The internet and streaming platforms haven’t just left a mark on Hollywood-style entertainment; the sports industry has felt the waves: a rushing tide that swept up cable behemoths like ESPN and publications like Sports Illustrated — even newspapers such as The Washington Post no longer carry separate sports sections. In just a few years, the industry that cultivated and created stars turned to the internet to recruit them. This is one of many changes to an ecosystem that dominates an increasing share of Americans’ time and attention each year, judging by NFL viewership numbers alone. Gambling, fantasy leagues, college transfer portals, and media startups have contributed to an evolution in sports and are the topics of discussion for DW’s Weekend Punch interview with Outkick founder, Fox News contributor, and Tennessee die-hard fan Clay Travis.
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Ben Domenech: Obviously, you have just achieved something pretty significant when it comes to the world of sports media with OutKick. You were one of the OG people to recognize the space that existed that wasn&#8217;t being filled. How do you think about that sports media landscape now, and what do you think is different when you started OutKick?
Clay Travis: Good question. When we started OutKick, there was much more of a written marketplace for original content. If you remember back in those days, you might go to Deadspin, you might go to Grantland, or Kissing Suzy Kolber. It was the heyday of interesting written content that was being produced on a regular basis. That doesn&#8217;t really exist now.
The blogosphere was still a thing. Video hadn&#8217;t completely taken over, and everybody didn&#8217;t have one-minute social media clips that they were being inundated with on TikTok, Instagram, or even Twitter, where the virality has all gone video. I still think much of the news cycle was dictated by what people wrote rather than what people said. That&#8217;s the biggest thing I see as different in the marketplace right now compared to when we started.
BD: When you see the landscape now, what are you surprised by in terms of either the success or the failure of the worldwide leader to adapt to the changing cultural moment and priorities of fans?
CT: It used to be the case that ESPN made stars. And I actually think ESPN is now reflective of the larger marketplace. Other than maybe Fox News and maybe Netflix, I&#8217;m not sure anyone makes stars anymore, other than the internet and maybe YouTube, but you don&#8217;t have big media companies that deputize you and say, &#8220;You are now a star.&#8221;
One of my favorite stories back in the day was right before the show “Friends” made its debut. The entire cast went out together in Las Vegas, and one of the show&#8217;s creators was there with them and said, &#8220;This will be the last time that you guys can go out to dinner for the rest of your lives.&#8221; And you are going to be on after “Seinfeld,” you&#8217;re going on NBC, it’s a sitcom that everyone is going to see, and you are going to go from normal people to luminescent stars overnight.
That kind of world doesn&#8217;t exist. You can see it in the rise of Pat McAfee, where ESPN had to go hire people who were already famous. You can see it in the success that the Barstool guys have had. I still think of myself as a guy who came out of the internet, and you have to compete against everybody when you come out of the internet. You don&#8217;t get deputized, and someone doesn&#8217;t say, &#8220;Oh, this guy&#8217;s going to matter because we&#8217;re putting him on a show and there are very limited numbers of shows.&#8221; In fact, it&#8217;s kind of a fun question. Who is the last person in sports media to become famous from television? It used to be that you would find a Stephen A. Smith or a Michael Wilbon or a Tony Kornheiser columnist —  people who had had an opportunity to write, did radio, and then you put them on television.
That pathway doesn&#8217;t seem to exist for ESPN other than maybe, again, Fox News and Netflix.
BD: We&#8217;ve just seen the takeover of Hollywood and the box office by two creators in the horror space who came out of YouTube. Do you think at some point there will be a similar crossover effect from these YouTube personalities to a greater degree than it&#8217;s already happened, or are they their own animals and will stay within that lane just because of the nature of what they do?
CT: I think if you can make money, Hollywood and every other media company is going to find ways to make money more than they otherwise would. For example, I’m utterly fascinated that Star Wars, which has been popular since 1977, was dominated by two YouTube guys, even though Star Wars obviously had a 50-year head start on them in terms of recognizing the marketplace. And so I think what it represents is every generation wants to find its new people, and I think YouTube is more experimental, and when you&#8217;re more experimental, you can find out what works quicker than a lot of big companies can. If they&#8217;re totally wrong, they lose hundreds of millions of dollars. If a YouTuber is totally wrong, they might lose a few hundred thousand dollars. And so the scale of success is massive for them, but the risk that&#8217;s put on the table is tiny, and most big companies have the reverse.
BD: Let’s talk about those big companies. They&#8217;ve made huge bets on sports rights across the board, rights that are continually getting more expensive. Those costs are being passed on to consumers. You testified about this on Capitol Hill. What is the actual solution that doesn&#8217;t require some kind of breakup or major disruption that would be difficult for the marketplace to handle? Or is that something that&#8217;s going to have to happen if we&#8217;re ever going to get back to a point where people can afford to watch as many games as they want?
CT: What surprised me is the degree to which Republicans and Democrats across the political spectrum were furious with what NFL games cost now. The NFL is very popular and powerful, but there definitely seems to be the sense that fans are being gouged and that anger over affordability and access is also declining. I think this is a bad combination for the NFL.
It&#8217;s funny, I have said for some time — and I think it&#8217;s probably going to end up being the reality of where we end up — that somebody&#8217;s going to try to put together a bundle of streaming services, which just recreates what we had when we had the bundle of cable channels, and it was a great deal. Everybody with one remote control could sit and watch every game. You could jump from one to another. I have argued for a long time that fans really didn&#8217;t understand how good we had it back then. If you compare the fan experience watching games to 2012, for instance, back when we started OutKick, I think it was way better.
It was way easier to find your favorite teams. It was way more affordable. The analogy I used in my testimony earlier this week on Capitol Hill was this: I&#8217;m sure you remember the first flat-screen television that you bought, which was crazy expensive. It had HD. It revolutionized the sports viewing experience. I was at Costco the other day. You can buy a massive flat-screen television for $700. So we have higher-quality television at a much more affordable price. Meanwhile, you&#8217;re paying way, way more for the sporting rights, and you&#8217;re getting much less. And again, that&#8217;s a bad combination.
BD: In terms of the decision that the NFL has made to go in all these different directions, particularly to require setting up their own coverage, their own teams, and their own announcers. And then of course, you add the overseas product and their hopes for extending the game around the world, which is getting bigger and bigger. Do you think that they&#8217;re risking diluting a product, or is the NFL just so big that they can do whatever the hell they want?
CT: They do risk diluting a product in some sense. In September, I&#8217;m very excited. I&#8217;ve got Thursday football, Friday football, Saturday football, Sunday football, and Monday football. And then after a few weeks, I&#8217;m thinking, &#8220;Man, I don&#8217;t really care that much about Monday Night Football.&#8221;
It used to be that when you just had Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, Monday Night Football was really a big deal. Now it&#8217;s not to that same extent. That&#8217;s a challenge for the NFL going forward in maximizing revenue without oversaturating the marketplace.
BD: The NFL has decided to embrace gambling — I&#8217;ve heard the first radio ads for betting on prediction markets this week, and they&#8217;re essentially described that way, which surprised me a little bit. Do you think there&#8217;s any risk of going too far in that direction of making the game seem more disposable because fans are less devoted to their teams in a way that echoes what happened to the NBA? Or where people just don&#8217;t care about their teams anymore — they just care about stars?
CT: It’s what the fantasy football world has created. For instance, my kids want to watch every game, and they have an incentive to do so. I do think the game itself can be threatened when you&#8217;re allowing prop bets to become too much of a storyline because players certainly can be corrupted, as we&#8217;ve seen, and the overall game itself can risk being bogged down by not whether someone performs at the absolute highest level or even whether a team wins, but whether someone scores a touchdown or makes a reception. And I do think the gamification of the game itself does lead to monetization, but I think you have to remain aware that the game is still the primary story, not how individual players perform.
BD: Senator Ted Cruz has a bipartisan bill that is advancing, which is pretty rare for him. On the question of reform for college sports, they describe it as saving college sports. It does many different things that have generated controversy, not necessarily among the people who you would think would be politically on one side or the other. What is your particular take, and do you think that this would be a step forward or would create so much complexity that it would be very difficult for the different schools, the different institutions, and teams to adapt?
CT: The number one thing they have to have is an antitrust exemption. You can just look at what happened with Brendan Sorsby versus Texas Tech. You can&#8217;t have individual federal district court judges making default policy rules for different teams in Texas compared to Florida, California, or Michigan. Everybody has to play by a uniform rule. Right now, every time you try to put a uniform rule in place, a player who is disadvantaged by that rule sues.
It used to be that college athletes like Maurice Clarett sued to get to the NFL faster. Now guys sue to be able to stay in college longer. The second-highest paid basketball league in the world, after the NBA, is college basketball. So all the best European players actually want to play college basketball. Illinois effectively had an Eastern European All-Star squad and nearly won the national championship with it. So you do have to figure out basic rules. How many years can somebody play? How many years can they transfer and give an organization or entity the ability to put those rules in place?
What Ted Cruz presents with the SCORE Act — figuring out how to get something that can pass both the House and the Senate that just has a very basic framework to allow rules to be put in place — is going to be necessary. The absence of any rules themselves at some point is leading to such a chaotic situation that college sports are on a sort of runaway train.
Do you remember “The Polar Express”? There’s a scene in that movie where the train track runs out, and the train hits the ice and starts to spin in every different direction, and you&#8217;re like, &#8220;What in the world&#8217;s going to happen here?&#8221; I think we&#8217;ve reached the point where the train track has run out, and we&#8217;ve got a train on ice, and we really don&#8217;t have any idea how to control it or where it&#8217;s headed.
BD: When it comes to your recommendations for our European friends who are navigating the country right now during the World Cup, what&#8217;s something that those folks who are trying to go viral haven&#8217;t checked out yet?
CT: That they saw Buc-ee’s is pretty crazy. Somebody tweeted that Lionel Messi played in College Station before the University of Georgia did. I&#8217;m sure you saw that they brought out the War Eagle at Auburn for the Iceland versus Argentina game, if I remember correctly. It’s wild. I think the sheer immensity of America, when it comes to places, just walking into a Publix and looking at how many different types of peanut butter we have. I just think that the European mind doesn&#8217;t comprehend how much incredible excess we have. There&#8217;s that great stat where the British were actually told how poor they were compared to the poorest American states, and they just really had no understanding or comprehension of that.
BD: What’s the most underrated storyline in sports media today?
CT: The degree to which there aren&#8217;t very many successful sports media companies, period. right? There was a time when ESPN employed a lot of people who worked on ESPN.com. Hunter S. Thompson used to write at ESPN.com. — Bill Simmons. I started talking with you about the lack of writers. It used to be that writers drove content conversation and discussion in a significant way. There&#8217;s almost no one writing interesting opinion pieces now, and I think sports media suffers as a result.
BD: Should we feel happy for Timothée Chalamet, or has he led a life that is so charmed that we are allowed to hate him for being so happy?
CT: It reminds me of how today’s young Boston sports fans have won so many championships, creating an embarrassment of riches, which is such a dichotomy between everyone else. If you grew up from 1950 to 2000, Boston won almost nothing. If you were born after 1990 or 2000, all you&#8217;ve seen is Boston win. The guy&#8217;s got everything going for him and doesn&#8217;t seem to be wearing too many stresses on his shoulders.

Punch — Clay Travis-horizontal

Sports Media Used To Make Stars — Now It Doesn’t Know How

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Clay Travis

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Weekend Punch

Outkick founder Clay Travis, 46, who has been fed up with WNBA star Angel Reese for a while, offered her an open challenge, saying that if she faced off against him one-on-one and beat him, she could earn $100,000, which Travis stated was more than she makes in an entire season.
“Angel Reese signed a 4 year, $324,383 contract with the Chicago Sky, including an average annual salary of $81,096. In 2025, Reese will earn a base salary of $74,909, while carrying a cap hit of $74,909,” <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/wnba/player/_/id/90257/angel-reese#:~:text=Angel%20Reese%20signed%20a%204,a%20cap%20hit%20of%20%2474%2C909.">spotrac</a> reported.
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Reese has been <a href="https://x.com/ClayTravis/status/1802439178296472019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1802439178296472019%7Ctwgr%5E4200c2a28c7e8a00eac312fad919c1acf942fbff%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.talkbasket.net%2F183951-clay-travis-wnba-wants-caitlin-clark-out-of-the-league">at odds</a> with WNBA star Caitlyn Clark <a href="https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1802392445591736477">for a long time.</a> Recently, an imbroglio occurred when Reese shoved Clark’s teammate in the back for a rebound. After Clark pointed out the shove to an official who did nothing, she grabbed Reese by the arm as she attempted a layup. Reese later reposted a TikTok video of an X post mocking Clark as a “white gyal running away from the fade.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark “controversy” is insane. Watch the play, Reese clearly fouls the other chick — pushing her in the back with both hands — to get the rebound. Clark points to it and then when the call isn’t made, fouls to stop the open layup. <a href="https://t.co/M3cpk1Qap0">pic.twitter.com/M3cpk1Qap0</a>
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1924555537665974309?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The reposted video remains up on Angel Reese&#39;s TikTok. I&#39;m sure she&#39;ll eventually take it down, but screenshots are forever.
The racism in the WNBA towards Clark is appalling and disgusting. <a href="https://t.co/V9EJ0FdsMN">pic.twitter.com/V9EJ0FdsMN</a>
&mdash; David Hookstead (@dhookstead) <a href="https://twitter.com/dhookstead/status/1924916507043103090?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Meanwhile, Clark has spoken respectfully of Reese. In a <a href="https://time.com/7200904/athlete-of-the-year-2024-caitlin-clark/">TIME bio</a> of her from last year, Clark said of Reese, “We’re not best friends, by any means, but we’re very respectful of one another. Yes, we have had tremendous battles. But when have I ever guarded her? And when has she guarded me?”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Caitlin Clark on Angel Reese: “We’re not best friends, by any means, but we’re very respectful of one another. Yes, we have had tremendous battles. But when have I ever guarded her? And when has she guarded me?” <a href="https://t.co/wu5Ex8LvIn">https://t.co/wu5Ex8LvIn</a>
&mdash; TIME (@TIME) <a href="https://twitter.com/TIME/status/1866496846245286026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2024</a></blockquote>
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“Hey @Reese10Angel me vs you half court to 15 by 1’s and 2’s. $100k to the winner, more than you make in an entire WNBA season. Rebounds taken back to three point line. We put the game on pay per view and raise millions for charity of winner’s choice. You in?” Travis posted on X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Hey <a href="https://twitter.com/Reese10Angel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Reese10Angel</a> me vs you half court to 15 by 1’s and 2’s. $100k to the winner, more than you make in an entire WNBA season. Rebounds taken back to three point line. We put the game on pay per view and raise millions for charity of winner’s choice. You in?
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1925750566837227706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“My 8th grade son’s team says they will train me. I got this,” he added.
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My 8th grade son’s team says they will train me. I got this.
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1925762565805683159?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Travis estimated his odds of beating Reese, writing on X: “I am 6 foot 185, Angel Reese is listed at 6’3” 165. She plays basketball all the time. I occasionally play my 14 year old in our backyard. (And wreck him.) He’s a middle school basketball player. I legit think I could beat her if I didn’t get an old man injury in the game. There’s a 38% chance I get injured. The other 62% of our games to 15 I win. No best two out of three, I only have the tendons and ankles for one game to 15.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
There’s a 38% chance I get injured. The other 62% of our games to 15 I win. No best two out of three, I only have the tendons and ankles for one game to 15.
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1925748484046541254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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He also belittled Reese’s skills: “Angel Reese has middle school boy’s basketball level offensive skill. The fact that anyone gets paid for this is crazy to me. &#8230;Can you imagine buying tickets for this? You should get paid to go. &#8230; I can’t stop watching this. The announcer may be the best part. She’s selling this play sequence like Angel is Olajuwon in his prime.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Angel Reese has middle school boy’s basketball level offensive skill. The fact that anyone gets paid for this is crazy to me: <a href="https://t.co/GaSRIX0vmz">pic.twitter.com/GaSRIX0vmz</a>
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1925741254953812286?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I can’t stop watching this. The announcer may be the best part. She’s selling this play sequence like Angel is Olajuwon in his prime.
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1925743645996536127?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Clay Travis/Angel Reese

Clay Travis Challenges WNBA’s Angel Reese To One-On-One, Offers 100K To Winner

Angel Reese

WNBA

Clay Travis, the founder of Outkick, offered a succinct commentary as to why young men, whether to the Right or even to the Left with their political proclivities, have turned more and more Republican.
Travis was part of a panel along with Daniel Cox of the American Enterprise Institute, Magdalene Taylor, “a freelance writer and critic covering sex, relationships, and culture,” according to <a href="https://www.gq.com/contributor/magdalene-taylor">GQ</a>, and Hannah Rosin, senior editor of The Atlantic.
“Young men have not become much more conservative, at least according to Gallup, but they have become more Republican,” Cox noted. “They’re more Republican now, but not necessarily because they’ve shifted to the Right on issues like climate change or abortion or same-sex marriage; they&#8217;re still well to the Left of their dads and grandfathers when it comes to that stuff. &#8230; There&#8217;s something about Trump that was attractive and then there&#8217;s something about the Democratic Party, at least in its current manifestation, that was repellent.”
“I was really struck by you saying especially that, you know, even if they are more likely to identify as Republicans, they&#8217;re still far more liberal than the men of generations before them,” Taylor stated.
“What is it that we&#8217;re missing?&#8221; Rosin wanted to know.
“What I would start with is that men aspire to be bigger, stronger, and faster than we are, almost universally,” Travis began. “That’s why superheroes are popular; that’s why pro athletes are popular. Who is the most masculine Democrat right now in America? Mayor Pete? (Buttigieg) &#8230; Nobody’s like, ‘Mayor Pete, he’s a bada**.’ Chuck Schumer?&#8221;
“But Trump&#8217;s like a grandpa,” Rosin protested.
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“Trump took a bullet in his ear and immediately stood up and said, ‘Fight, fight, fight,’” Trvis responded. “Every man in America and most of the women out here were impressed by that, even if the women won&#8217;t admit it. &#8230; And second part of this, basically summing it up, Democrats, for men, are pu**ies, and Republicans aren’t. There are no masculine men in the Democrat Party right now.”
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Clay Travis gets audible gasps from University of Chicago audience after he declares that men view Democrats as &#39;pussies&#39;: Daniel Cox: &quot;Young men have not become much more conservative, at least according to Gallup, but they have become more Republican. They&#39;re still well, to the… <a href="https://t.co/NDt0ZSDsY0">pic.twitter.com/NDt0ZSDsY0</a>
&mdash; Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricAbbenante/status/1890067702074470818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Women’s March

Clay Travis On Why Young Men Are Turning Republican: ‘Democrats, For Men, Are Pu**ies’

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Elections

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Republican Party

The temperature in Washington, D.C., this week was frigid, but the mood was downright sizzling. One of the hottest places to celebrate the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States of America was at The Mayflower Cigars Inauguration Party.
Picture it: a dark paneled room adorned with American flags. The air is thick with heady, aromatic scents of Mayflower Cigars. People are dressed in black tie formal wear, but the tuxes and gowns pale in comparison to the smiles of the attendees celebrating the biggest political comeback in American history. With a celebratory mood and a high-quality cigar, it’s hard to imagine life getting better than this.
And truly this party was a who’s who in the conservative movement. Daily Wire co-founder Jeremy Boreing was there, and so was Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro. Of course, the one and only Michael Knowles was spotted enjoying a Mayflower cigar alongside fellow host and documentary filmmaker Matt Walsh and fellow host Andrew Klavan.
But this party was bigger than The Daily Wire crew. Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) was also in a celebratory mood at the Mayflower Cigars party. Chloe Cole, a detransitioner and fierce advocate for protecting children from irreversible “trans-affirming care,” was there, too. So was Clay Travis, founder and president of Outkick, and podcaster Tim Pool. 
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Canadian rap artist Tom MacDonald, who was also celebrating <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/roseanne-barr-and-tom-macdonalds-trump-rap-daddys-home-hits-number-1-ahead-of-inauguration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his rap single “Daddy’s Home”</a> with Roseanne Barr hitting number one on the charts, made an appearance at the party. Actor and conservative personality Siaka Massaquoi, fondly known to Daily Wire fans as “Black Jeremy” thanks to his breakout performance in the Jeremy’s Razors commercials, was there too, enjoying the best of what Mayflower had to offer. Douglas Murray flew in from across the pond to attend the inauguration. Even Shazam’s Zachary Levi was there!
SEE THE PHOTOS: 
<div id="attachment_863351" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-863351" class="wp-image-863351 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-17-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-17-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-17-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-17-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-17-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-17-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-17-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-17.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Photo credit: James Younger</div>
<div id="attachment_863355" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-863355" class="wp-image-863355 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-13-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-13-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-13-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-13-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-13-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-13-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-13-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-13.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Photo credit: James Younger</div>
<div id="attachment_863357" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-863357" class="wp-image-863357 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-14-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-14-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-14-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-14-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-14-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-14-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-14-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-14.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Photo credit: James Younger</div>
<div id="attachment_863359" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-863359" class="wp-image-863359 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-10-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-10-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-10-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-10-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-10-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-10-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-10-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-10.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Photo credit: James Younger</div>
<div id="attachment_863361" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-863361" class="wp-image-863361 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-7-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-7-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-7-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-7-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-7-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-7-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-7-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024-7.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Photo credit: James Younger</div>
<div id="attachment_863367" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-863367" class="wp-image-863367 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-10-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-10-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-10-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-10-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-10-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-10-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-10-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-10.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Photo credit: James Younger</div>
If, heaven forbid, the election would have gone the other way, the inauguration after-parties would have undoubtedly been filled with gender-neutral Beyond Burgers and almond milk sucked through rapidly disintegrating paper straws. But Trump won, largely because the men of this country showed up and spoke up. They gave our new president a mandate: it’s time to take this country back from our woke overlords. 
Our message is clear. Men are men, women are women, and masculinity is not toxic. Mayflower Cigars perfectly embody the spirit of the way forward towards truth, justice, and the glorious Golden Age of America. 
This epic soiree was brought to you by Mayflower Cigars, bring the celebration home today with an <a href="https://mayflowercigars.com/mayflower-8-cigar-assortment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">8-Cigar Assortment</a> and light your cigars with the all-new <a href="https://mayflowercigars.com/mayflower-linea-torch-lighter-by-xikar-with-gift-box/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mayflower XIKAR® Linea Torch Lighter</a>.
<a href="https://mayflowercigars.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-863511 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-3-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-3-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-3-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-3-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-3-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-3-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/DW_DC_2024_Party_V2-3-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>
Mayflower Cigars shares common ownership with The Daily Wire.

Mayflower Cigars Inauguration Party

PHOTOS: Celebrities, Cigars, And Celebration At The Mayflower Inauguration Party

Andrew Klavan

Ben Shapiro

Inauguration

Jeremy Boreing

Matt Walsh

Mayflower Cigars

Tom MacDonald

Zachary Levi

The following is an excerpt from the new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Playbook-Winning-Country-Democrats/dp/1668022346/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2EIWGD6O73X26&amp;keywords=clay+travis&amp;qid=1691529618&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=clay+travis%2Cstripbooks%2C105&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Playbook: A Guide to Winning Back the Country from the Democrats</a> by Clay Travis (Threshold Books/Simon &amp; Schuster).
In the summer of 2020, I had to fight one of the biggest battles of my career.
The Big Ten and Pac 12 were close to deciding it was too dangerous to play college football, and if they canceled their seasons it was believed the SEC, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and Big 12 would soon follow suit. And if college football wasn’t played, no other college sport would be played, either.
I decided right then and there I would fight harder for the playing of college football than I’d ever fought for anything in sports. Over the next several months, Outkick, both my radio show and the website, became the most aggressive media outlet in the country to support playing college football. Why was playing college football so important in my opinion?
First, the data was overwhelming that there was no substantial risk to young, healthy players. That was despite the fact that news outlets like CBSSports.com were running hyperventilating pieces claiming that if college football was played at least eight players would die because of Covid. (The actual number of athletes who died from contracting Covid because of sports? Zero.) But the most important data here was that if college football was shut down, many high schools wouldn’t play fall sports and many wouldn’t open at all.
I had regular conversations with Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey during this time. He told me that one of the biggest challenges he faced was how many southern high schools would shut down their seasons if college football wasn’t played. As a public school kid who knew the importance of high school sports to so many in the country, especially to many kids who would otherwise just vanish when it came to schooling, I couldn’t let that happen.
I made the calculated decision to go all in fighting for college football to be played. I was a maniac about it, pulling every political lever I could to influence governors on the issue, and I aggressively used my two biggest platforms, Outkick and my national sports radio morning show, to that end. I got every governor with an SEC, ACC, or Big 12 school in his state I could on the air. We’d never had governors on the radio show before, but I had our staff reach out to all of them in an effort to get them on to publicly support the return of sports.
We had Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on several times. DeSantis was important because he said that not only did the SEC and ACC schools in his state need to play football, but so did every high school. We also hosted Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt. We put together an entire coalition of red state governors who would all come out in favor of college football being played in their states.
Each of these governors — all with ACC, SEC, and Big 12 schools in their states — came on and endorsed the idea of playing college football in the fall. Each time I would get a governor to publicly endorse playing, I would text Greg Sankey, the SEC’s commissioner, and let him know we had another political supporter keeping the dream of playing the season alive.
I can’t impress upon you enough, by the way, how much I came to respect Sankey. Under immense pressure from the sports media — almost all of whom were convinced the season had to be canceled because it wasn’t safe to play — he stayed calm and reasonable.
Early on in the Covid era, I even called Sankey and told him that he was used to sports media being in favor of sports, but that wasn’t going to be the case now. “You need to tell every president and school athletic director what’s coming. They’re going to get ripped to the high heavens for even considering playing. Get them ready.”
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-601387 size-medium" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/American-Playbook-cover_hr-199x300.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/American-Playbook-cover_hr-199x300.jpg 199w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/American-Playbook-cover_hr-382x576.jpg 382w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/American-Playbook-cover_hr-768x1159.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/American-Playbook-cover_hr-1018x1536.jpg 1018w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/American-Playbook-cover_hr-1357x2048.jpg 1357w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/American-Playbook-cover_hr-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/American-Playbook-cover_hr.jpg 1400w" sizes=" (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px" /></div>
I wasn’t just lobbying to get governors on to endorse playing college football. I also worked as hard as I could to get the biggest asset of all, President Donald Trump, on my radio show to call for sports to be played, too. Years ago, when Trump was elected, I told my wife that one day we’d get him on my sports radio show. I even predicted it on the air. Everyone laughed. 
It didn’t seem crazy at all to me, though. After all, Trump was a monster sports fan and we agreed on many overlapping issues of sports and politics, particularly as they pertained to getting sports back under way, which was an important signpost of a return to normalcy in the country.
Then, one day, it happened. After months of lobbying, the time was right for Trump to come on the show and endorse the importance of playing college football.
The night before the interview, when I told my kids the president was coming on the radio show, my middle son said, “That’s awesome. He knows Vince McMahon!” (My boys are big WWE fans.)
I couldn’t sleep the night before the interview. For regular listeners of my sports talk radio show, they all know our phones never worked. I mean, just complete and total tech failure all the time. My biggest fear was that we’d get Trump on the air and then we’d accidentally drop him. Or he wouldn’t be able to hear us. In radio, the tease is what you say as you go to break to try to encourage people to keep listening. That morning my radio tease was “Up next, the president of the United States.”
That’s probably the best radio tease imaginable. 
Trump came on the show and said he 100% supported college football being played. But that barely moved the needle. Later that very same day, the Pac 12 officially announced they were canceling their fall season. Shortly thereafter the Big Ten did the same. My stomach sank. After months of fighting, it appeared we were close to losing the battle for college football.
Late in that summer of 2020, after the Big Ten and the Pac 12 had canceled their seasons, SEC commissioner Sankey called me. “I think I’m going to have to cancel the season,” he said. “The only reason I haven’t done it yet is because I just can’t figure out how to do it.”
I encouraged him to hang out for as long as he could and keep up the fight. We just needed, I thought, to get the players to report to campus. Once they got to campus and started practice, and in the South in particular, where college football is religion, it would be nearly impossible to stop the games.
On Outkick and on the radio show we redoubled our efforts. I worked like a maniac, enlisting support wherever I could, fighting harder for college football to be played than I’d ever fought for anything in my professional career. Slowly, we gained allies. The parents of Big Ten football players, it turned out, were furious they weren’t being allowed to play and filed lawsuits challenging the Big Ten’s arbitrary decision to cancel the season.
For most of my career, I’d been an SEC guy, but suddenly I was the most popular media figure in the Big Ten, one of the only media members with a large audience who was willing to fight for football. Our crew was small, but committed. As the football season inched closer, I began to work with the Trump White House, Tim Pataki in particular, to reverse the decision to end the Big Ten football season. We gained momentum, with Trump even getting on the phone with Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren to try to get that conference to reverse its decision.
Heck, I was even involved in strategy sessions with the White House to figure out how to save college football. 
But we still needed more allies. 
That’s when the players themselves, who had mostly been quiet, suddenly spoke out on social media. Clemson’s star quarterback, Trevor Lawrence; Ohio State’s star quarterback, Justin Fields; and many more players started a let-us-play hashtag on Twitter that went viral.
For months I’d been hearing from players, coaches, and administrators behind the scenes about how badly they all wanted to play, but they’d been afraid of being ripped to shreds by the sports media, who overwhelmingly had opposed a return to play for all sports and spread rampant fear-porn about the deaths that would ensue if sports returned.
Indeed, Mike Gundy, the Oklahoma State football coach, had faced significant censure in May 2020 when he’d suggested his players should return to campus and resume regular workouts. He’d been so vociferously attacked for sharing this opinion that many coaches stayed quiet, afraid of being swarmed by a mob on social media.
Finally, Outkick had public allies.
Slowly, thanks to steadfast leadership from SEC Commissioner Sankey and the players speaking out so loudly, the SEC, the Big 12, and the ACC began to hold the wall. We just needed to reach kickoff and have the games start. Because once the games started I was confident the parents of players in the Big Ten and the Pac 12 would force those conferences back to the football fields, too.
During this time, despite being the most likable and humble person in sports media, I made a lot of enemies in the sports media industry. People who had previously been my friends ripped me in public on social media, and in their articles they wrote about the impossibility of playing football during Covid. Negative articles about me and Outkick piled up. I’ve never been more attacked in my entire career.
But as I said when I started the book, my idol as a kid was Davy Crockett — be sure you’re right and go ahead. 
I knew I was right. 
And if I’m confident that I’m right, nothing is going to stop me.
I worked hard, harder than I’d ever worked before. I drove the people around me, those working at Outkick, very hard, too, the radio show, everyone. I wasn’t always the nicest version of myself. Sometimes I lost my temper with our workers and lashed out when I thought we weren’t making smart decisions or things weren’t being implemented rapidly enough. I was impatient. There was so much to make happen and it felt like everyone was against us and we didn’t have enough time to do everything we needed to do to make the season happen.
In the late summer of 2020, every day felt like a whirlwind. I barely slept. I was on my phone constantly, running Outkick and all my shows and fighting to save the college football season with every ounce of energy I had.
The players reported to fall camp in the SEC, the Big 12, and the ACC. Kickoff inched closer and closer. In private conversations, Sankey held out hope with me that if smaller college games could kick off and then the NFL kicked off, momentum would carry through and everyone would play.
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On August 30, 2020, the first college football game of 2020 kicked off. It was Austin Peay at Central Arkansas. 
I watched every minute of the game, luxuriating in the return of football to television.
A month later, on September 26, the SEC kicked off a full slate of conference games. It was nearly a month later than normal, but finally, at long last, the season was under way. The ACC and the Big 12 also kicked off their games.
On opening day, I poured myself a tall glass of whiskey. I’m not ashamed to admit that when kickoff happened in the SEC, I cried. “We did it,” I told my wife. “We really did it.” 
Not only did the SEC, the ACC, and the Big 12 play nearly complete seasons, but the Pac 12 and the Big Ten, under immense pressure from their own players, parents, and fan bases as the other conferences were playing, came rushing back to the field, too, even though their teams were only able to play shortened seasons.
And not only was college football played, but not one player or coach suffered serious Covid illness or death as a result. In fact, it didn’t happen anywhere in college athletics. As I’d been arguing all along, football itself was far more dangerous to players than Covid.
Just about every high school in the entire South played football as well. We’ll never know how many kids stayed in school because of those games, but I’m convinced we used sports to help ensure that millions of kids had as close to a normal 2020 school year as possible.
College football being played in 2020 remains my proudest moment in professional life. If Outkick and our radio show hadn’t existed, I’m not sure it would have happened. When there were almost no voices in the entire country advocating for college football, we helped give the necessary space to commissioners, school presidents, athletic directors, coaches, and players to make the season happen.
There are many people all over the country who deserve credit for college sports being played in the fall of 2020, but I’m confident no one in sports media did more than Outkick.
So, again, I will always be immensely proud of what we accomplished.
* * *
Clay Travis is the cohost of <a href="https://www.clayandbuck.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show</a>. He is the founder and president of OutKick, and is also a podcast host, TV anchor, columnist, editor, and the author of &#8220;Republicans Buy Sneakers Too,&#8221; &#8220;On Rocky Top,&#8221; and &#8220;Dixieland Delight.&#8221; Follow him on Twitter @ClayTravis.
This excerpt is taken from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Playbook-Winning-Country-Democrats/dp/1668022346/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2EIWGD6O73X26&amp;keywords=clay+travis&amp;qid=1691529618&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=clay+travis%2Cstripbooks%2C105&amp;sr=1-1">American Playbook: A Guide to Winning Back the Country from the Democrats</a> by Travis Clay. Copyright 2023 by Clay Travis. Reprinted by permission of Threshold Books, An Imprint of Simon &amp; Schuster, Inc. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Kentucky v Tennessee

How Fighting For College Football Became The Biggest Battle Of My Career

Books

College Football

NCAA

Readers Pass

Conservative commentators like Meghan McCain, Clay Travis, and others dragged CBS News for taking a &#8220;victory lap&#8221; on the authenticity of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/collections/the-hunter-biden-files">Hunter Biden&#8217;s</a> laptop years after most outlets had already confirmed it was real.
A tweet from the outlet on Monday read, &#8220;CBS News has obtained data from a laptop purported to have belonged to Hunter Biden. The data came directly from the source who said they provided it to the FBI under subpoena. @CBS_Herridge shares what was found during an independent forensic review.&#8221;
&#8220;My employer @DailyMail had a forensics team confirm the authenticity of the laptop YEARS ago &#8211; anyone with five braincells has known Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop is real,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/meghan-mccain">McCain</a> tweeted to her 800,000 followers.
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My employer <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyMail?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DailyMail</a> had a forensics team confirm the authenticity of the laptop YEARS ago &#8211; anyone with five braincells has known Hunter Biden&#39;s laptop is real. 
I&#39;m extremely confused why CBS is taking a victory lap or taking any kind of credit on this today &#8211; years late? <a href="https://t.co/UgKWTMXpDA">https://t.co/UgKWTMXpDA</a>
&mdash; Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) <a href="https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1594700645054955521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I&#8217;m extremely confused why CBS is taking a victory lap or taking any kind of credit on this today &#8211; years late?&#8221; she added.
OutKick&#8217;s Clay Travis tweeted to his one million followers, &#8220;Two years ago Donald Trump told CBS&#8217;s Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes the Hunter Biden laptop was real and should be covered by the media.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Two years ago Donald Trump told CBS’s Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes the Hunter Biden laptop was real and should be covered by the media. Stahl said it couldn’t be verified. Two years later <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cbsnews</a> has finally verified it. Trump was right. Again. <a href="https://t.co/o7a3cMQ4Jn">pic.twitter.com/o7a3cMQ4Jn</a>
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1594739678426587136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Stahl said it couldn&#8217;t be verified,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Two years later [CBS News] has finally verified it. Trump was right. Again.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Two years after anyone with a functional brain realized the Hunter Biden laptop was 100% real <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBSNews</a> has finally gotten around to reporting the Hunter Biden laptop is 100% real. <a href="https://t.co/zbOnJaaiEi">pic.twitter.com/zbOnJaaiEi</a>
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1594701364969590785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Two years after anyone with a functional brain realized the Hunter Biden laptop was 100% real @CBSNews has finally gotten around to reporting the Hunter Biden laptop is 100% real,&#8221; Travis continued in another tweet.
Conservative commentator Dan Bongino&#8217;s &#8220;Bongino Report&#8221; tweeted,  &#8220;CBS FINALLY Admits Hunter Biden Laptop Is Real.&#8221;
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CBS FINALLY Admits Hunter Biden Laptop Is Real<a href="https://t.co/LUu9CwCa3a">https://t.co/LUu9CwCa3a</a>
&mdash; Bongino Report (@BonginoReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BonginoReport/status/1594734865156829185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Journalist and podcaster Matt Taibbi wrote to his hundreds of thousands of followers, &#8220;CBS News today came out with a story about how Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop &#8216;appears genuine&#8217; &#8211; confirming what they ridiculed when the story first broke.&#8221;
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CBS News today came out with a story about how Hunter Biden’s laptop “appears genuine” &#8211; confirming what they ridiculed when the story first broke. Check out the video by <a href="https://twitter.com/0rf?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@0rf</a> below. <a href="https://t.co/gtl0KzDV9P">https://t.co/gtl0KzDV9P</a> <a href="https://t.co/gE90lAdp1A">https://t.co/gE90lAdp1A</a>
&mdash; Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) <a href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1594728816924041220?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Politicians even weighed in, with lawmakers like Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) tweeting, &#8220;@CBSNews is finally able to report Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop and its content is 100% real. After laughing off reports for two years, the mainstream media wants to claim a victory lap over their &#8216;independent review.&#8217; You cannot make this up.&#8221;
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBSNews</a> is finally able to report Hunter Biden&#39;s laptop and its content is 100% real. 
After laughing off reports for two years, the mainstream media wants to claim a victory lap over their “independent review.”
You cannot make this up.
&mdash; Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaBlackburn/status/1594726840601829378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2022</a></blockquote>
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CBS News is now reporting on what Democrats told you for two years was a, “conspiracy theory.” The Hunter Biden laptop is not Russian disinformation, it’s a real and very uncomfortable truth for the Biden White House.” <a href="https://t.co/JLD2XZPJMI">pic.twitter.com/JLD2XZPJMI</a>
&mdash; Wesley Hunt (@WesleyHuntTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesleyHuntTX/status/1594711990504947712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2022</a></blockquote>
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RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hunter-bidens-laptop-documents-at-least-459-legal-violations-watchdog-group-says">Hunter Biden&#8217;s Laptop Documents At Least 459 Legal Violations, Watchdog Group Says</a>

Meghan McCain 4-5-2

‘Anyone With Five Braincells’: Conservative Commentators Drag CBS For Taking A ‘Victory Lap’ On Hunter Biden Laptop Authenticity

Conservative Commentators Drag CBS For Taking A 'Victory Lap' On Hunter Biden Laptop Authenticity

Hunter Biden

laptop computer

Media

Meghan McCain

Conservatives reacted with joy after news broke Monday of Elon Musk&#8217;s dramatic, $44 billion takeover of Twitter, the powerful social media platform they have long accused of systematically silencing their voices.
The tech maven and world&#8217;s wealthiest man sealed the deal after an 11-day whirlwind that first saw resistance, then resignation from the San Francisco-based platform&#8217;s board of directors. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said all along he wanted to take Twitter, where he has 80 million followers, private so he could ensure it operates as a free-speech forum for all.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) tweeted simply, “Free speech is making a comeback.”
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Free speech is making a comeback. <a href="https://t.co/WMWZ4A4yHd">https://t.co/WMWZ4A4yHd</a>
&mdash; Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1518674710028034051?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Actor James Woods enthused, “I’ve never been a proponent of electric cars, nor do I ever wish to fly into space. That said, @elonmusk  is a hero. He proved that capitalism will crush socialism every time. #BravoElonMusk.”
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I’ve never been a proponent of electric cars, nor do I ever wish to fly into space. 
That said, <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a> is a hero. He proved that capitalism will crush socialism every time. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BravoElonMusk?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BravoElonMusk</a>
&mdash; James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1518781596127555585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Sports maven Clay Travis chimed in, “Elon Musk has officially purchased Twitter for $54.20 a share. Absolutely monstrous win for free speech on social media. Feast on the left wing blue check tears as they realize their rigged marketplace of ideas is dying. Glorious.”
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Elon Musk has officially purchased Twitter for $54.20 a share. Absolutely monstrous win for free speech on social media. Feast on the left wing blue check tears as they realize their rigged marketplace of ideas is dying. Glorious.
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1518667446516916224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Mathematics whiz and Thiel Capital exec Eric Weinstein cheered while pointing out, “I’m excited to see what happens next. Here’s to the future! But one request for @elonmusk: can you use Twitter Logs to show us how our communications were manipulated? Who was shaddowbanned or targeted by bots? How algorithms limited our reach? Why we were throttled?”
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I’m excited to see what happens next. Here’s to the future!
But one request for <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a>: can you use Twitter Logs to show us how our communications were manipulated? Who was shaddowbanned or targeted by bots? How algorithms limited our reach? Why we were throttled? Etc. 🙏 <a href="https://t.co/XWBN42JIHG">https://t.co/XWBN42JIHG</a>
&mdash; Eric Weinstein (@EricRWeinstein) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1518680900573138944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Rep. Dan Crenshaw succinctly predicted the leftist hysteria that would follow the news of Musk’s purchase: “Cue the meltdowns.”
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Cue the meltdowns
&mdash; Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1518666082562813957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) issued a shot series of tweets celebrating the day: “This is a great day to be conservative on Twitter. &#8230; Free speech is a foundation of American democracy. &#8230; Elon Musk buying Twitter terrifies the left because they don’t want their power to censor conservatives threatened.”
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This is a great day to be conservative on Twitter.
&mdash; Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaBlackburn/status/1518700148494323713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Free speech is a foundation of American democracy.
&mdash; Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaBlackburn/status/1518713378906198017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Elon Musk buying Twitter terrifies the left because they don’t want their power to censor conservatives threatened.
&mdash; Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaBlackburn/status/1518731602058264577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Mocking the leftist tilt at Twitter before Musk’s takeover, Hillel Neuer of UN Watch remarked sardonically, “I fear Elon Musk could undermine the ideological diversity, equity and inclusion at Twitter which currently maintains a careful balance of 98.7% for one side.”
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Source: Data from Open Secrets, a nonprofit political spending database by the Center for Responsive Politics, published in Vox, October 31, 2018. <a href="https://t.co/MCWTLCJJeC">https://t.co/MCWTLCJJeC</a>
&mdash; Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) <a href="https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/1518736589349916672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Twitter <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-releases-statement-after-taking-over-twitter/">acknowledged</a> Musk’s purchase by announcing, “&#8221;Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing of the proposed transaction. The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter&#8217;s closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter.”
Musk himself issued a statement after the news broke of his purchase, saying, “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

Elongraphic

‘Absolutely Monstrous Win For Free Speech’: Conservatives Cheer Musk Buying Twitter

Conservatives

Dan Crenshaw

Elon Musk

James Woods

Jim Jordan

Twitter

On Friday, sports commentator Clay Travis, who was banned from CNN after he said he “believed in the First Amendment and boobs,” roasted CNN for bringing back legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin after he had been caught masturbating on a Zoom call with colleagues from The New Yorker.
Travis tweeted, “CNN banned me from their network for saying I believed in the first amendment and boobs, but they just rehired a guy caught masturbating on a Zoom call and had him discuss it live on air.”
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CNN banned me from their network for saying I believed in the first amendment and boobs, but they just rehired a guy caught masturbating on a Zoom call and had him discuss it live on air. <a href="https://t.co/RqRVNjPu1o">pic.twitter.com/RqRVNjPu1o</a>
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1403336482627239937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2021</a></blockquote>
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On Thursday, Toobin, who took a leave of absence from CNN after the incident, which was first <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdgm4/new-yorker-suspends-jeffrey-toobin-for-zoom-dick-incident">reported</a> by Vice, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-welcomes-back-legal-analyst-who-left-after-masturbating-on-zoom-call">began his resurrection on CNN</a> by saying his actions were &#8220;inexplicable&#8221; to him, then admitted he &#8220;didn&#8217;t think people could see&#8221; him, saying: &#8220;Well, obviously, I wasn’t thinking very well or very much. And it was something that was inexplicable to me. I think, one point, I wouldn’t exactly say in my defense, because nothing is really in my defense; I didn’t think I was on the call. I didn’t think other people could see me.”
On September 15, 2017, Travis appeared on CNN with host Brooke Baldwin, where they discussed former President Trump targeting ESPN personality Jemele Hill, who had called Trump a white supremacist.
Baldwin stated, “Of all the different columnists or even magazines, in the wake of Charlottesville, specifically, that have called out the president as racist, why do you think he really took this particular target on, ESPN, and Jemele?”
“Well, I think because ESPN’s not really in the business of commenting randomly on political-related issues, Travis replied. “If you look at their history, they established about 18 months ago that they don’t believe their people should be involved in non-sports-related political controversies. They suspended and then fired Curt Schilling for saying that he disagreed with the North Carolina bathroom bill. And that had absolutely nothing to do with sports. And they said, “Look, you can’t have this opinion; it’s too conservative. We’re not going to allow it. I think that’s a bad move; I’m a first amendment absolutist. I believe in only two things completely: the First Amendment and boobs.”
He continued, “And so once they made the decision that they were not going to allow a conservative non-sports-related commentary, they couldn’t —
“Wait, did you just say you believe in the First Amendment and — Clay, hold on, hold on, hold on,” Baldwin interjected. “I just want to make sure I heard you correctly as a woman anchoring this show. Did you just say, what did you say? You said you believe in the First Amendment and b-double-o-bs?&#8221;
“Boobs. Two things that have only never let me down in this entire country’s history,” Travis reiterated. “The First Amendment and boobs. So those are the only two things I believe in absolutely in the country. So I don’t think Jemele Hill should be fired, but I do think straight up that once you make the decision that you were going to let Curt Schilling go that you have to also make the decision that you’re going to let Jemele Hill go. I think that’s a bad decision; I think that ESPN has made bad decisions that have led to 13 million subscribers bailing on the network. They’ve made bad decisions that have led to ratings collapsing; Jemele Hill’s television show is collapsing. Ratings were down 20% last week over last year; that’s why she’s angry. That’s why she went after Donald Trump. She’s begging for ESPN to fire her so she can work somewhere else.”
Later in the interview, Baldwin burst out, “Why would you even say that on national television and with a female host?”
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The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/15/clay-travis-used-his-first-amendment-and-boobs-line-long-before-he-shocked-cnn/">reported</a> the same day, “A CNN spokeswoman said Travis would not be invited back on the network&#8217;s air,” adding that Travis had used the line well before his CNN interview: “Travis <a href="https://www.outkickthecoverage.com/all-that-and-a-bag-of-mail-062615/">wrote</a> in June 2015 that ‘absolutism on either the right or the left is scary to me — which is why I’m a radical moderate — who believes in only two things absolutely: the First Amendment and boobs.’&#8221;

Politicon 2019 – Day 1

Clay Travis Rips CNN: Banned Me For Saying ‘Boobs’ But Welcomed Back ‘Guy Caught Masturbating On A Zoom Call’

Jeffrey Toobin

As the Deshaun Watson saga continues, a strange phenomenon is being played out — the story isn&#8217;t getting the coverage it deserves.  
Watson is accused of sexual assault or harassment by 22 separate women who&#8217;d allegedly been solicited for massages by the Houston Texans quarterback over the last two years. Two of the women, and there may soon be more, have identified themselves publicly and filed criminal charges against the NFL star. 
With such a high profile case, and with an athlete as famous as Watson, one would expect the media to be in a feeding frenzy. Morning shows and sports radio stations around the country should be leading with the story, right? Well, not really.
Apart from perfunctory updates when new details emerge, most major outlets have offered scant coverage, focusing their attention on other stories, despite the relative lack of news, with the NFL in the middle of their offseason.
Not only is the conversation surrounding the case muted, the NFL has also held off on disciplining the franchise quarterback. Watson has yet to be placed on the NFL’s commissioner&#8217;s exempt list, but based on past decisions handed down by the NFL, he should land on it soon. 
Clay Travis, founder of Outkick The Coverage and Fox Sports Radio Host, told The Daily Wire he believes there&#8217;s a deeper reason the Watson story has been covered the way it has, and that the quarterback won&#8217;t be playing anytime soon.
“I think the probability of him playing in 2021 is low,” Travis told The Daily Wire.  “It&#8217;s possible that he’s the NFL’s version of Bill Cosby or Jeffrey Epstein before all is said and done. The next shoe to drop, proverbially, is whether or not there’s going to be criminal charges brought. And there are now criminal investigations, potentially in multiple states, looking into whether Deshaun Watson can be potentially liable from a criminal perspective for sexual assault.”
&#8220;Right now, it’s all civil related but Nike, Beats By Dre, ATB Department stores… all of them have backed away from Deshaun Watson,&#8221; Travis continued. “I would be very surprised if he plays in 2021 and I think he’s approaching severe criminal legal peril as well which could throw into question whether he’s able to ever play football again. That’s what is at stake right now.”
Travis elaborated, saying he thinks identity politics has played an integral role in shaping coverage of the story.
“What I love, in terms of difficulty for those in sports media, is you have two different identity politics colliding which is why I think you have people not picking sides,” Travis told The Daily Wire. “You’ve got &#8216;Me Too,&#8217; with 22 different women. The majority of whom are minorities who are alleging this powerful, rich, fortunate quarterback took advantage of them.”
“And then you have the black quarterback who stands at the pyramid of victimization culture in the NFL and in college football in general, so you’re going to alienate one side of the identity politics equation. You go against the black quarterback or you go against the 22 women, the majority who are minority women, alleging sexual assault. So as a result, there’s an inability to discuss this case in a reasonable fashion.”
The NFL, and the media, seem hesitant to rush to judgment. The American justice system allows for those accused of crimes to have their day in court. “Innocent before proven guilty’ is one of the key pillars of our democracy after all. But in recent years, this pillar has been toppled. 
The “Me Too” movement changed everything. In many ways, it changed things for the better. It brought more awareness to sexual assault and the power that men of influence hold. 
However, it&#8217;s also blurred the lines between innocent and guilty. ‘Believe All Women” was a common phrase that came out of the movement. It immediately assumed men accused of sexual assault as guilty without giving them their day in court. The same cannot be said about the Watson case.  
The media and the NFL have painted themselves into a corner. In handing down a definitive judgment on Watson, they risk appearing to damage the image of &#8220;marginalized groups&#8221; in the context of sports. In refusing to condemn Watson, they&#8217;ll be going against all that the “Believe All Women” crowd stands for. 
“Which is why, under American justice, we need to treat everybody the same regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or politics,” Travis said. “And unfortunately we are not in that universe right now.”
The views expressed in this piece are the author&#8217;s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Houston Texans v New Orleans Saints

EXCLUSIVE: Clay Travis Says Identity Politics Is Reason For Lack Of Coverage In Deshaun Watson Sexual Assault Story

During her show this week, Candace Owens, host of Daily Wire’s “Candace,” talked with Outkick founder Clay Travis about the sports industry’s self-inflicted wounds from embracing the divisive “cancel America” sentiment.
After taking aim earlier in the show at the corrosive effects of the “cancel” mentality in American culture more generally, Owens kicked off her conversation with Travis by pointing to the sports figure who helped “mainstream” the idea of “the canceling of America.” Anyone trying to trace the current wave of anti-American sentiment in the sports industry, said the host, would inevitably point to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
“I think you&#8217;re right,” Travis replied. “In 2016, Colin Kaepernick took a knee. A lot of people forget Barack Obama was president of the United States at the time because people want to conflate it with Donald Trump. But in the pre-season game, after he had lost his starting job to Blaine Gabbert — San Francisco 49ers — he decided not to stand for the national anthem. And from there, it became in vogue to do that, and now it&#8217;s almost braver to stand for the national anthem than it is to kneel.”
The Kaepernick-sparked movement, Owens maintained, is increasingly robbing Americans of a crucial means of unplugging from the exhausting political sphere. “You just want to turn off politics. You want to turn off the weekly stress, and they can no longer do that,” she said of sports fans. 
Along with Kaepernick, the two talked about former New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees, playing clips of his initial strong stand against the anthem protests, in which he cited his grandfather’s role in fighting for freedom in World War II, followed by his “hostage video” apology in which he asked for forgiveness for criticizing the protests of the flag.
Partial transcript of the discussion below:  
TRAVIS: [W]hat I&#8217;ve always said is we need places in America where we&#8217;re all united and you don&#8217;t think about what might differentiate us, right? So if you&#8217;re in a stadium or you&#8217;re in an arena, if your team wins or your team scores, you turn around and high-five somebody. You don&#8217;t think about their race, their ethnicity, their religion, their sexuality, any of these identity politics buzzwords, you think about the fact that you share a team, you cut across tribal differences, and it brings you all together.
I heard you talking about Michael Jordan and the way that you felt in 1998, when he hit the jumper against the Utah Jazz — for Utah fans out there, he definitely pushed off by the way, before he hit the jumper — but he got away with it. But a good stat for you: In the most recent NBA finals, they averaged a little over 7 million people watching each of the games — LeBron James’ LA Lakers going up against the Miami Heat. When Jordan made that jumper, 37 million people were watching. 
Some people will say if people simply say, “Well, people won&#8217;t watch sports the same way.” No, no, no. Since 1998, when Jordan made that jumper, the NFL’s audience has gotten a lot bigger. The NBA&#8217;s has gone from nearly 37 million people to 7 million people. Where did those 30 million people go? Particularly when you consider the United States population has increased by 50 million since then. It’s crazy. 
OWENS: And you know, they were called racist and they were called white supremacists, and a lot of people just got sick of it and said, “You know what? This no longer makes me feel good. So why am I giving my money?” &#8230; You just want to turn off politics. You want to turn off the weekly stress, and they can no longer do that. And the argument that you hear on the Left, is that, “Okay, Well, you know what, Colin Kaepernick is just expressing himself and this is how the flag makes him feel and that should be okay.” But you realize that that argument kind of falls flat, because when people express themselves in the opposite direction. Case in point: Drew Brees. 
TRAVIS: Yes.
OWENS: When he made a very sound argument for standing for the national anthem, it didn&#8217;t garner the same reaction… [plays clip of Brees statement]
[BREES: I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/drew-brees-addresses-nfl-players-kneeling-in-2020-i-will-never-agree-with-anybody-disrespecting-the-flag-164423496.html">United States of America or our country</a>. Let me just tell you what I see or what I feel when the national anthem is played, and when I look at the flag of the United States. I envision my two grandfathers, who fought for this country during World War II, one in the Army and one in the Marine Corp. Both risking their lives to protect our country and to try to make our country and this world a better place. Every time I stand with my hand over my heart, looking at that flag, and singing the national anthem, that&#8217;s what I think about, and in many cases, it brings me to tears, thinking about all that has been sacrificed. Not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the &#8217;60s, and everyone, and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point. And is everything right with our country right now? No, it&#8217;s not. We still have a long way to go, but I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart, is it shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and that we are all part of the solution.]
TRAVIS: For an athlete, let’s be honest — he’s not a professional politician, he doesn&#8217;t speak for a living — that is as flawless, to me, of an answer about why you stand for the national Anthem as could be given. He got killed for it. 
OWENS: Yeah, why did he get killed for this? This actually sounded like a uniting message. He brought up the civil rights movement, he brought up his grandfather, he said “This is what the flag means to me,” and he was representative of how so many people in America feel because, don&#8217;t forget, their sons come back home overseas under that flag in coffins. You know, when we have the military men that are going overseas and actually sacrificing their lives so that we can enjoy these games, right? And yet they said, “No, this is not okay.”
TRAVIS: He had teammates, Candace, who posted videos on social media crying because of what you just heard Drew Brees say. 
OWENS: Oh with friends like that, who needs enemies? 
TRAVIS: That&#8217;s what I&#8217;m saying! I mean, because his own teammates threw him under the bus. And you were talking, I think so perceptively, about Colin Kaepernick. The question that I&#8217;ve asked, and I think is a fantastic one, and I think people will enjoy as well: If Colin Kaepernick had taken a knee while playing for the San Francisco 49ers to protest gay marriage being legal, they would have demanded that he not be able to play for the San Francisco 49ers anymore. So when people say they&#8217;re supporting his First Amendment rights — that&#8217;s not true. They are supporting First Amendment rights of someone saying something they agree with, right? 
Because regardless of what you think — I don&#8217;t care what you think about gay marriage or abortion or guns or any other hot button issue. If the National Anthem is playing and you take a stand because you disagree with something about America, during the Anthem, then you are distracting from the reason why people are there, which is to celebrate the sport. And the reason the Anthem plays, in my mind, is to make us all recognize and understand the perspective of how fortunate we all are to be able to show up and care so deeply about something that, in the grand scheme of things, doesn&#8217;t really matter that much, right? Like who wins a game? I want my team to win. You, when you play sports, you want your team to win. But at the end of the day, the freedoms that we all share is the reason why we get to care about things like this.
OWENS: Yeah, and so the NFL was happy to have Colin Kaepernick have his freedom of speech. They were not happy for Drew Brees to have his freedom of speech. 
TRAVIS: Think about how crazy that is! That’s as flawless as you can be!
OWENS: He had to come back and he had to apologize. [Plays clip.]
[BREES: I would like to apologize to my friends, teammates, the City of New Orleans, the black community, NFL community and anyone I hurt with my comments yesterday. In speaking with some of you, it breaks my heart to know the pain I have caused. In an attempt to talk about respect, unity, and solidarity centered around the American flag and the national anthem, I made comments that were insensitive and completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country. They lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy.]
OWENS: I picture somebody, like his PR agent just being like, “Read this script real quick.”
TRAVIS: It looks like a hostage video. 
OWENS: It is a hostage video. We are like a hostage. 
TRAVIS: We’re all hostage by the way, particularly in sports, right? &#8230;
OWENS: You know, it also sucks because you see him talking about the sacrifice that his grandparents made. 
TRAVIS: They fought Nazis, Candace! Not like people you call Nazis. Actual Nazis! 
OWENS: It would have been nice to see Drew Brees, you know, fight the actual fascists in this country who don&#8217;t want him to have freedom of speech. But he didn&#8217;t do that…

The Canceling Of America: Candace Owens, Clay Travis Go Off On Woke Sports 

Cancel Culture

Candace Owens

Clay Travis, a sports journalist who founded the popular website Outkick, said Friday that Facebook severely restricted traffic to his website last year after posting several articles positive of then-President Donald Trump.
Travis said the traffic throttling cost the website “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Travis said the ordeal began following an August 11, 2020 interview on his morning radio show “Outkick the Coverage” with Trump. The former president, Travis said, spent 25 minutes on the show and discussed a desire for college sports to return in the fall. After the interview, Outkick published several articles based on the comments from Trump, which painted the then-president in a positive light.
“Our site traffic soared that Tuesday, setting new records as our news-breaking interview with the president of the United States reverberated across the media world,” Travis <a href="https://www.outkick.com/clays-house-judiciary-testimony-on-big-tech-and-cancel-culture/">wrote</a> on Outkick. “But the next day — and for the next week — our site traffic crashed.”
Travis said Facebook “killed” the website’s traffic, removing 68% of its Facebook users and 76% of its new users. The loss of traffic at first cost tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue, but over the next month, that amount ballooned to hundreds of thousands of dollars, he wrote.
“According to our tech team, nothing in our posting schedule or article topics had changed at all. The only plausible explanation for Facebook’s sudden decision to restrict our traffic was the Trump interview. Because we’d featured favorable coverage of President Trump and his opinions on college football, Facebook punished us,” Travis wrote.
Travis further said he and the rest of Outkick haven’t discussed the issue previously because they worried Facebook would punish them for doing so, a fear common among websites that don’t adhere to progressive ideology.
Travis dismissed suggestions that the traffic loss was due to anything other then censorship. When the website tested a theory by posting articles with Joe Biden’s name in the headline, they witnessed no adverse change to Facebook traffic. Further, the idea that readers simply weren’t interested in the Trump stories is belied by the fact that internal metrics “proved that readers arriving from outside Facebook’s walls consumed these articles even more than they did other articles on the site.” The argument Facebook might make about its algorithms was also discounted by Travis, who reminded readers that those algorithms “are designed by humans, and the results are monitored.”
“If we wrote too often and too favorably about the president, Facebook punished our site. If we didn’t mention Trump very much, our site traffic grew. The power of Facebook was clear and their message was too: if you post content we don’t like, your audience will vanish,” Travis wrote.
He added that Outkick had to make a decision about whether to suppress stories to avoid losing money on Facebook.
“But it’s not just Facebook. This is the power of Big Tech writ large. We are living in a new gilded age, where tech billionaires — maybe soon to be trillionaires — have more power than any elected official in the land. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Apple’s Tim Cook, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have more power today than Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Ford ever did in the earliest days of the 20th century. These modern-day tech monopolists can pick presidential election winners, control our national debates, and decide whose voice is heard and whose voice is not heard. The Supreme Court no longer decides what the law of the First Amendment is in this country, these tech executives do. In practice, Big Tech controls the country,” Travis wrote. “And they control the country by deciding what you see.”
Travis on Friday testified before congress about Big Tech censorship, listing all the tech companies that booted Trump from their platforms. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who also testified, followed up Travis’ remarks by added that Big Tech and mainstream media outlets regularly label the truth as “misinformation,” as they did with the New York Post’s story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Clay Travis Says Facebook Crushed Traffic To His Website, OutKick, After Writing About Trump

Big Tech

Social Media Censorship

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what a cesspit Twitter has become. What was once a promising platform for the immediate dissemination of information has devolved into the preferred hangout for bullies, bots, trolls and mean girls. And if you’re conservative? Twitter boss Jack Dorsey has higher regard for the debris in his quarantine beard than he does for you. Instead of offering a free and open forum for varying opinions, he’s more than happy to de-platform or shadow ban those with whom he and his henchmen disagree. 
Twitter is still where news breaks — but it’s usually broken beyond recognition, irretrievably tainted by the bias of the messenger. Sports Twitter is no different. It’s where you’ll find the pro-China, anti-Trump musings of LeBron James, or the anti-cop, pro-cop killer ruminations of Colin Kaepernick — not to mention the historically illiterate reflections of sportswriters for whom leftism is truth and history began yesterday.
All that said, I haven’t given up on Twitter quite yet. There are pockets of sanity, decency, cleverness and common sense that are worth seeking out. There are still those using it for good rather than evil. 
So, now that I’ve thoroughly denounced and discredited the forum, let me present 10 sports figures who are worth following on the world’s worst social media platform (except for all the others). 
Jay Bilas (<a href="https://twitter.com/JayBilas">@JayBilas</a>)
Yes, he’s opinionated, but college basketball’s most intelligent analyst backs up his opinions in a reasoned, coherent fashion — not much flamethrowing, but a lot of common sense. Gets extra points for his frequent beclowning of the NCAA. His signature “I gotta go to work” tweets showcasing rapper and urban philosopher Young Jeezy are a morning source of inspiration. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Prеacher told me I need to live my lifе with grace. Lawyer wanted twenty before he even touched the case. I gotta go to work.
&mdash; Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) <a href="https://twitter.com/JayBilas/status/1330466135154810881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2020</a></blockquote>
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David Feherty (<a href="https://twitter.com/Fehertwit">@Fehertwit</a>)
Golf’s wittiest analyst has provided much of the soundtrack to the Tiger Woods era. His compelling personal story — he’s overcome addiction and mental illness — adds to his Twitter appeal. He’s also a tireless supporter of the troops defending his adopted home country. 
Kirk Herbstreit (<a href="https://twitter.com/KirkHerbstreit">@KirkHerbstreit</a>)
College football’s top analyst was basically run out of Columbus for not being an Ohio State homer, while simultaneously being accused of Buckeye homerism by OSU haters. A tough spot to be in, but one that Herbie has handled with aplomb by deftly refuting both sides. Plus, the guy just knows and loves college football.  
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Such a GREAT message for people to hear. Especially hope kids see this-feel like many kids feel such pressure to be perfect in all as aspects of their lives. It’s not realistic-being frustrated and more determined after a failure is a huge life lesson. Have a great weekend. <a href="https://t.co/N59VuXQqGv">https://t.co/N59VuXQqGv</a>
&mdash; Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) <a href="https://twitter.com/KirkHerbstreit/status/1324701722133045254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Chad Johnson (<a href="https://twitter.com/ochocinco">@ochocinco</a>)
His career as a social media influencer may have eclipsed his former career as a highly productive, if eccentric, wide receiver. That eccentricity only adds to his Twitter appeal, and he knows it. The erstwhile Chad Ochocinco may be the funniest athlete on Twitter.
Lane Kiffin (<a href="https://twitter.com/Lane_Kiffin">@Lane_Kiffin</a>)
The well-traveled, oft-reviled college football coach has used humor to ingratiate himself with college football fans, who are now more apt to forgive his professional and personal shortcomings thanks to his amusing Twitter presence, which proves that he’s in on the joke. Example: Fined $25,000 for criticizing the refs, Kiffin took to Twitter to try to figure out how many pennies it would take to pay the fine.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Where can I find 25,000 pennies??
&mdash; Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lane_Kiffin/status/1320904303838699520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Phil Mickelson (<a href="https://twitter.com/PhilMickelson">@PhilMIckelson</a>)
Lefty has the hang of this Twitter thing, using his 280 characters for humorous self-deprecation and witty observations. His posts far outshine the sanitized, sterile, corporate output of his rival, Tiger Woods.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Just when I think I’ve arrived ( I was the answer to tonight’s final Jeopardy question) I realize I still have a ways to go (they all got it wrong ):
&mdash; Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) <a href="https://twitter.com/PhilMickelson/status/1309674188534210560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Shaquille O’Neal (<a href="https://twitter.com/SHAQ">@SHAQ)</a>
Folk hero, pitchman nonpareil, and, as he puts it in his Twitter tagline, very quotatious. Shaq uses the platform to promote causes he supports and companies he does business with, but he does it with a light touch that belies his Paul Bunyan frame. 
Tim Tebow (<a href="https://twitter.com/TimTebow">@TimTebow</a>)
Decency hasn’t been entirely eradicated from Twitter. Exhibit A is Tim Tebow, who might just be the most encouraging presence on the internet. Just don’t dig through his mentions and replies, where the haters reveal themselves. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Sometimes it seems easier to just give up on people, or to shut down emotionally ourselves. This is just fear talking. 
God is bigger than our greatest fears.
&mdash; Tim Tebow (@TimTebow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimTebow/status/1330640839605882889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Clay Travis (<a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis">@ClayTravis</a>)
Whoever thought that a lawyer who voted twice for Obama could become the face of the counterculture center/right? With his partner Jason Whitlock, the “Outkick the Coverage” founder is a lonely but essential voice of reason in the monolithically leftist world of sports journalism. Travis’ stubborn pushback against the COVID fearmongers, whom he has dubbed “coronabros”, earns him extra points.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
There hasn’t been a single case of covid spreading from one team to another during a game in the entire world. Not one. Wearing masks during games is absolute idiocy. <a href="https://t.co/oqa7c4dAiS">https://t.co/oqa7c4dAiS</a>
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1329894178076168198?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Jose Canseco (<a href="https://twitter.com/JoseCanseco">@JoseCanseco</a>)
There’s a place for the insane in this world, and it’s on Twitter. Canseco is the entertaining kind of insane, covering topics ranging from vampirism to Bigfoot to aliens to steroids in sports. He’s a leftist of sorts, but he has enough disdain for both sides that we’ll allow it. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
all we need is a dollar from everyone in this country who wants change to finance my running for president
&mdash; Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoseCanseco/status/1269025007797071874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
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