This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
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It’s 15 degrees in Eastern Pennsylvania, but with the extreme cold and wind advisory that’s been issued for the weekend, it feels more like negative temperatures. On Super Bowl Sunday, I’m standing outside a local pizza place with my 11-year-old daughter and another sixth grader with one goal in mind: sell Girl Scout cookies to every person stopping by to pick up pizzas and wings for the big game later.
In the end, we didn’t get many sales that night. Some cookie booths go better than others, and you never really know until you get there. As we stood there, shivering, huddling close to a small portable propane heater and greeting every potential customer with a smile, I knew the girls were completing the mission of the cookie program. They were learning the value of hard work, dedication, entrepreneurship, and salesmanship. Beyond that, they were learning that in the real world, success doesn&#8217;t usually come easily. 
By now most people have seen the incredible story of a 6-year-old Daisy Scout Pim Neill from Western Pennsylvania who went viral for breaking the record for most boxes of cookies sold in a single season. Early reports showed she had sold more than 80,000 boxes, but once national news outlets picked up the story, that number ballooned to more than 100,000 boxes. It’s an incredible, uplifting story, and Pim is undeniably adorable.
But there&#8217;s also a lesson here — or rather, the lack of one. As it’s been <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2026/02/16/girl-scout-pim-cookie-sales-tiktok/88626959007/">reported</a>, her parents posted videos of the scout practicing her sales pitch on social media. Pim earned a following on TikTok, starting with a video of her saying, &#8220;Hi, my name is Pim. Do you want to buy some Girl Scout Cookies?&#8221; 
That post went viral and then mega viral. While many Girl Scout service units have rules against posting sales pitches on community Facebook groups, it’s fair game to use personal social media accounts to drum up sales. 
Last year, my two daughters recorded a skit about freezing Girl Scout cookies now to enjoy in the summer, which, after I posted it on my personal Facebook page, led to a local business owner purchasing 100 boxes to distribute to customers. Social media is an important tool, and it’s useful. But at what point do we admit that going viral on social media changes everything?
Pitched as “the largest girl-run business in the world,” the cookie program is meant to impart life skills on young women. The organization conducted one study that identified <a href="https://www.girlscouts.org/content/dam/girlscouts-gsusa/forms-and-documents/for-adults/educators/cookie_outcomes.pdf">five key skills</a> Girl Scout cookie sellers learn, including goal setting, decision-making, money management, people skills, and business ethics.
When a Scout sells tens of thousands of cookies by going viral, it’s sending a message about scale over substance. It tells young girls that the goal is the number — the boxes moved, the record broken, the badge earned — rather than the experience of earning it. When Pim looked into a camera and gave her pitch, she was adorable, and she was brave. But she wasn&#8217;t selling to anyone in particular. 
She wasn&#8217;t cold or hungry or bored. She didn&#8217;t have to read a stranger&#8217;s body language and decide whether to keep engaging or politely let him or her pass. She didn&#8217;t have to motivate herself to get back out there after a slow booth. There is learning in rejection and recalibration. The friction is where the lesson happens. Kids today would be wise to learn that making a video and hoping to go viral is not a sustainable business model.
There&#8217;s something slightly uncomfortable about thousands of people pulling out their credit cards, not because a young entrepreneur convinced them, but because an algorithm served them something cute. The transaction becomes about us — our feelings about childhood or our desire to be part of a viral moment — rather than about a young girl learning life skills. In that sense, the most viral Girl Scout cookie sales pitch in history may also be one of the least instructive, and certainly the least repeatable.
None of this is Pim&#8217;s fault, or even her parents&#8217; fault. They used the tools available to them, and the result was extraordinary by any conventional measure. But it&#8217;s worth asking what we&#8217;re celebrating when we celebrate it. Are we celebrating a young girl learning to run a business? Or are we just accepting that going viral is the new measure of success?
The girls shivering outside that pizza place will almost certainly remember that night. They&#8217;ll remember the people who stopped and the people who didn&#8217;t. They&#8217;ll remember that they showed up even when it hurt and then came back to do it again.
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Madeline girl scout

Cold Sidewalks Vs. TikTok Fame: What The Cookie Craze Isn’t Teaching

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Germany&#8217;s ruling conservatives on Saturday passed a motion to ban social media use for under 14s and introduce more stringent digital verification checks for teenagers, building momentum for such limits in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
At a party conference in the city of Stuttgart, Chancellor Friedrich Merz&#8217;s Christian Democratic Union also called for fines for online platforms that failed to enforce such limits, and European Union-wide harmonisation of age standards.
A growing number of countries, including Spain, Greece, France and Britain, are looking at similar social media bans or restrictions on accessing platforms like TikTok or Instagram.
It follows the example of Australia, which last year became the first country to force platforms to cut off access for children.
European nations are more broadly ratcheting up pressure on social media companies, risking a backlash from the United States. President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs and sanctions if EU countries impose new tech taxes or online regulations that hit U.S. firms.
&#8220;We call on the federal government to introduce a legal age limit of 14 for the use of social networks and to address the special need for protection in the digital sphere up to the age of 16,&#8221; said the motion that passed on Saturday.
Merz&#8217;s coalition partners the Social Democrats have also backed social media curbs for children. Pressure from both parties in the coalition makes it increasingly likely that the federal government will push for restrictions.
However, under Germany&#8217;s federal system, media regulation is a state‑level responsibility and states must negotiate with each other to agree consistent nationwide rules.
The ban could affect children like those at the Cardinal Frings Gymnasium in the city of Bonn, several of whom a day earlier were scrolling on their phones in the school grounds.
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s fair, but I think it should be up to the parents to decide whether to forbid it, not the state,&#8221; said 13-year-old Moritz, who says he only watches YouTube.
&#8220;For children under 12 it should be forbidden, but from age 12 onwards I think children can already distinguish between what is fake news and what is not.&#8221;
His classmate Emma, 13, almost exclusively uses Snapchat, but has a time limit on her phone.
A ban would be &#8220;kind of unusual, because you get used to sending your snap in the morning before school, or what my friends do, like just scrolling through Instagram or TikTok for a bit,&#8221; she said.
Ella, 12, scrolls through social media several times a day.
&#8220;So I have TikTok and Instagram myself, but I understand that it&#8217;s all addictive, and the more you scroll, the more you want to see.&#8221;
Teacher Till Franke said that for many of the children, &#8220;it would be a shock at first, because of this daily use of social media.&#8221;
But eventually, the students would get used to it, he said, &#8220;because they would find other niches where they could communicate with each other.&#8221;
(Andreas Rinke, Stephane Nitschke and Petra Wischgoll; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Jan Harvey)

Top Social Media Platforms

Germany’s Ruling Party Backs Social Media Curbs For Children

Big Tech

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World

Prominent transgender medical activists are up in arms over the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ recommendation that children under 19 not have body parts surgically removed to treat gender confusion.
The ASPS left no uncertainty on its position on gender surgery for minors in its February 3 policy <a href="https://www.plasticsurgery.org/documents/health-policy/positions/2026-gender-surgery-children-adolescents.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>, which recommends “surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old.”
A group of only seven individuals, who identified themselves as “Concerned members of the ASPS Gender Surgery Task Force,” <a href="https://acaps-prri.informz.net/acaps-prri/data/images/Open_Letter_to_the_Board_of_the_American_Society_of_Plastic_Surgeons.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed an open letter</a> to the ASPS demanding the organization provide clarifying information about the gender surgery statement, including its authors’ names, how it was developed, and if the board considered the “areas of emerging consensus” being reached by the task force.
“Clarification of the process used in developing this position statement is necessary to ensure transparency, accountability, and confidence in ASPS governance,” the letter reads.
Signatories of the letter include leaders of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), a leading force pushing transgender procedures for minors. That includes WPATH president Asa Radix, MD, President-Elect Loren Schechter, MD, and board of directors member Scott Leibowitz, MD, who expected the “Gender Surgery Task Force” to “inform future ASPS statements or policy positions,” according to the letter.
&#8220;Let&#8217;s be clear: this is not a serious response from unbiased plastic surgeons,” Dr. Kurt Miceli, Medical Director at Do No Harm, told The Daily Wire. “This is a malicious attempt by WPATH activists to sow mistrust in ASPS&#8217;s meticulous and well-supported position statement on pediatric sex-rejecting procedures.”
“Their objections amount to little more than procedural complaints and never grapple with the substance of ASPS’s new position statement. This coordinated pushback should be recognized for what it is: unfounded and politically driven,&#8221; Miceli added.
The Daily Wire first reviewed the letter after it was obtained by Do No Harm. The ASPS told The Daily Wire the letter is based on a &#8220;series of misunderstandings.”
“It is important to note that the letter is based on a series of misunderstandings, which ASPS is in the process of clarifying for its members,” the group said.
WPATH is an activist medical organization that promotes discredited <a href="https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-11/gender-dysphoria-report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">science</a> that is heavily reliant on medical consensus, rather than scientific evidence.
When deciding what would be included in its clinical guidance, WPATH members <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8299905/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">created consensus</a> among its members by anonymously voting if they agreed or disagreed with proposed clinical recommendation statements, according to its <a href="https://wpath.org/publications/soc8/methodology/#delphi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>.
The open letter described how a similar process was being used by the “Gender Surgery Task Force” to find areas of “emerging consensus,” noting the task force was “actively working towards a summary intended to inform Board-level deliberation regarding any Society position or policy statement.”
Both the <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20250310143933/https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cass Review</a> and the Department of Health and Human Services report on the treatment of gender dysphoria note that pediatric gender medicine guidelines rely heavily on medical consensus amongst like-minded professionals, rather than strong evidence.
“Many internationally influential guidelines, including those from WPATH, the Endocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have been criticized for substantial methodological shortcomings and inadequately managed conflicts of interest, resulting in recommendations not reliably supported by rigorous evidence,” the <a href="https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-11/gender-dysphoria-report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HHS report</a> says.
“This pattern of circular referencing and mutual endorsement among these guidelines further compromises their credibility and has likely perpetuated a perceived consensus in pediatric gender medicine that belies the actual paucity of high-quality evidence,” the report reads.
The ASPS statement cited several comprehensive evidence reviews, including the HHS <a href="https://opa.hhs.gov/gender-dysphoria-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>, showing a departure from the consensus model adopted by many medical organizations.
WPATH did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.

Anti-Trump Protesters Demonstrate In Times Square Against Trump Announcement Of Banning LGBT Service Members

Transgender Activists Demand Answers From Surgeon Group Recommending Kids Keep Body Parts

Medical Research

Plastic Surgery

Transgender

WPATH

As if the 2020s couldn’t get more surreal, the United States is no longer only a global leader in economic and military power — but it has now become the go-to international hub for mass-producing babies.
This is not hyperbole. Chinese video-game billionaire <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/chinese-billionaires-surrogacy-pregnancy-7fdfc0c3">Xu Bo</a> has reportedly fathered over 100 children — 12 of whom so far have been born via surrogates in the USA, thus gaining birth-right citizenship. Bo says he wants at least 20 US-born offspring — all boys (superior to girls) to one day take over his business. When a Los Angeles Court denied Bo parentage rights over 4 of these babies in 2023 — none of whom he had actually met yet, as he had been “busy” — it exposed the uncertain terrain of international surrogacy arrangements. Where, and to whom, did these children now belong?
In another disturbing story in the press this week, a surrogate mother in Nevada is now suing a Chinese couple in California, alleging she was deceived about their identities and intentions, learning only after giving birth that she had carried the twenty-sixth child for the same pair in quick succession. Some of the babies had been hospitalized by abuse. According to reports, the FBI is now <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/02/04/us-news/surrogate-sues-chinese-parents-of-26-she-claims-duped-her-tell-me-the-truth-about-the-baby-i-carried/">investigating</a> whether the couple were selling these babies they were producing at scale.
Meanwhile, members of Congress are <a href="https://blakemoore.house.gov/media/press-releases/representatives-blake-moore-john-moolenaar-introduce-legislation-to-prevent-foreign-adversaries-from-abusing-american-surrogacy-industry">scrambling</a> to address federal loopholes that allow foreign nationals to use American surrogacy services while securing birthright citizenship for those children.
The free market is one of the great engines of American prosperity, but it has never meant that anything and everything may be bought and sold. America prohibits the sale of organs, the sale of votes, and the sale of citizenship. Western countries do so not because we oppose free markets, but because we understand that some things are too fundamental to human dignity and national integrity to be reduced to commerce.
Surrogacy crosses that line. Under surrogacy, a child becomes a commodity exchanged for cash. Women become raw materials to be exploited for reproductive gain. Payment structures, abortion clauses, ‘selective reduction’ decisions in the case of twins or triplets — all are negotiated with a “surrogate” mother in advance, and are usually at the discretion of the “commissioning party”. Whatever sales language is used — “intended parents,” “journey,” “compassion” — the structure is unmistakably commercial. And increasingly, it is international. <a href="https://eggdonorandsurrogacy.com/surrogacy-trends-2025/">Projections</a> suggest the global surrogacy market will exceed $129 billion by 2034.
Even in situations outside of the extreme, surrogacy is harmful to children. Every surrogacy deal, no matter how well-intentioned, deliberately inflicts a severance wound on a newborn baby – isolating her from the only mother she has ever known – and places her in the care of the adults who commissioned its trauma. Psychologists warn that this kind of early separation can produce lasting harm — post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, attachment disorders, developmental delays, and behavioral issues in later childhood. What adults call a miracle, the child experiences as loss. We don’t allow puppies or kittens to be separated from their mothers until at least 8 weeks following their birth. The commodification of human newborns is striking in comparison.
A national ban on surrogacy is obviously necessary to protect babies from being commercialized, and women’s bodies from being commodified as wombs-for-rent. But a domestic ban will not be enough to fully prevent this exploitation. It isn’t only Chinese billionaires who look to take advantage of reproductive technologies abroad.
Where American couples have found the cost of surrogacy prohibitive at home, they’ve looked to economically vulnerable women in lower-GDP countries – Mexico, Guatemala, Nigeria, across Southeast Asia – to rent their wombs for less. To end exploitation, America must shut down their own role as a consumer in the global trade too.
National bans have turned into an international cat-and-mouse chase. When India banned surrogacy for foreigners after years of operating as a hub for cheaper “reproductive tourism,” international surrogacy clinics quickly migrated to Nepal and Thailand. When Thailand restricted commercial arrangements following scandals, agencies shifted operations over to Cambodia. After Cambodia shut them down, they popped up in Laos. Bans move in the right direction, but we need a global crackdown, fast, to prevent the overseas baby trade from flourishing from one country to the next.
The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, Reem Alsalem, is in agreement. She called for a complete global abolition of surrogacy in her <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/un-expert-calls-recognition-surrogacy-system-violence-exploitation-and-abuse">recent report</a> to the United Nations, highlighting human rights abuses intrinsically interwoven in the use of women’s bodies as gestational vessels. The United States is in a powerful international position to embrace this mandate and take a lead on the world stage.
A national ban on surrogacy is an imperative to prevent exploitation at home, but further work must be done to ensure that wealthy American couples don’t continue this unethical practice by buying babies from overseas. For this administration, that means pursuing international cooperation on the issue; negotiating agreements to prohibit such trade; and promoting a shared commitment to protect human dignity across borders. America should have no part in the global trade of human life — be it as consumers or suppliers of the goods. Babies simply aren’t for sale.
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Lois McLatchie Miller (@LoisMcLatch) is a writer and commentator from Great Britain.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Doctor examining a pregnant woman

How America Became A Hub For Global Surrogacy

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We are now witnessing a massive cultural retreat from the most controversial elements of activist-driven gender ideology aimed at children. And corporate America is a major part of that shift.
For years, the gender ideology narrative captured our society’s most prominent institutions. The notion that the provision of hormone regimens, puberty blockers, and gender transition surgeries was the only compassionate response to young people facing confusion about their gender morphed from a fringe theory into a near-unquestionable dictate during the last decade. In 2019, a doctor who believed in the Biblical and scientific notion of differences between the sexes was<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-49904997"> told</a> that his views were “incompatible with human dignity.” Parents of children struggling with gender dysphoria were often <a href="https://www.centerforbiblicalunity.com/post/would-you-rather-have-a-dead-daughter-or-a-live-son">presented</a> with a ghoulish, faux-paternalistic ultimatum by therapists and psychologists: “Would you rather have a dead daughter or a live son?”
Perhaps the most impactful driver of this narrative was the boardroom. The dictates of gender ideology were not only pushed forward by activists but also supported by some of the most recognizable brands on Earth. One of the most high-profile examples was Amazon: scholar Ryan T. Anderson, whose 2018 book When Harry Became Sally offered a thoughtful Christian response to gender ideology, had to fight through a <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-statement-on-when-harry-became-sally">book ban</a> and <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-statement-on-when-harry-became-sally">smears</a> of “hate speech,” before it could be sold in the world’s largest online market. Countless companies, from Apple to Target, were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-left-wing-activists-are-trying-to-save-corporate-wokeness">participating</a> with corporate activist organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, one of the major promoters of gender ideology in corporate America.
In the 2010s and early 2020s, it was perfectly reasonable to believe that the way major companies handled gender ideology was less about science and more about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/corporations-that-pushed-gender-ideology-owe-america-an-explanation?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Corporations+That+Pushed+Gender+Ideology+Owe+America+An+Explanation">placating</a> goalpost-shifting activists. And then, as so often happens with activist movements, the goalposts got shifted too far. It wasn’t just adult choice that was the focus of gender ideology. It was about the attempted normalization of surgical interventions for children. That was when the momentum shifted.
Three recent occurrences illustrate just how quickly the tide is turning.
First, a 22-year-old ‘detransitioner’ — someone who regrets their gender transition — just <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-court-case-has-gotten-little-attention-but-just-changed-everything">won</a> a $2 million lawsuit against the New York doctors who approved her surgery. Fox Varian, who had a double mastectomy (surgical removal of both breasts) when she was just 16 years old, is the first detransitioner to take a medical malpractice case to trial and win.
That ruling came on January 30. On February 3, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons <a href="https://www.plasticsurgery.org/for-medical-professionals/health-policy/position-statements">released</a> a statement asserting that “there is insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for … gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents.” 
Days later, the American Medical Association <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/health/gender-surgery-minors-ama.html">announced</a> its agreement: “The AMA agrees… surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.”
Let’s be clear about what that means: in the span of approximately a week, two absolutely critical points have been proven about gender ideology: (1) performing gender transition surgeries on children is a source of major legal liability, and (2) the medical consensus does not neatly support the necessity of such treatments.
These are precisely the arguments we have made to companies for years about their healthcare coverage. For companies that spent the early 2020s placating activists pushing gender ideology, the mid 2020s may be a painful reckoning with how out-of-touch with reality those activists truly were.
Activist groups like the Human Rights Campaign <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-radical-intolerance-behind-woke-corporate-activism?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=11&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Radical+Intolerance+Behind+Woke+Corporate+Activism">told</a> companies that covering hormone regimens and transition care were prudent ways to minimize risk. It’s incredibly apparent that this was a wild guess at best, and a cleverly worded activist ploy at worst. As the era of corporate wokeness comes to an end, companies seeking to stay politically neutral and avoid becoming entrenched in culture war issues (remember, companies have a fiduciary duty to do this) are taking a serious look at their healthcare coverage.
For companies that cover gender transition care for adults, do they also cover detransition care? If not, that hardly reads as politically neutral. Do companies have clear stances on not covering gender transition care for children? These are the questions that we, as corporate engagement professionals, are asking hundreds of companies.
Some companies are setting the standard. Walmart, the world’s largest company, <a href="https://me.walmart.com/content/dam/themepage/pdfs/AssociateBenefitsBook-2026.pdf">publishes</a> its full Associate Benefits Guide, which includes a clear carve-out prohibiting health plan administrators from providing transgender medical interventions to minors. The company has also been incredibly constructive in engaging with its shareholders on this issue. Other companies should follow Walmart’s example. You’d be amazed by how many haven’t. But the winds are blowing in our favor.
One major example of the large-scale retreat is the widespread drop in support for the Human Rights Campaign, whose ‘Corporate Equality Index’ grades companies in part by their adherence to activist criteria surrounding hormone regimens, transition surgery, and the like. In 2025, almost 380 Fortune 500 companies participated in the Index. In 2026? Fewer than 150. Many of the major names that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-radical-intolerance-behind-woke-corporate-activism?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=11&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Radical+Intolerance+Behind+Woke+Corporate+Activism">ceased participation</a>, including Capital One, Goldman Sachs, and Google (Alphabet), are companies we’ve engaged with surrounding these issues.
If these signs are any indication, there’s much more to come. As the consequences of such treatments become more widely understood, by major companies, providers, and especially insurers, we may well see the forming of a new consensus, the one that always should have been: the dictates of gender ideology, that promoted and supported major and often irreversible medical interventions for children, are being rejected by the brands that make up our capital markets. For the sake of America’s children, that rejection can’t come fast enough.
* * *
Isaac Willour is an award-winning journalist focusing on race, culture, and American conservatism, as well as a corporate relations analyst at Bowyer Research. His work has been featured at outlets including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Opinion, C-SPAN, and The Daily Wire. He is a member of the Young Voices contributor program and can be found on X <a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacWillour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@IsaacWillour</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Wall Street Sign

Corporate America Quietly Backs Away From Gender Ideology For Children

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Disney is preparing to fundamentally reshape the streaming landscape. After taking full ownership of Hulu in 2023, the company is now moving to shut the platform down and fold its entire library into Disney+ as part of a “one app experience.” That migration could occur imminently, and the scale of change is staggering.
When Disney launched Disney+ in 2019, the streaming marketplace was already crowded. Amazon Prime Video debuted in 2006, Netflix in 2007, and Hulu in 2008. With few external restrictions on content — no oversight from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and no advertisers, at that time, to hold content in check. As a result, these platforms broke boundaries that even premium cable channels like HBO and Cinemax would not have dared. offering more vulgarity, more graphic violence, more sex and nudity.
Disney+ promised to be different. 
From the beginning, Disney positioned its platform as a safe haven for families; a platform parents could trust implicitly. That promise worked. More than 10 million subscribers signed up within the first 24 hours, many of them parents desperate to escape the exhausting and never-ending task of shielding young eyes from suggestive poster art and racy titles like “Zac and Miri Make a Porno” or “Nymphomaniac” while they searched menus for the handful of child-appropriate titles that might be available. 
Market research confirmed this distinction. One industry analysis <a href="https://morningconsult.com/articles/disney-plus-streaming-market-brand-data">called</a> Disney+ “the category’s most intentionally chosen service.” Morning Consult found Disney+ scored +45 for “entertaining the kids,” while competitors posted negative scores across the board. “Disney+ is not interchangeable here,” the analysis concluded. “In household decision-making, this is Disney+’s moat.”
Disney executives publicly reinforced this family-first positioning. Months before launch, entertainment reporter Eric Vespe recalled asking a Disney representative whether R-rated content would appear on Disney+. The answer: Disney+ would remain PG-13 or softer, while more mature material would live on Hulu. Disney invested heavily in Hulu so adult-oriented material could remain off the Disney+ platform.
That intentional separation is now being completely dismantled. 
In the summer of 2025, executives signaled plans to shut down Hulu and migrate its entire library into Disney+.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) <a href="https://concernedwomen.org/2026-cwa-netflix-research/">looked at</a> the numbers and discovered that while Disney+ currently hosts fewer than 20 R-rated films, after the merger, that number will exceed 400 — a more than 2,200% increase. Mature-rated television series will escalate from 45 to nearly 400 — a more than 800% increase. Families who subscribed specifically for child-friendly programming will suddenly find their child’s favorite streaming platform flooded with volumes of adult material.
Parents have already seen glimpses of what this future looks like. Last year, families reported surprise and frustration when mature-themed series promotions appeared on Disney+ home screens, prompting uncomfortable questions from young children. Many parents believed Disney+ was designed to prevent exactly this scenario.
This shift represents more than a technical update. It represents a fundamental brand reversal.
Disney was once synonymous with wholesome family entertainment. Parents built household media habits around that identity. Children were given access to Disney+ because families trusted the brand.
That trust is now being put at risk.
Even more concerning is the creative direction Disney leadership appears eager to embrace. One of the most striking examples is the company’s reported interest in hiring producer Ryan Murphy as soon as his development deal with Netflix ends; Murphy’s career has largely focused on dark, adult-themed dramas. 
Murphy’s previous projects have centered on crime, horror, and provocative themes that were never intended for children. Yet Disney executives appear willing to fold this creative approach into a corporate ecosystem historically built around family audiences.
Walt Disney famously said, “Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.” That philosophy guided decades of storytelling built around imagination, optimism, and moral clarity.
Today’s leadership seems increasingly disconnected from that legacy.
And while Disney may point to parental controls as a solution, technology cannot solve a branding problem. The issue is not whether filters exist. The issue is whether adult content belongs on the same platform that parents deliberately chose for preschoolers and elementary-age children.
Mixing Mickey Mouse with mature television may make business sense on a spreadsheet. But it erodes the trust that made Disney+ successful in the first place.
The question now is simple: Will Disney honor the promise that built its streaming success — or abandon the families who made it possible?
The future of Disney+ may depend on how loudly parents answer that question.
* * *
Melissa Henson is the Senior Policy Advisor for Media and Culture for <a href="http://www.concernedwomen.org/">Concerned Women for America</a>, the nation’s public policy women’s organization, dedicated to promoting biblical values and constitutional principles in public policy. On X: @CWforA
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Rear View Of Two Boys Watching Movie Together, Lena, United States

Disney+ Is About To Be Flooded With Adult Content, And Parents Are Right To Be Alarmed

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While other major medical organizations are backing away from their support of damaging transgender procedures for minors, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is doubling down on so-called trans care.
The AAP, which represents tens of thousands of professionals in pediatric medicine, said on Wednesday that its support of trans procedures for minors remains unchanged.
“The guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics for health care for young people with gender dysphoria does not include a blanket recommendation for surgery for minors,” AAP President Dr. Andrew Racine <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/health/gender-surgery-minors-ama.html?smid=fb-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur&amp;fbclid=IwY2xjawPxyzhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFRVTY3d0VFT2NKUWtlTTZQc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtMS8_-ScSNtkKq81VkqaTVzCxWdMcAfeXhdvtL-v8OLdebPSy9ucGQ-kj5P_aem_BU6FM8f2LLHxBWFlwAWZ7g">said</a> in a statement.
“The A.A.P. continues to hold to the principle that patients, their families and their physicians — not politicians — should be the ones to make decisions together about what care is best for them,&#8221; he added.
AAP publications still claim that puberty blockers are &#8220;<a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/142/4/e20182162/37381/Ensuring-Comprehensive-Care-and-Support-for?utm_source=chatgpt.com">reversible</a>&#8221; and cross-sex hormones are &#8220;partially reversible.&#8221; Gender surgeries for minors, including <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/142/4/e20182162/37381/Ensuring-Comprehensive-Care-and-Support-for?utm_source=chatgpt.com">so-called &#8220;top&#8221; and &#8220;bottom&#8221; surgeries</a> and facial surgeries, are still recommended for minors on a &#8220;case by case basis.&#8221;
&#8220;Top&#8221; surgeries involve the removal of the healthy breasts of young girls, and &#8220;bottom&#8221; surgeries are performed on the genitals or reproductive organs of both sexes.
Back in June, the AAP similarly reaffirmed its commitment to trans surgeries, balking at a U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively allows for states to ban trans procedures on minors.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Supreme Court’s decision today does not change the science. Gender-affirming care remains evidence-based, medically necessary care that improves the health and well-being of transgender youth. Learn more: <a href="https://t.co/YxmqZFGTnN">https://t.co/YxmqZFGTnN</a> <a href="https://t.co/fcSYK46hEj">pic.twitter.com/fcSYK46hEj</a>
— American Academy of Pediatrics (@AmerAcadPeds) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmerAcadPeds/status/1935370245847330852?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
Elected Democrats, too, are generally on board with trans procedures for minors.
In October, far-Left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), for example, expressed support for so-called trans youth in reaction to a question about GOP-backed bills banning trans surgeries for minors.
“I want to say that I know this time is completely terrifying for so many people, and it feels hard to know where your place is, and especially in politics, where it feels like people in both parties are blaming you for everything that’s happening, I just want you to know that they couldn’t be more wrong,” AOC <a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/aoc-assures-trans-kids-theyre-not-to-blame-for-anything-you-are-fine-just-the-way-you-are/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">said</a>.
Failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE), Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) are other notable figures in the party who support such measures.
Conversely, both the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the American Medical Association (AMA) — which wields major influence as the nation’s largest medical association — have backed away from their support of such trans procedures on minors.
As highlighted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-fight-is-not-over-major-medical-org-rejects-transgender-surgeries-for-kids">The Daily Wire</a>, ASPS released a statement on Tuesday that said available evidence does not support genital procedures or removing the breasts of young girls who identify as boys. The ASPS also said there was “insufficient” support for placing kids on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
The AMA then followed. In a <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/first-major-medical-org-comes-out-against-trans-surgeries-for-minors/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">statement</a> to National Review, the AMA said “the evidence for gender-affirming surgical intervention in minors is insufficient for us to make a definitive statement,” adding that it “agrees” with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) “that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.”
The AMA added that it supports “evidence-based treatment,” including other types of so-called gender-affirming care for minors.
The timing of the shifts is incredibly notable. Just last week, a young woman was awarded a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shocking-details-emerge-in-landmark-2-million-trans-malpractice-judgment?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Shocking+Details+Emerge+In+Landmark+%242+Million+%E2%80%98Trans%E2%80%99+Malpractice+Judgment">$2 million judgment</a> in her lawsuit against the medical professionals who advanced and performed the removal of her healthy breasts at just 16 years old as part of transgender “treatment” for the teen, who at the time was suffering from a series of mental health issues.
There are still more than two dozen detransitioner cases pending, and many medical professionals and legal experts expect favorable verdicts for those who were mutilated in the name of &#8220;transgender care.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-major-medical-group-reverses-course-on-trans-surgeries-for-minors?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Another+Major+Medical+Group+Reverses+Course+On+Trans+Surgeries+For+Minors">Another Major Medical Group Reverses Course On Trans Surgeries For Minors</a>

Trans kids sign

American Academy Of Pediatrics Sticks To Democrat Script On Trans Surgeries For Minors

American Academy of Pediatrics

Health

Social Issues

U.S.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons sent shockwaves through the medical community yesterday when it became the first major medical association to strongly disavow child sex-rejection surgeries.
The ASPS, the world’s largest organization of plastic surgeons, left no uncertainty about its position, recommending that “surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old,” in a <a href="https://www.plasticsurgery.org/documents/health-policy/positions/2026-gender-surgery-children-adolescents.pdf">policy statement</a> on gender surgery for minors, which could have a worldwide impact on the transgender surgical industry.
&#8220;Medical societies shape far more than professional opinion — they set the guardrails for how medicine is practiced, taught, and reimbursed,” Dr. Kurt Miceli, chief medical officer at Do No Harm, told The Daily Wire.
“That’s why the ASPS statement on pediatric medical transition lands with such weight,” Miceli added. “When a leading surgical society acknowledges that the risks of endocrine and surgical interventions outweigh their benefits, it makes clear that the so-called ‘standard of care’ pushed by gender activists is far from established. In fact, the evidence points to the harms of so-called ‘gender-affirming care.’” 
After reviewing the science supporting pediatric gender medicine, ASPS concluded there was “insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for the pathway of gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents,” according to the statement.
The ASPS statement was published just days after a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioner-awarded-millions-in-first-malpractice-verdict-this-is-how-it-all-ends">landmark</a> $2 million settlement was awarded to detransitioner Fox Varian, who sued her psychologist and surgeon after receiving a double mastectomy at age 16.    
Several comprehensive evidence reviews, including the Department of Health and Human Services <a href="https://opa.hhs.gov/gender-dysphoria-report">report</a> on the treatment of gender dysphoria, were cited as providing a basis for the ASPS statement, showing a departure from the consensus model adopted by many medical organizations. 
“In the United States, pediatric medical transition has relied heavily on support from medical associations rather than, and against the findings of, systematic reviews of evidence,” Leor Sapir, PhD, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told The Daily Wire. “That consensus was also very thin. It reflected the viewpoints of only a small number of groups that were, in essence, beholden to activists within their ranks.”
The peer-reviewed HHS report on the treatment of gender dysphoria found that pediatric gender medicine puts children at risk of “significant harms” and is supported by deeply flawed science.
“This is the first major medical group to cite the HHS report in a favorable way. The ASPS&#8217;s citation of the HHS report (alongside the Cass Review) is very significant because it suggests that leaders of a doctor organization have read it, engaged with its findings in a serious way, and found it persuasive,” Sapir, who co-authored the HHS report, told The Daily Wire. 
The American Academy of Pediatrics has sharply criticized the HHS report on gender medicine, saying it &#8220;prioritizes opinions over dispassionate reviews of evidence,” in a May 2025 <a href="https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/32145/AAP-speaks-out-against-HHS-report-on-gender?autologincheck=redirected">press release</a>.  
As staunch supporters of pediatric gender surgeries, the AAP <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/11/20/exclusive-how-small-band-pediatricians-aap-pushed-wpath-age-minimums-sex-changes/">used its influence</a> to persuade the World Professional Association of Transgender Health to abandon the inclusion of lower age limits for sex-rejection surgeries in its transgender medical guidance, the Standards of Care Version 8 (SOC-8), according to an <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-477/328275/20241015131826340_2024.10.15%20-%20Ala.%20Amicus%20Br.%20iso%20TN%20FINAL.pdf">October 2024 brief</a> submitted to the Supreme Court by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. 
“Days before SOC-8 was to be published, pressure from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) tipped the scales when it threatened to oppose SOC-8 if WPATH did not remove the age minimums,” Marshall wrote in the brief.
“Thanks to the Biden Administration and AAP, SOC-8 does not contain age minimums for any transitioning hormonal or surgical intervention except for one: phalloplasty, the surgical creation of a neopenis,” Marshall wrote.  
The Daily Wire asked the AAP if it supported or opposed the ASPS position statement on pediatric gender surgery, but did not receive a response.   
“It is now time for the Endocrine Society, American Academy of Pediatrics, and others in organized medicine to re-evaluate their clinical practice guidelines and position statements; ASPS has given the house of medicine an opening to end these harmful, unscientific, and dangerous practices on our youth,&#8221; Miceli said.

Transgender flag, shadows and silhouettes of people on a road, conceptual picture about anonymous Transgender and Gay Lesbian in the World

Why The Shift From Major Medical Groups On Trans Surgeries Really Matters 

Gender Transition

A new $2 million verdict indicates that the “transitioning” of children in America is dying or dead.
If you go back just a few years, it was de rigueur for every major commentator and every major politician to say that boys or girls could become one another.
Major medical establishment organizations claimed that it was the purest form of science to say that boys could become girls, and in fact, the best treatment for people suffering from gender dysphoria was for them to have hormone treatment and surgery.
In 2021, the American Medical Association was <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-press-releases/ama-states-stop-interfering-health-care-transgender-children">telling governors</a> to oppose state legislation that would prohibit “medically necessary” gender transition-related care for minor patients, calling such efforts “a dangerous intrusion into the practice of medicine.”
That, of course, was not relegated only to psychological care or social transition, or even to hormones. It also included, on many occasions, surgery. 
In fact, the AMA specifically <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-press-releases/ama-states-stop-interfering-health-care-transgender-children">put out a letter</a> stating:
<blockquote>Empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression for gender diverse individuals. Standards of care and accepted medically necessary services that affirm gender or treat gender dysphoria may include mental health counseling, non-medical social transition, gender affirming hormone therapy, and or gender affirming surgeries. 
</blockquote>
This was the standard of care, according to the American Medical Association.
It was a load of horsesh*t.
If you ever wonder about the signal moments in the last 30 years of American history in which people fell out of love with institutions and decided that institutions had betrayed their trust — this was a big one.
There have been many, including the coverage of Biden&#8217;s mental health issues, education, Critical Race Theory, scientific organizations, and COVID.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2361-transing-of-children-in-america-is-dead"><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 the biggest one was likely this — a lie that everyone above the age of one and a half knew was a lie — which was to deny that boys and girls aren&#8217;t the same. The medical establishment said that boys could become girls, girls could become boys, and the best treatment for someone who was struggling with body dysmorphia was not to work on their mental health, but to surgically alter their body by cutting off healthy body parts, by creating fake new body parts.
This was insanity. It was pathological. It was nuts.
But it became de rigueur.
The fact that Democrats are still struggling with this shows how out of touch they remain with reality.
So what finally broke the system? As always in America, trial lawyers.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/health/gender-surgery-malpractice-varian.html">reported:</a> “In the first malpractice verdict against providers of gender-affirming care for minors —&#8221;
Stop right there. That well-known language is insane. “Gender-affirming” is sex-rejecting. That’s what “gender-affirming” means in this context.
We are not talking about a woman who had a double mastectomy because she had breast cancer or the BRCA gene, and decided to have that double mastectomy, and now wants to reconstruct her breasts. That would be gender-affirming.
Gender affirming in this context means sex-denying. A boy believes he&#8217;s a girl, so they cut off his penis and testicles. That is what they mean.
Back to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/03/health/gender-surgery-malpractice-varian.html">the piece</a>:
<blockquote>In the first malpractice verdict against providers of gender-affirming care for minors, a jury in New York State has awarded a woman $2 million in damages for a double mastectomy she received as a teenager that she said had left her disfigured.</blockquote>
Obviously, it left her disfigured. That’s a reality when you have your breasts cut off, not because you&#8217;re worried that you&#8217;re going to get breast cancer or for any other real medical reason, but because you say you want to look more like a boy.
<blockquote>The plaintiff, Fox Varian, 22, of Yorktown Heights, had accused her psychologist and the plastic surgeon who performed the operation of failing to obtain adequate consent about the risks before she agreed to undergo the procedure in 2019. She also claimed that the providers had deviated from standard practices governing gender-related medical care. Ms. Varian, who was 16 at the time of the surgery, was assigned female at birth but as a teenager identified as a man.</blockquote>
Legacy media verbiage that is totally psychotic. “Assigned female at birth?”
You are not assigned anything. A doctor looks at you and knows you are female by looking at you when you are a baby.
This woman later came to regret the decision to transition and returned to being a woman in accordance with her actual biology, an example of a process known as detransitioning, or what some people might call “recognition of reality.”
Very often, when people cite studies suggesting that people don&#8217;t really detransition, that is because the studies do not include people who don&#8217;t follow up with the doctor. The vast majority of people who decide that they don&#8217;t want to carry forward with their “gender transition” never get back in touch with the people who were trying to transition them in the first place.
Thus, the continued pressure tactics are used by people in this industry.
The Times continued:
<blockquote>According to Kinnon MacKinnon, who studies transgender care at York University in Toronto, a vast majority of young people who opt for a medical transition say the procedure resolves their gender dysphoria and improves the quality of their lives.</blockquote>
Do you think they&#8217;re coming back to Kinnon MacKinnon to explain that things went badly? That’s not the way that this works. 
So why do I say this verdict means that the transition of children in America is dying or dead? Because plastic surgeons now find themselves at risk of medical liability for doing something that is clearly non-medical, such as cutting off healthy body parts, doctors are going to stop doing it.
On Tuesday, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons <a href="https://www.plasticsurgery.org/for-medical-professionals/health-policy/position-statements">put out a statement</a> saying:
<blockquote>Consistent with ASPS’s August 2024 statement that the overall evidence base for gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions is low certainty, and in light of recent publications reporting very low/low certainty of evidence regarding mental health outcomes, along with emerging concerns about potential long-term harms and the irreversible nature of surgical interventions in a developmentally vulnerable population, ASPS concludes there is insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for the pathway of gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents. ASPS recommends that surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old.</blockquote>
What’s hilarious about this statement is that they are not making the case that they picked the age of 19 because the brain is developed enough for a teen to make a good decision. That is not the case they&#8217;re making. They&#8217;re not saying there&#8217;s a difference in kind between these sorts of surgeries performed on a 21-year-old and those performed on a 17-year-old.
The reason they are putting out “19 years old” is very obvious: At 18, you can legally consent, and once you can legally consent, the doctors can&#8217;t be sued.
That&#8217;s all that&#8217;s happening here. Liability came to the plastic surgeons, and now they&#8217;re saying, “We still want to do these surgeries because we get paid for them even though they&#8217;re really bad. We&#8217;re going to continue to do them, but we&#8217;ll do it for people above the age of 18.’
That is still bad medical practice. It does not solve the problem politically for people who claim that men can become women and women can become men.
This is a barrier for Democrats. When I was on Gavin Newsom&#8217;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrDpBwpSqSc">show</a> in California, this issue came up, and he really struggled with it. The reason he struggled with it is because he knows it is not only a political loser, but in his heart, he knows it is not true.
The vast majority of people in the United States also know it is untrue that a man can become a woman.
But there are social demands to mirror that nonsense. And if Democrats decide to follow this issue all the way down the political rabbit hole, they will not be able to get out. It is legitimately a barrier to entry for voters.
The bottom line is that if Democrats keep running up against both the science and legal liability, they are in for a continued world of hurt.

Transgender person from behind, wearing pink and white striped sweatshirt, holds transgender flag

Transing Of Children In America Is Dead

Ben Shapiro

Boys

Girls

Lawsuit

Opinion

I grew up believing America is the land of opportunity. Over the last few years, however, I have begun to wonder if that America still exists. Are we still the kind of nation where children can realistically pursue happiness, homeownership, and the American Dream?
Even in the face of endless division and media narratives designed to make families doubt it, I believe, perhaps now more than ever, the answer is yes. That’s due in large part to the Trump administration introducing <a href="https://trumpaccounts.gov/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Trump Accounts</a>, a major step in setting American children up for success. And that means a lot to this mother of three with a newborn at home.
During the Biden years, I was genuinely scared about the financial state of our country. Inflation was out of control, crime was rising, and the value of the dollar felt meaningless. I couldn’t help but wonder if my kids would ever be able to afford homes, raise families, or even live independently in the country I love.
That fear is exactly why <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/3209769/why-mothers-should-back-trump/">I pleaded</a> with other moms to vote for Donald Trump. And now, everything feels different.
Last month, I gave birth to my youngest daughter, Monroe Lee, a name rooted in American history. And for the first time in years, I feel something I haven’t felt in a long time about this country, real hope for the American Dream. Inflation and crime are down, and Wall Street can’t outbid first-time home buyers. Under President Trump, the American Dream feels alive and well again.
That’s why Trump Accounts hit me personally.
These investment accounts are brilliant in their simplicity. This isn’t some complicated, exclusive program — it’s a literal capital investment that starts growing right away. A $1,000 jumpstart for a better future.
If we want our nation to prosper, we must facilitate individual prosperity, and one of the easiest ways to kickstart long-term, widespread opportunity is to give every child a personal stake in the nation’s success from day one. Not only will they grow into more financially independent adults — reducing long-term reliance on government programs — but they will be literal stakeholders in America’s prosperity itself. With skin in the game, they’ll be eager to contribute so they can reap the financial benefits of their hard work, thereby driving progress and innovation. It’s textbook win-win-win.
While my first two children were born during the dark economic days under Biden, my third qualifies for a Trump Account. If we simply open the account, that original <a href="https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/corporatesite/us/en/corp/articles/what-to-know-about-new-trump-accounts-for-kids.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com">$1,000 could be up to $8,000 by age 18, and over $18,000 by age 28.</a> It could potentially turn into tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars by adulthood — especially if parents and family contribute. Under current guidance, parents, employers, and even philanthropists can add to these accounts, and contributions are invested in low-cost, diversified funds designed for growth. 
<div id="attachment_1038081" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1038081" class="size-large wp-image-1038081" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1933761156-864x576.jpg" alt="nicoletaionescu. Getty Images. Mother and child having fun walking outdoors in winter season" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1933761156-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1933761156-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1933761156-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1933761156-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1933761156-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1933761156-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1933761156-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />nicoletaionescu. Getty Images.</div>
This is the kind of financial opportunity that creates generational wealth — something that has, for too long, mostly been accessible only to the already wealthy. But Trump Accounts change that by giving every child a tangible financial head start.
The tragic reality is that most Americans lack the kind of financial literacy and experience that builds wealth. That’s why it often seems that the rich get richer: they know what they’re doing, and oftentimes they have a head start. While the American Dream provides endless opportunities, that means little to those who don’t know how to take advantage of them. But Trump Accounts make it as easy as it’s ever going to get to <a href="https://time.com/7358662/trump-accounts-babies-kids-investment-businesses/">break the curse of generational poverty</a> and shrink economic disparities.
Hard-working Americans — parents, grandparents, employers, and even outside donors like Michael and Susan Dell — can contribute to these accounts over the years so kids can watch their money grow with them. Major financial firms have committed to <a href="https://people.com/jpmorgan-chase-bank-of-america-match-employees-trump-accounts-11894873">matching contributions</a> for employees’ children, and some philanthropic investments provide additional seed funds for those who otherwise might be left out. 
Even just that sense of security in knowing there’s money in the bank can pave the way for children to pursue greater opportunities as they unfold before them. By the end of President Trump’s term, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/bessent-says-500000-have-signed-up-trump-accounts-more-donations-coming-2026-01-28/">25 million American children</a> could have investment accounts growing in their name — if only parents and families simply take advantage of this opportunity.
As a mother, I’m perpetually thinking about the long game: Am I teaching my kids the skills they’ll need as they grow? Am I instilling values that lead to success? Am I doing everything I can to set them up for happiness and prosperity? But it isn’t just parents who should be thinking about these things. The whole nation should consider what we are doing now to build a better future for those coming after us.
At the very least, every American child now has equal access to a seeded investment portfolio, regardless of race, creed, or economic status, thus creating unprecedented possibilities for tens of millions of Americans through generations to come. The clichés are real — the best time to start was yesterday, but the second-best time is now, because now is when their future starts.
***
Jillian Anderson King is a former Washington Redskins Cheerleader Ambassador and ABC’s The Bachelor and The Bachelor in Paradise contestant. She’s a Mombassador for Moms for America, an ambassador for Turning Point and Turning Point Faith, and a proud Christian Conservative mother and wife. Jillian is also the founder of The Kings Firm, a strategic communications firm.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

A Mother’s Case For The Return Of The American Dream

A Mother's Case For The Return Of The American Dream

Donald Trump

finance

Funding

Money

Mothers

Trump Accounts

Trump Administration

Law enforcement successfully rescued two young sisters reported missing over the weekend and arrested a 19-year-old man accused of grooming and abducting them from their Florida home after contacting the girls through the popular online game Roblox.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as Hser Mu Lah Say from Omaha, Nebraska, saying he allegedly drove nearly 24 hours nonstop to pick up the 12- and 14-year-old girls from their home in Indiantown, Florida.
Georgia Highway Patrol located the vehicle several hours after the girls were reported missing and found all three individuals inside.
“This was a sobering case for us here at the county sheriff’s office, but we’re thankful with how it ended,” Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek <a href="https://people.com/2-young-girls-abducted-after-being-groomed-by-man-they-chatted-with-on-roblox-police-say-11898085">said</a>.
“They learned through their investigation that the same day, about 9 in the morning, these same two girls had gone to a local park there in Indiantown, had been found by a family member, brought back to their home [and] punished,” he added, noting that this included having their phones taken away. They later contacted the suspect using another device.
Authorities say Lah Say had been chatting with the girls for months on Snapchat and Roblox, and allegedly sent them gifts. 
“The communication initially started, we believe, and keep in mind we’re going through devices, in the summer of 2025, on a gaming app called Roblox. And from that gaming app, these girls were then moved from Roblox over to Snapchat,” Budensiek said. 
The sheriff noted how the family noticed “weird” things in the time leading up to the abduction, such as food being delivered to the house. Law enforcement now believes this was part of the grooming process. The family alerted officers about the existence of the suspect, who was said to have kept &#8220;a constant thread of communication&#8221; with the girls.
Lah Say was charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of interference with child custody. 
&#8220;We talk regularly about the importance of parents and family members being vigilant about grooming and social media platforms and the impact it has on kids,&#8221; Budensiek said, per <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/amp/GMA/News/siblings-rescued-after-alleged-kidnapping-19-year-met/story?id=129794514">ABC News</a>. “In this case, I think we prevented something disastrous.&#8221; 
&#8220;There is no application online that&#8217;s safe,&#8221; he added. &#8220;If you can communicate with somebody away from your house in the quiet of your own room, it can be a problem. So parents have to be vigilant.&#8221;

Roblox

Two Sisters Were Abducted By A Man Who Groomed Them On Roblox

Florida Man Accused Of Kidnapping 2 Sisters He Allegedly Groomed On Roblox

Crime

Florida

grooming

kidnapping

As tensions in Minnesota continue to flare up over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions and allegations of rampant fraud, far-Left actors and activists have decided that it would be expedient to inflame the issues further. So, it shouldn&#8217;t come as a shock that the teachers unions and their activist allies have chosen to join in and provoke further unrest and strife.
In fact, a recent <a href="https://x.com/BGOnTheScene/status/2011524444905435353">video</a> posted on X claims to show K-12 students and teachers in Saint Paul, Minnesota walking out of school in protest over ICE. Days later the Saint Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) put out a <a href="https://x.com/JennaReports/status/2011493535812338109?s=20">statement</a> calling for its members to engage in a “Day of Action” and stating that there would be “no work, no school, and no shopping.” Unsurprisingly, the communiqué comes with a list of demands such as the removal of ICE from the state and the defunding of the federal agency.
The organization of “educators” then publicly proclaimed that it was “on the side” of the students, while simultaneously shutting down schools in a district where roughly 70% of all elementary students are not <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/minnesota/districts/saint-paul-public-schools-104201">proficient</a> in math and reading. However, SPFE and its members are sending a clear message that their top priority is not the education of the children and families they serve, but far-Left social justice activism.
Unfortunately, this is a feature, not a bug, of the dominant ideology permeating the Gopher State’s education system writ large. Social justice activism is now the primary ethos of a system corrupted by Left-wing political actors who have been turning classrooms into street activist training programs in service to a Revolutionary Industrial Complex.
In the Colleges of Education, for instance, teacher candidates are conditioned into far-Left political ideas that are often sold to budding educators as “best practices.” Future K-12 instructors are then expected to incorporate these ideas into their own methodologies.
For example, Minnesota State University Mankato’s College of Education <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/minnesota-state-university-mankato-corrupted/">states</a> in its “Conceptual Framework” that the teacher training program’s vision is to “inspire lifelong learning and professional engagement through racial consciousness, social justice, and inclusion.” The program aims to prepare “anti-racist practitioners” by using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a foundational framework focusing on privilege, oppression, systemic racism, and social justice activism. In fact, future elementary school teachers are required to take a course titled “ED 101 – Introduction to Critical Race Theory in Education.”
But it is not just the training of teachers that is problematic. Some university programs are offering free lesson plans and resources to K-12 teachers that promote Left-wing biases and agendas.
Such is the case with the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender &amp; Sexuality Studies (RIDGS) program, which has <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/liberated-university-of-minnesota-twin-cities/">created</a> and made publicly available ethnic studies lesson plans for K-12 schools that are riddled with far-Left ideologies promoting youth activism. For instance, a sixth-grade lesson titled “Protest Art &amp; the Movement for Black Life” focuses on the Black Lives Matter movement and how to “create their own protest art for a cause of their choice.” The multi-day plan reads like a revolutionary training program meant to prepare eleven-year-olds for some yet to be determined protest.
However, if there is any doubt about these ideologies trickling out of the universities and into K-12, look no further than Saint Paul Public Schools’ (SPPS) <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/liberated-saint-paul-public-schools/">critical ethnic studies</a> curriculum. A 2023 RIDGS report on the deeply divisive course highlights the “seven principles” students are taught throughout the year, including “critical consciousness” and “resistance.” According to statements included in the document, students learned about “protests” and “civil disobedience” and were inspired by the Third World Liberation Front.
Like SPPS, Minneapolis Public Schools’ (MPS) <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/minneapolis-public-schools-ethnic-studies-course-teaches-students-that-capitalism-and-western-culture-is-exploitative-and-leads-to-slavery-colonialism-genocide-and-white-supremacy/">ethnic studies</a> courses are also saturated with revolutionary dogmas. In one of the classes, students learn to “challenge the ‘white savior’ narrative” and that slavery, genocide, and white supremacy all stem from capitalism and Western culture. Naturally, the course in question also includes student activism.
So, it should come as little surprise that K-12 students from both SPPS and MPS appear to be <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2026_Twin-Cities-Student-ICE-protest-chat.pdf">planning</a> their own mass &#8220;strike” and “walkout” over ICE. Of course, it is highly probable that they are getting “guidance” from parents, teachers, and local activists.
While Minnesota’s streets heat up during the dead of winter, parents and the public need to be aware that far-Left actors inside and outside the education system have been preparing teachers and students for years to be street activists and protestors.
Local and national leaders, first and foremost, need to ensure that the youth and their teachers can peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights safely. But there also needs to be investigations into the Revolutionary Industrial Complex that has taken over Minnesota’s entire education system. Families, students, and communities deserve better from their education system.
 * * * 
Rhyen Staley is a researcher for Defending Education. He holds a master&#8217;s degree in elementary education and has over a decade of classroom experience in both public and private schools. He has over 25 years of volleyball coaching experience from Women’s Division I down to junior high.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

St. Paul, Minnesota student anti-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) demonstrations, January 2026

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