” It is a comforting story for those who want to emphasize inequality over prosperity. But it does not survive contact with the data, and it certainly does not describe the United States. If anything, it more closely describes Britain itself.
The uncomfortable truth is that many British observers struggle to grasp just how wealthy even working-class Americans are in material terms. This is not about billionaire comparisons or Silicon Valley extremes. It is about the baseline standard of living: income, consumption, housing space, and access to goods and services that define everyday life. When asked where they rank in terms of wealth with their American counterparts, Brits said they would be the 7th wealthiest state. In reality, we rank 51st and yes, even below Mississippi.
On almost every measure of disposable income and consumption, American households, including those in the middle and working classes, are significantly better off than their British counterparts. Homes are larger. Car ownership is higher. Access to goods is broader. Energy use, appliance use, and overall consumption levels reflect a society with far greater purchasing power. Anecdotally, I was stunned when I landed at JFK Airport by how huge Uber cars were. You would never have a Cadillac as an Uber in Britain.
And yet, much of the British commentary ecosystem continues to assume the opposite. Part of the confusion comes from how wealth is perceived rather than measured. Britain, especially in its post-industrial form, has developed a narrative of relative restraint: smaller homes, denser cities, and a strong emphasis on public provision. That creates an impression of fairness and stability, but it can also obscure stagnation.
The United States, by contrast, is often misread as a society defined only by extremes, billionaires at the top and insecurity everywhere else. But this misses the scale of American middle-class affluence, which remains unusually high by global standards despite real challenges like healthcare costs and housing pressures.
The reality is that neither country fits the simplistic “rich and poor extremes” model. But the balance of misperception is asymmetric. Britain increasingly underestimates American prosperity while quietly struggling with its own long-term growth constraints.
This debate is not happening in isolation. It comes at a moment when His Majesty’s state visit and broader efforts to reaffirm the U.K.–U.S. “special relationship” are drawing attention to what still binds the two countries together: a shared commitment to liberal democracy, open markets, and the idea that free societies generate prosperity through competition and innovation.
That shared tradition matters more in the post-Brexit era than it may have in decades. Outside the European Union, Britain must increasingly define its economic identity on its own terms. That means competing for investment, talent, and growth in a global system where the United States remains the dominant engine of innovation and wealth creation.
The comparison is therefore unavoidable, not as a cultural insult, but as an economic reality check. The United States continues to demonstrate the extraordinary capacity of a large, open economy to generate wealth at scale. It does so unevenly and often imperfectly, but the outcome is still clear: high levels of consumption, strong productivity in key sectors, and a middle class that, despite pressure, remains materially affluent by international standards.
Britain, meanwhile, faces a different trajectory. Wage growth has been sluggish, productivity growth has been weak, housing has become increasingly constrained, and infrastructure investment has been uneven. The result is a society where perceptions of middle-class comfort often mask underlying economic stagnation.
This divergence is not just about policy. It is about philosophy. Both Britain and the United States are heirs to a liberal tradition built on the idea that economic and political freedom is the foundation of prosperity. Markets, property rights, entrepreneurship, and institutional stability are not abstract ideals; they are mechanisms for generating sustained growth.
But that philosophy only works if it is actively maintained. In the post-Brexit era, Britain has an opportunity to reassert that tradition, not by imitating America, but by recognizing what actually drives prosperity in free societies. That requires moving beyond narratives of managed decline or moralized inequality and focusing instead on growth, productivity, and competitiveness.
The UK–US relationship, symbolized in part by royal diplomacy and state visits, is often described in sentimental terms. But its real significance lies in something more practical: two of the world’s most influential liberal democracies demonstrating that open societies can still outperform closed or centrally managed ones.
That example is increasingly important in a world where authoritarian models present themselves as efficient alternatives to democratic capitalism. If Britain and America are to continue offering a meaningful model, they must first be honest about what prosperity looks like. It is not defined solely by equality, nor by headline inequality figures, nor by isolated measures like healthcare access or housing costs. It is defined by the overall capacity of a society to generate wealth and improve living standards over time.
On that measure, the United States remains far wealthier than it is often given credit for, including among working-class households, while Britain faces the more difficult challenge of reversing long-term stagnation.
The point is not that one country “wins” and the other “loses.” It is that both countries are shaped by tradeoffs that they often misunderstand in each other. But if Britain continues to view itself and the United States through the same flattened narrative of inequality without prosperity, it risks misreading both its ally and itself. And in an era defined by global competition, economic uncertainty, and shifting geopolitical alliances, misreading is not just an intellectual mistake; it is a strategic one.
***
Mike Salem is the UK Country Associate at the Consumer Choice Center, an independent, non-partisan consumer advocacy group promoting innovation, consumer choice, and competitive markets. His analysis has appeared across British media, including GB News, LBC, the Telegraph, the Mirror, City AM, and BBC Arabic.

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Why A Prosperous America Is Hard For The British To Grasp

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“It was either a tray, or a bullet. I was hoping it was a tray. It wasn’t.”
That was President Donald John Trump, 79 years old, four hours of sleep a night, and now three assassination attempts into his presidency, cracking jokes at a press conference less than two hours after a man named Cole Tomas Allen tried to kill him in the lobby of the Washington Hilton Hotel.
Two hours.
&#8220;I like not to think about it. I&#8217;m not a basket case. I take it as it is. I do it for the country.&#8221;
Most of us would still be in shock. Most of us would be wrapped in a blanket somewhere, shivering, phones off, unable to form a coherent sentence. Donald Trump was standing at a podium, flanked by his cabinet and his wife, Melania, taking questions from reporters and already talking about rescheduling the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll do it again in the next thirty days, and we&#8217;ll do it bigger and better,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We wanted to stay tonight, and I will tell you I fought like hell to stay.&#8221;
That is not the behavior of a man who is shaken. That is the behavior of a man who has made peace with the cost of his job, and who’s chosen to pay it anyway.
While reporters scrambled for details on the shooter, pundits dissected the manifesto, and the Left predictably declared the whole thing staged, almost no one stopped to sit with the human reality of what we witnessed. A sitting president of the United States nearly lost his life last night, again, and before the night was over, he was already thinking about how to get back to business.
He is a walking middle finger to the progressive Leftists who want him dead.
Scientists should study this man’s nervous system.
Trump addressed it directly at the press conference, returning to a statistic he’s cited before — one that, in the context of last night, hits differently. Race car drivers die on the job at a rate of 0.10%. Bull riders, the same. But the American presidency? 5.8% of presidents have been killed in office. 8% have been shot at.
“I’m here to do a job,” Trump said. “It’s part of the job. It’s very dangerous. I cannot imagine that there is any profession that’s more dangerous. But I love the country. I’m very proud. I’m very proud of the job we’ve done … I wanna live because I wanna make this country great.”
That right there is what allows our president to keep going. His love for our country.
And that right there is a man who has stared down at his own mortality — repeatedly — and decided that America is worth more than his own safety.
President Trump doesn’t just endure these moments. He refuses to let them change him. After the chaos settled, the president personally called members of the press — the same legacy media that has spent years fomenting the very environment that enabled these assassination attempts — to ask if they were okay. Not his team. Not his donors. The journalists who have made his life a living hell.
Worst fascist ever, checking in on those who hate him most.
We are dangerously close to taking his resilience for granted. Because he handles it so well, so consistently, we forget what “it” actually is. This is a man who took a bullet to the ear in Butler, Pennsylvania, raised his fist in the air with blood streaming down his face, and said fight. This is a man who has now survived multiple attempts on his life and has not once — not for a single moment — considered quitting. Nothing and no one is deterring him from delivering for our nation.
He easily could have given up on us. No one would have blamed him. The man has built a legacy, raised a family, lived 10 lifetimes. He didn’t have to come back. He didn’t have to run again. He didn’t have to walk into a room knowing that some percentage of the people in it might want him dead.
He came back because he loves this country. It is that simple. It is that extraordinary.
Most generations get one president who genuinely believes the job is a calling rather than a career. We have ours. And he is showing up — still, again, always, despite the fact that showing up means dodging literal bullets.
He is the greatest president my generation has ever seen, and I’ll be damned if we let the Left take him out, as they did to Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.
President Trump, I don’t know how you’re doing it. Maybe it’s the Diet Coke. Maybe it&#8217;s spite. Maybe it&#8217;s just that you love this country and her people more than you fear what they might do to you. But we see you. And we thank you.
Fight, fight, fight.

President Trump Attends The White House Correspondents’ Dinner

President Trump Is Unbreakable

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President Trump

White House Correspondents’ Dinner

We have been importing the people who hate our country and wish to destroy it. They believe in Third Worldism, the philosophy that all the problems of the Third World can be laid at the feet of us here in the West. 
But there&#8217;s more. The people in the Democratic Party elite apparently believe that the West owes it to the Third World to destroy itself, or who view the Third Worlders as fellow travelers, helping them to accomplish that goal.
It&#8217;s time to talk about the seemingly irreversible slide of the Democratic Party toward deep radicalism that will destroy our country. But to understand that, we have to understand the existential crisis facing our civilization. 
There’s a rap song by a Syrian-born artist that’s becoming incredibly popular online.
The lyrics read: 
<blockquote>Separate our loved ones and slaughter our children. 
Take our blood for granted and demonize our revolutionaries, 
Steal our knowledge, keep our people oblivious 
And torture our spirits and denounce us our rights 
Colonize our countries and appoint our rulers 
Appropriate our goods and burn down our trees 
But who would you be without us 
Bomb our roofs, make us out as liars 
And watch our pains and belittle our agony 
Ignore our tears and close our eyes 
Mutilate our faces and deny our feelings 
Destroy our dreams, objectify our bodies and darken our skies and kill our peace 
We will keep standing still 
And our love stands in us. But who would you be without us? 
You would not be without us. You will not be without us. </blockquote>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-981859 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
The video shows a very angry young woman marching. Behind her are a bunch of other people from what appear to be third-world countries, many of them Muslim countries.
Why is this important? 
Because this is, in its essence, what we have imported.
We in the West have imported people who hate our guts. And then there is a group of people in the United States who hate the systems, who have allied with those people to create a mass movement. That is what is happening with people such as Hasan Piker, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Zohran Mamdani.
The basic idea among these people is that the reason other countries suffer is because the West did something wrong to them. Now, the West owes them something.
Therefore, if you are living in the West and you realize that it’s pretty great and pretty prosperous, but you feel alienated because your parents are from somewhere else. As a result, you blame your parents’ problems on the West that took them in, and you blame colonialism and colonization. 
The reality is that this female rapper is apparently from Syria and lives in Germany. 
Germany never colonized Syria. Ever. 
In fact, if you&#8217;re going to talk about the colonization history of Syria, you can talk about the Islamic colonization of Syria. Syria, of course, used to be a Christian country long before it was a Muslim country. But then it was colonized by Muslims, and then the Ottoman Empire controlled it for 400 years. The only Western country to control Syria in the last millennium was France for 26 years. The Assad regime controlled Syria for twice as long as France did. 
You may have noticed that in that entire description of Syrian history, Germany never came up. Germany just took in millions of Syrian immigrants and migrants during the Syrian civil war. 
Syrian refugees entered Germany when Angela Merkel decided to import a bunch of Third World refugees out of some sort of misplaced sense of guilt.
The narrative that is told by the Third Worldists is far too simplistic. The reality is that colonization has been a routine part of human history. It is not merely done by the West. Islamic colonization took over the entire Middle East, moved into Europe, and still controls large swaths of Africa.
There are all sorts of colonization efforts. It is worthwhile to note that the institutions set up by British colonizers made those areas more prosperous. In fact, the countries that retained British institutions, in particular, are the most prosperous countries in Africa, and the ones that reject those British institutions, those Western institutions, completely fail.
European colonization is responsible for the end of slavery in the areas where there is no slavery. It&#8217;s also responsible for the institution of systems and ideas such as private property.
The idea from the Leftists is that all the problems all over the world are the responsibility of the West. And then we decided that we should import all those people. 
There are about 4.5 million Muslims in the United States, up from 1.1 million in the year 2000, a 400% increase. That includes over 10% of the population of New York. Many of those people are undoubtedly decent citizens, but how many of them sympathize with the decolonial ideology of somebody like the Syrian rapper?
According to the polls, the answer is a lot. A recent poll asked how many British Muslims believe al-Qaeda planned 9/11. The answer: 4%.
Does that sound like a deradicalized population that loves the West? Another poll at the time of the Charlie Hebdo massacre a decade ago showed that two-thirds of French Muslims wanted Charlie Hebdo prosecuted for cartoons of Muhammad.
Does that sound like a philosophy that is in keeping with French standards of speech?
Today, some 57% of American Muslims believe that October 7 was at least somewhat justified. 
We can pretend away these ideological conflicts. It doesn&#8217;t make them disappear. We imported a lot of people who do not like Western civilization. 
That doesn&#8217;t mean all Muslims in the West don&#8217;t like Western civilization. I know Muslims who do, but the notion that importing millions of Muslims from third-world countries, or people from other cultures that don&#8217;t appreciate Western civilization, would be a good idea, is idiocy. 
That raises the question of why the West imported all of this in the first place. The answer is that there are a bunch of homegrown people in the West who believe our civilization is inherently guilty and ought to be torn down. They tend toward the Marxist Left. The Marxist Left believes that America was founded in sin, that America&#8217;s foreign policy and the West’s foreign policy more broadly have been about exploitation and evil.
The French existentialist and Marxist Jean-Paul Sartre wrote the foreword to one of the most important anti-colonial books of the 20th century, a book called “The Wretched of the Earth,” by Frantz Fanon. Sartre wrote: “We are all complicit in a thousand-year-old oppression. You know well enough that we are exploiters. Our precious sets of values begin to molt; on closer scrutiny you won&#8217;t see one that isn&#8217;t stained with blood.” 
He argued that we actually needed to import people from the Third World to destroy us.
The Marxists on the Left love this stuff. They are into this stuff. Suicide is the answer. Western values are evil, and they have to be destroyed.
In the United States, this is the coalition that&#8217;s taking over the Democratic Party. 
Why is the Democratic Party doing this? 
Some are doing this because they&#8217;re actual Marxists, and they&#8217;re happy to travel as fellows with Third Worldism as a front for their destructive goals. There&#8217;s a long history of that. Marxists in Africa worked alongside the Third World to fight the West.
And then there are Democrats who just hate the Right so much that they will find any ally, side with those people, and will treat any Democrat who works with Republicans, or at least any Democrat who doesn&#8217;t want to burn every single thing down, as a traitor.

Omar4

The Radical Third World Leftism Of The Democratic Party

Democrats

Europe

Hasan Piker

Ilhan Omar

Immigration

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The West

Zohran Mamdani

If you thought America’s love of Japan was only about Hibachi restaurants, Anime teens, and The Karate Kid reboots, you haven’t spent enough time on X. Last weekend, the admiration entered a new phase as the social media platform boosted an AI-enabled translation tool, making exchanging and sharing posts easier between Japanese and American users.
What resulted was a pleasant and outright wholesome font of positive vibes that seemed out of place in the notoriously cynical virtual world of hot takes, hate bots, and culture wars. The website Pirate Wires noticed and published an <a href="https://www.piratewires.com/p/japan-is-americas-greatest-ally-and">essay</a> doubling down on the niche community, heaping praise on the newfound old love between Japan and America. In it, the authors point to President Trump’s bromance with the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, love of American BBQ, and shared technological and military goals, all of which are true and good, but that’s only part of the story.
While it appears the Japanese people are living their best lives cosplaying Americana at <a href="https://tasteofcountry.com/authentic-honky-tonk-bar-tokyo-japan/">Honky Tonk bars</a> and showing off their <a href="https://www.topspeed.com/japans-love-affair-with-american-muscle-cars/">classic cruisers</a>, the Pirate Wires take is a little deceiving. What’s missing is the 1980s working-class anxiety and animosity toward our now Eastern besties — a sentiment not felt since the Greatest Generation came back from raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi and refused to buy Toyotas.
Japan’s rapid post-WWII industrialization and investment in technology paid off economically and sparked a transpacific rivalry, trade war, and manufacturing insecurity on par with a Rocky-versus-Drago fight of the century, if not a little less…violent. The Cold War rightly absorbs much of the attention when recalling the era, but as the Soviet Union was showing signs of losing its grip, Japan was becoming a real threat to the United States’ industrial domination — and the repercussions were being felt in homes, boardrooms, and factories across the country. Toyota and Honda exploded onto the automotive scene, helping usher in Detroit’s demise. Japanese technology, such as portable radios, video games, and televisions, was grabbing more market share from American companies like RCA. Even America’s trophy landmarks were being taken over. In 1989, Mitsubishi Estate took control of Rockefeller Center, a capstone acquisition following the Japanese corporation&#8217;s acquisitions of Firestone Tire &amp; Rubber and Columbia Pictures.
This tension was reflected in pop culture entertainment — think Ron Howard’s 1986 film Gung Ho, where Michael Keaton plays a foreman at an American auto manufacturing plant taken over by a Japanese corporation. The film is a comedy, but it mirrors the zeitgeist of the time. There was also Rising Sun, Kinjite, and imagined futures that look strikingly Japanese, such as Blade Runner and Robocop 3; Die Hard takes place in Nakatomi Plaza. Tom Clancy even explores this theme in his novel &#8220;Debt of Honor,&#8221; in which the protagonist, Jack Ryan, fights a &#8220;secret cabal of Japanese industrialists.&#8221;
But enough with nuance. The biggest takeaway from the situation is the display of understated power and the magnitude of influence and reach American culture has had from the mid-20th century forward. And even though there have been some notable outside foreign influences permeating these liberty-laden shores, it’s far from an even exchange.
We gave the world jazz and rock and roll, fast food and blue jeans, baseball and John Wayne Westerns. Sure, we got the British Invasion and Crocodile Dundee, but what would France do without Jerry Lewis and Germany without David Hasselhoff? I’m only half-kidding. American cultural influence was instrumental in winning the Cold War — there was even an underground pipeline of Chuck Norris <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2442080/">films</a> to undermine the communists — and who could deny Roger Goodell’s not-so-secret <a href="https://media.nfl.com/news-and-releases/international/nfl-s-global-markets-program-expands-in-2026-with-addition-of-it">plan</a> for the NFL to take over the world?
So while our “special” relationship with Japan is great, it’s not exactly novel. America’s cultural influence is a force for good in the world, and it’s a shame the mainstream media has ignored it in favor of authoritarian worship, evidenced by the rise of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/25/asia/chinamaxxing-americans-soft-power-intl-hnk-dst">stories</a> about “Chinamaxxing.”
Good for Pirate Wires to report a feel-good story that most of the media ignored, even if it wasn&#8217;t a complete picture. It’s important to remember that for all the reports of America’s demise, we’re still going strong — and in unexpected corners of the world and in unexpected ways. Far from the evil empire that snobby Europeans or elitist media personalities would have you believe, we just want to spread some good old-fashioned American fun. Because in the long run, that makes better friends than enemies.

Patriotic cowboy boots

Hate Us Or Love Us, Everyone Still Wants To Be American

American History

Japan

Social Media

World

War Secretary Pete Hegseth stepped in on Tuesday, lifting the suspension on the Army aircraft crews who flew past musician Kid Rock&#8217;s Nashville mansion, dubbed the Southern White House.
Hegseth shared a post announcing the move, saying, &#8220;Thank you @KidRock. @USArmy pilots suspension LIFTED. No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/KidRock?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KidRock</a>.<a href="https://twitter.com/USArmy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USArmy</a> pilots suspension LIFTED.
No punishment. No investigation.
Carry on, patriots. 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/Zqhv1Zx1iG">https://t.co/Zqhv1Zx1iG</a>
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/2039109100282196436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/apache-helicopters-kid-rock-house-crew-suspended/">CBS News</a> reported earlier on Tuesday that the Army aircraft crews had been suspended.
According to the news outlet, the crews have been grounded. An Army spokesperson said in a statement that a full review will look into &#8220;the circumstances surrounding the mission, including compliance with relevant FAA regulations, aviation safety protocol, and approval requirements.&#8221;
&#8220;The Army takes any allegations of unauthorized or unsafe flight operations very seriously and is committed to enforcing standards and holding personnel accountable,&#8221; Maj. Montrell Russell said.
Two helicopters identified as AH-64 Apaches — coming from Fort Campbell, Kentucky — <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kid-rock-sparks-military-investigation-after-wild-stunt-at-southern-white-house">flew by</a> Kid Rock&#8217;s &#8220;Southern White House,&#8221; where the singer saluted the crew from his pool deck as he stood next to his replica of the Statue of Liberty.
&#8220;This is a level of respect that sh*t for brains Governor of California will never know,&#8221; Kid Rock captioned the <a href="https://x.com/KidRock/status/2037987671671292134?s=20">video</a> he posted of the helicopters that now has more than 10 million views. &#8220;God Bless America and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend her.&#8221;
Since Army officials launched the &#8220;administrative review&#8221; Monday, Kid Rock has spoken out defending the servicemen he was delighted to see.
“It was pretty cool they stopped right there,” Kid Rock told local Nashville station <a href="https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/kid-rock-helicopter-pilot-crew-suspended/">WKRN</a>. &#8220;I wasn’t expecting any of that, but I thought it was really neat.&#8221;
The musician, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, told WKRN he doesn&#8217;t think the chopper crews will be punished too severely as a result of their actions.
&#8220;I think they’re going to be alright,&#8221; Kid Rock said. &#8220;My buddy is the commander in chief.&#8221;
Kid Rock was obviously talking about his friend, President Donald Trump. The outspoken conservative is a longtime Trump supporter and even sang at the last Republican National Convention.
The pilots of the Army choppers apparently had the green light — at least as far as Kid Rock was concerned — to fly by the mansion. The singer told WKRN he has met with the pilots, who are stationed not too far away from Music City, and told the servicemen they could &#8220;cruise&#8221; by his place anytime.
The Daily Wire has reached out to Fort Campbell officials about the incident.

Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Pete Hegseth Steps In After Army Pilots Buzz Kid Rock’s Mansion

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The Trump Kennedy Center will host the premiere of the family-friendly film, “Star Spangled Adventures: The Movie,” on Flag Day: June 14, 2026.
The animated family film brings American history to life with humor and heart, tracing the nation&#8217;s founding ideals through adventure and storytelling that’s fun for the whole family.
The film features voice performances from well-known actors and public figures, including Kirk Cameron as Brutus Wigglesthorpe, Kevin Sorbo as George Washington, Pat Boone as Abraham Lincoln, Gary Sinise as Robert E. Lee, Rob Schneider in a cameo role, Alveda King as a civil rights activist, Jarrett Ellis as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Dr. Ben Carson appearing as himself.
Per the <a href="https://www.starspangledadventures.com/">website</a>, the narrative “begins in 1775, as Liberty the Eagle is sent as an apprentice to watch over Freedom in pre-Revolutionary America … In preparation for what will become a truly revolutionary act, brave colonists draft the Declaration of Independence — setting the stage to change the world. Cue the fireworks! As America&#8217;s story unfolds, the promises of the Declaration echo through each generation. When fireworks burst across the sky during a modern-day July 4th celebration, young viewers are left with a powerful truth: our cherished freedoms were not only hard-won, but they must be protected. And now, it&#8217;s up to them to carry the torch.”
The premiere marks the latest addition to the Trump Kennedy Center’s faith and family-based programming initiative. The Center has previously featured screenings of faith-centered films such as “King of Kings,” CBN’s “Revival Generation,” and “El Tonto Por Cristo,” along with its first-ever Christmas spectacular – “Noel: Jesus is Born!”
This upcoming Flag Day event will encourage Americans to celebrate our great nation.
“As we celebrate America&#8217;s 250th anniversary, the Trump Kennedy Center is proud to bring families together for the premiere of ‘Star Spangled Adventures: The Movie,’ a patriotic experience the whole family can enjoy. This continues our promise of more family-friendly show options at America&#8217;s cultural center,” said Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations.
The film was made as part of the American Cornerstone Institute’s Little Patriots initiative, expanding on the popular “Star Spangled Adventures” cartoon series.
“‘Star Spangled Adventures: The Movie’ brings the story of America to life for our youngest learners in a way that will educate and inspire them. By honoring the courage, faith, and love of liberty that has shaped our great nation over the years, we are helping the next generation understand that freedom is not automatic — it is something that must be understood, loved, and protected,” said Dr. Ben Carson.
The premiere aligns with a broader cultural push to reclaim American institutions for faith, family, and patriotism. As the country prepares for its 250th anniversary, “Star Spangled Adventures: The Movie” offers parents a wholesome, educational film that celebrates the principles of liberty, courage, and self-governance that built the United States.

Star Spangled Adventures

Trump Kennedy Center Announces Pro-America Content For Kids

Animation

Children

Kennedy Center

Movies

Patriotic

On Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in a small run-down courtroom in Adams County, Ohio, sat a man in an American flag suit, American flag sunglasses, a marijuana-shaped ring, and a legendary rap catalog. It was Afroman&#8217;s defamation trial and he was determined to win.
Afroman, real name Joseph Foreman, went from drinking Colt 45s and living his life to fighting what he calls &#8220;crooked cops&#8221; after he was sued by seven Adams County Sheriff&#8217;s deputies for defamation and humiliation. The deputies claimed Afroman defamed them and used their likeness for profit after the rapper dropped numerous viral songs about cops who raided his home.
The judge found the rapper not liable for defamation or invasion of privacy regarding his music videos and Afroman is still celebrating what he calls a &#8220;win for free speech.&#8221;
Afroman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/fng-260323-afroman">told me</a> that responding to the cops with rap videos was the most American thing he could do.
&#8220;There&#8217;s one power I have, and I&#8217;m not giving it up,&#8221; Afroman told The Daily Wire, wearing the same American flag suit he wore in court. &#8220;I have the freedom of speech. So after they kick down my door, disconnect my cameras, steal my money &#8230; with my freedom of speech, I will address all of these issues.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m a classic American. I&#8217;m a soul brother. I walk with a stroll. I play soul music. You know, all of that is America,&#8221; Afroman said. &#8220;The fist that everybody throws up. That&#8217;s American. You know, rap music — It&#8217;s American, man.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/audXVeEsDwo?si=ypbAIzOTHF5AOhhR" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
&#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xxK5yyecRo">Lemon Pound Cake</a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bNy7XO-SCI&amp;list=RD0bNy7XO-SCI&amp;start_radio=1">Will You Help Me Repair My Door</a>&#8221; are two of the botched-raid inspired songs racking in millions of views on YouTube. The lyrics are catchy with verses detailing what Afroman saw on the footage of the raid from his surveillance cameras. The pre-chorus of &#8220;Lemon Pound Cake&#8221; details an officer caught on camera checking out the cake on Afroman&#8217;s counter.
Afroman said writing the songs was no different than writing his classic track.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve been writing about my pain for years, you know, &#8216;Because I Got High&#8217; wasn&#8217;t funny until I put it on paper. It kind of made it funny, you know what I&#8217;m saying?&#8221;
&#8220;Because I Got High&#8221; is Afroman&#8217;s most popular song and was even nominated for a Grammy in 2002, and now his lemon pound cake track is entertaining the internet. Afroman said the words to the viral soundtracks came easy to him once he sat down to write in the same kitchen that was raided.
&#8220;I like my kitchen. I never thought I&#8217;d like my kitchen because I used to hate washing dishes as a boy. So the kitchen was like my favorite and my worst. I loved it when it was time to eat, but I hated when it was time to clean up. You know?&#8221; Afroman said. &#8220;But I wrote it right here on my kitchen table.&#8221;
Don&#8217;t let Afroman&#8217;s outdated <a href="https://x.com/ogafroman?s=20">profile</a> on X fool you, right now it reads &#8220;2024 Presidential Candidate,&#8221; but he has fans asking about his intentions for 2028.
&#8220;If America needs me to be the president, I&#8217;ll be the president. If America needs me to be the vice president, I&#8217;ll be the vice president. If America just needs me to be a good citizen, I&#8217;ll be a good citizen,&#8221; Afroman said.
Afroman is from California but says he plans to stay in Ohio, despite the cop saga. How did Afroman end up in Ohio? He says it was all because of a woman.
&#8220;I try to be smart, but I have my, you know, side effects,&#8221; Afroman said. &#8220;I like big butts and I cannot lie.&#8221;
Under oath or from his kitchen on a podcast, Afroman doesn&#8217;t lie. His lyrics tell it like it is, and his lifestyle is unapologetic. His freedom of speech court win catapulted the singer back where he belongs — in the spotlight.
Since the trial wrapped, Afroman has nearly 28 million views on his videos related to the 2022 raid, and the rapper turned chess player, turned courtroom sensation, is grateful for every one of them.
&#8220;Don&#8217;t forget about your boy, Afro. I&#8217;m putting a record out here in a little bit, but I just like the good vibes it&#8217;s giving everybody right now.&#8221;

Illustration by Daily Wire staff

Colt 45s And Crooked Cops: I Talked To Afroman About Winning The Internet

Afroman

Entertainment

Ohio

trial

Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro will headline a major rally this summer at Mount Vernon as part of a nationwide tour celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States, Young America&#8217;s Foundation (YAF) announced on Monday.
The event, scheduled for August 6, will kick off Young America&#8217;s Foundation’s 48th annual National Conservative Student Conference and marks the third stop on the “Freedom at 250” tour organized in partnership with The Daily Wire.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a> to join YAF at George Washington&#8217;s Mt. Vernon for Freedom at 250 Rally to open 48th National Conservative Student Conference.
Register at <a href="https://t.co/jebRK1CDxm">https://t.co/jebRK1CDxm</a> <a href="https://t.co/1YLXf6nNWv">pic.twitter.com/1YLXf6nNWv</a>
— YAF (@yaf) <a href="https://twitter.com/yaf/status/2031037673549222080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
The year-long tour will commemorate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding by bringing together conservative voices and student leaders across the country to highlight the founding principles of the American experiment.
Shapiro said the historic setting of George Washington’s estate offers a powerful reminder of the sacrifices that shaped the nation. “At a time when many Americans are uncertain about the country’s direction, gathering at George Washington’s Mount Vernon for our country’s 250th anniversary is a powerful reminder that this nation was forged in challenge, not comfort,” Shapiro said in a statement. “It was built by men and women who risked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to secure rights given by God and protected by the Constitution.”
Shapiro added that the milestone anniversary presents a profound moment to reflect upon the country’s future. “At pivotal moments, America has always faced a choice: decline or renewal,” he said. “Young America’s Foundation is helping ensure the next generation understands those founding principles and is prepared to defend them.”
The Mount Vernon rally will serve as the opening program for YAF’s flagship student conference, one of the largest gatherings of conservative college students in the country. Conference registration opened Monday as organizers prepare for what they expect to be the largest event in the program’s history.
Former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, who now serves as president of Young America’s Foundation, said the event’s location was intentionally chosen to connect young conservatives with the nation’s founding ideals. “As America approaches its 250th anniversary, there is no more fitting place to gather than George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and no better person to deliver this message to young Americans than a fearless fighter like Ben Shapiro,” Walker said.
Walker added that the upcoming conference comes at a time when the country’s founding principles are increasingly being scrutinized. “At a time when our founding principles are under pressure and the direction of our country is being fiercely debated, it has never been more important for YAF to shape the next generation in the spirit of Washington and the other Founding Fathers,” he said.
Young America’s Foundation’s National Conservative Student Conference, now entering its 48th year, regularly brings together leading conservative activists, policymakers, and media figures to engage students on issues ranging from constitutional government and free speech to culture and public policy.
This year’s conference will take place August 6–8 in Washington, D.C., with Shapiro’s Mount Vernon address launching the three-day event as part of the broader “Freedom at 250” tour celebrating America’s founding and the principles of 1776. Registration opened Monday, March 9.

Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro To Speak At Mount Vernon For YAF’s Freedom At 250 Tour

1776

Constitution

Young America's Foundation

If you missed the Olympic gold medal hockey game between the United States and Canada, you missed a doozy. 
It was a truly spectacular hockey game. The US took a 1-0 lead in the first period and held it all the way until the third period, when the Canadians evened the score. Then they ended up in sudden-death overtime, where Jack Hughes delivered a game-winner for the ages. 
He&#8217;d already taken a high stick to the face, so he was missing a bunch of teeth.
It was the most hockey thing ever.
What was really refreshing about it was the way that the men&#8217;s hockey team responded: basic patriotism. I know this has now become controversial among some folks, but there&#8217;s nothing controversial about America being awesome. 
After the game, Jack Hughes said, “This is all about our country now. I love the USA. I love my teammates. It&#8217;s unbelievable. The USA Hockey Brotherhood is so strong, and we had so much support from our players, and I&#8217;m so proud of the Americans.”
Isn’t that great? Can&#8217;t we simply feel good about that? 
The answer for some people, of course, is no.
Many people are not feeling good about Team USA winning gold, because how can you be proud of America in the age of Donald Trump? 
Here&#8217;s the thing: If Barack Obama were president and Team USA won gold in men&#8217;s hockey, I think we&#8217;d all still feel pretty good about it.  
So why does that change if you don&#8217;t like the president of the United States?
Notice how the men&#8217;s hockey team reacted when President Trump called. Were they upset that Trump called them? 
No, because he&#8217;s the president of the United States. 
Just get over it. You might not like him. It doesn&#8217;t matter. When the president of the United States calls to congratulate you on winning a gold medal for the United States, you take the call, and you smile. 
There are many reasons to feel good about this, and it&#8217;s a reminder of the sort of stuff that typically unites Americans. The first is that we like meritocracy. Virtually every major television event of the last year and a half has been a sports event. Why? Because sports is one of the few areas of American life where we all agree that meritocracy is taking place, that the best team wins, or the team with the most guts.
That&#8217;s where all the drama lies. Meritocracy is about the adventure. It&#8217;s about the drama. It&#8217;s about the thrill of victory. That&#8217;s why Americans love it. 
And so watching the hockey team win gold is awesome because sports are the realm of meritocracy. 
The second thing that always unites Americans is having a common enemy in sports. The common enemy is whoever the United States is playing against. 
This has been true forever, and not just for the United States. There is a very famous British phrase used in the lead-up to World War I that stated the wars won on the battlefield began on the playing fields of Eton, meaning that soldiers first learned to work as a team by playing sports as boys, and that connected them to masculinity and military prowess.
And so it&#8217;s easy for Americans to come together when there&#8217;s a common opponent. One of the reasons we have splintered so much as a nation over the last several decades is that the United States is, in fact, a global hegemon. That is why there&#8217;s a feeling that most of our conflicts are internal. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2372-murica-us-hockey-team-wins-it-all"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-981859 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
But that&#8217;s not true. The vast majority of real conflicts on planet Earth are between the United States and nefarious powers. This game meant a lot to America because it was a unifying moment. 
But of course, I&#8217;m joking when I equate the Canadians to the Russians. If the United States had defeated a global superpower in hockey that was also geopolitically an enemy like the Russians or the Chinese, that would have been even bigger. That&#8217;s what the 1980 Olympic hockey game was all about. 
But for Americans to truly feel unified, we have to see what&#8217;s on the other side of the fence. Otherwise, we tend to tear ourselves apart internally.
The breakdown here is fascinating sociologically. You&#8217;re seeing two groups of people who are looking at this wonderful event, this fun and unifying event, and trying to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Some people on the Left are saying, &#8220;How dare we feel good about America in a time when Donald Trump is president of the United States?&#8221; 
The Huffington Post had a piece by Monica Torres titled, “There&#8217;s A Name For The Discomfort You&#8217;re Feeling Watching The Olympics Right Now.” Torres added, “If waving the American flag or chanting USA turns you off right now, you&#8217;re not alone.”
You should be alone because you suck. 
But that&#8217;s the basic idea here from some members of the Left. 
I&#8217;m supposed to feel bad that the American men&#8217;s hockey team won the gold because you didn&#8217;t vote for the guy who is currently in the Oval Office?
This is a split between the Right and the Left in virtually all polling data. Conservatives are always patriotic about the country, even when a Democrat is president. Democrats are significantly less patriotic about the country when a Democrat is not president.
There’s also a bizarre, fringe movement on the Right, trying to suggest that this isn&#8217;t a cool thing. Why? Because it turns out that some members of the U.S. men&#8217;s hockey team are not necessarily the most conservative on every single issue. So now we&#8217;re going to delve into their social media histories and try to determine whether Jack Hughes voted for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.
Are you kidding me with this crap? 
I know that a lot of the time it doesn&#8217;t feel like we&#8217;re on the same team. Yes, there are Americans who are not on our team. The people who are not on our team are people rooting for foreign powers, and who see America as essentially a dispensable nation unless they win, unless they get their way. 
The reason people feel good today about what happened at the Olympics is that it was a nice reminder that we do share a country, and it&#8217;s good that we share our country.

Ice Hockey – Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics: Day 16

Red, White, And Overtime: Why America’s Hockey Gold Still Matters

Hockey

Jack Hughes

Men's Hockey

Team USA

Winter Olympics

Millions of Americans tuned in to the Super Bowl as the event marked its 60th anniversary, but amid football’s biggest night, viewers were reminded of an even greater anniversary — America’s 250th birthday. This year, a primetime ad marked the year-long celebration of America’s semiquincentennial year.
The commercial opened on the Statue of Liberty before sweeping through defining moments in American history. Glimpses of the Wright brothers, Mount Rushmore, the Declaration of Independence, and George Washington crossing the Delaware were interwoven with scenes of modern innovation and technology.
“After 250 years, the American experiment still isn’t finished. It’s been built, tested, carried forward, and fought for,” the ad read. “And we passed it on, hand to hand, life to life. Generations ago ordinary people risked everything to begin it.”
Throughout the thirty seconds, the military threads the scenes together acting as a guardian of America’s progress. The commercial closed celebrating America’s past but also looking towards its future. “250 years later the work continues because freedom is worth it. This year America turns 250.”
The ad aired as a Super Bowl Public Service Announcement (PSA), typically reserved for campaigns aimed at education or social awareness and often produced pro bono by nonprofits or foundations. This time, however, NBC donated the coveted 30-second slot, an opportunity that usually costs around $8 million, to Freedom 250.
Non-partisan Freedom 250 is spearheading the Nation’s 250th birthday celebrations. The organization works in tandem with the White House Task Force 250, along with other federal agencies, to bring the nation’s birthday to life.
“Just as Super Bowl Sunday brings Americans together around a shared love of competition, tradition, and excellence, the 250th anniversary will unite our entire nation in celebration of the values and freedoms that make America exceptional,” said Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krach. “This is our moment to come together as one country and honor the American story and celebrate the bright future ahead.”
While Freedom 250 is hosting events to celebrate the nation all year long, the biggest bash will take place on July 4, 2026. At the National Mall in Washington, D.C. there will be military flyovers, notable speeches, headline performances, and an ending firework display. On the same day in New York, ships and naval vessels from more than thirty countries will into New York Harbor around the Statue of Liberty.

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