In 2017, “Saturday Night Live” uncorked a riotous “‘Woke Jeans’ commercial” tied to the growing woke movement.
The clip proved an exception to the mainstream comedy rule. Woke was more or less off limits to “SNL,” Late-Night hosts, and film comedies, despite a dearth of material.
Insane cultural rules. Virtue-signaling politicians. Identity Politics gone wild. The comic possibilities seemed endless.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Levi&#039;s Wokes - SNL" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/adPXDTvADD0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Nothing to laugh about here. Move along. Only Comedy Central’s “South Park” regularly targeted the cultural scourge via PC Principal, trans athletes in women’s sports, and related gags.
Now, things are changing. It’s suddenly acceptable to mock the progressive overreach.
The new movie “Eddington” takes direct aim at woke, along with COVID-19 restrictions, conspiracy theorists and BLM sloganeering.
Director Ari Aster’s film isn’t one-sided or brimming with lectures. It takes us back to May 2020, a time when the George Floyd riots were raging across America and government rules made citizens mask up to stop the virus’ spread.
<div id="attachment_955565" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-955565" class="wp-image-955565 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-1024x576.jpg" alt="Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal in “Eddington” (2025) A24. Square Peg Productions. 828 Productions. IMDB." width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal in “Eddington” (2025) A24. Square Peg Productions. 828 Productions. IMDB.</div>
The story unfolds in a fictional small town in New Mexico, one about to be rocked by dueling social contagions.
It’s uncomfortable to watch and often hilarious, mocking both Alex Jones types and white teens desperate to be woke. The latter ape the progressive talking points of their big-city peers, desperate to fit in and appear cool.
Heck, one newly woke teen just wants to “get” with a pretty girl, and he’ll virtue all the signals he can to make that happen.
The film’s biggest laugh? A white teen explains his “privilege” to his parents, and his father snaps back at him.
“Are you a f***ing retard? You’re white.”
Aster’s films aren’t blockbusters, but his arthouse musings represent mainstream artistic values. And, yes, he went there. So much so that a New York Times <a href="https://x.com/matthewschmitz/status/1947120245329576009">film critic</a> literally <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/ny-times-eddington-director-mocking-blm/">cursed him out</a> for inserting those gags in his film.
<blockquote>“F*** you, Ari Aster. Really, seriously. It’s so easy to mock these things. People are still dying from COVID. We may no longer be living in a pandemic… I just don’t find it funny, and I find it really important for people to, I think white people should interrogate their f***Ing whiteness, and I think Ari Aster should start.”</blockquote>
Triggered.
<div id="attachment_955653" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-955653" class="size-large wp-image-955653" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2215538204-864x576.jpg" alt="CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 17: (L-R) Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal, Ari Aster, Joaquin Phoenix and Austin Butler pose during the &quot;Eddington&quot; photocall at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 17, 2025 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2215538204-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2215538204-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2215538204-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2215538204.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Andreas Rentz/Getty Images</div>
The recent horror-comedy “Ick” from provocateur Joseph Kahn also tees-off on woke overreach. The story follows another small town where calamity strikes. This time, the danger comes from a mysterious plant-like substance that goes from benign to deadly.
The menace allows Kahn to satirize American culture, conspiracy mongers (again) and that woke mind virus. Virtue signaling takes it on the chin, as do students talking like an unproduced Lena Dunham sitcom.
It’s far from flattering.
Those eager for a deeper dive into woke excess can read “The Sandersons Fail Manhattan.&#8221; Author Scott Johnston’s biting satire follows a rich New York family caught up in the city&#8217;s progressive mania. A fancy prep school is desperate to recruit its first trans student, while the story&#8217;s patriarch must learn if his colleague is gay enough to satisfy key DEI requirements.
<div id="attachment_955657" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sandersons-Fail-Manhattan-Novel/dp/1250384788"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-955657" class="size-large wp-image-955657" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-384x576.jpg" alt="Cover Credit: St. Martin's Press" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-12-42-PM-5680-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Cover Credit: St. Martin&#8217;s Press</div>
While “Eddington” and “Ick” take shots at woke, “Manhattan” is a full-on assault against Identity Politics and its cultural tendrils. No apologies.
Even comedians can shred woke pieties from major platforms without fear of reprisal and tell jokes that the woke mob deemed off limits.
Last year, the comedy roast format roared back to life with Netflix’s “tribute” to NFL great Tom Brady.
More recently, stand-up comic Shane Gillis proved that anew. Gillis, starring in Netflix’s rowdy comedy “Tires,” is a walking, talking testament to woke’s cultural decline. The comedian got hired, and promptly fired, by “SNL” for crude comments tied to Asian culture. Rather than fade into obscurity, Gillis went back to work, rebuilding his career.
His star rose so high that “SNL” invited him to host the program – twice – without censoring his rebellious streak.
<div id="attachment_955665" style="width: 835px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-955665" class="size-large wp-image-955665" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225471382-825x576.jpg" alt="HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - JULY 16: Shane Gillis speaks onstage during the 2025 ESPY Awards at Dolby Theatre on July 16, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)" width="825" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225471382-825x576.jpg 825w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225471382-300x209.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225471382-768x536.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225471382.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 825px) 100vw, 825px" />Kevin Winter/Getty Images</div>
More recently, he emceed the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shane-gillis-destroys-the-espys-and-wokeness">ESPY Awards</a>, mocking woke sacred cows like former soccer player Megan Rapinoe, a progressive scold synonymous with virtue signaling.
“Megan Rapinoe could not make it tonight … nice.”
A few media outlets grumbled about his “problematic” material. No Cancel Culture-style punishment ensued, nor was he forced to make a “hostage”-style apology.
Now, a rare voice eager to mock the woke mindset returns to do more of the same. “Beavis &amp; Butt-head” creator Mike Judge took an early swing at woke with his failed 2009 ABC sitcom “The Goode Family.” The show proved ahead of its time, teasing a hard-Left clan who strained to be better than, well, everyone.
Now, Judge is using his “King of the Hill” reboot to satirize gender fluidity, cultural appropriation and more on Hulu starting August 4.
Judge isn’t as merciless as Johnston, but his “Hill” gags give the game away. One episode finds wokesters attacking Bobby Hill, now a young man and overseeing a fusion restaurant. The menu in question sparks cries of cultural appropriation, leaving the Hill clan confused and upset.
The show finds a resolution, albeit one that illustrates the wobbly nature of woke criticism.
Has the pop culture dam finally broken on all things woke? The re-election of Donald Trump pushed the pendulum, hard, in that direction. We’re seeing the fruits of that shift now in pop culture.
More may follow.
And, if “SNL,” late-night TV and mainstream comedies continue to avoid these juicy targets, their cultural clout will diminish even further. Just <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nyc-were-with-colbert-rally-draws-tens-of-people-even-cops-go-home">ask Stephen Colbert how that works</a>.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-01-Aug-2025-11-14-AM-5738

Triggered Yet? Pop Culture’s Woke Takedown Has Begun

Triggered Yet? Pop Culture's Woke Takedown Has Begun

Books

COVID

Entertainment

Film

Film Reviews

Hollywood

Movies

Saturday Night Live

Woke Culture

Omar Fateh, the Somalian American democratic socialist running for mayor of Minneapolis, once went to bat for the fraudsters behind a $250 million scam that involved stealing from a government child nutrition program during the COVID pandemic.
Later, when the infamous Feeding Our Future scam in Minnesota was exposed, Fateh returned $11,000 in campaign donations that he received from donors tied to the scam.
Fateh is now running for Minneapolis mayor, and earlier this month, he rocketed to the top of the race when the city&#8217;s local Democratic Party <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meet-omar-fateh-the-radical-somali-american-democratic-socialist-running-for-minneapolis-mayor?author=Mairead+Elordi&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Meet+Omar+Fateh%2C+The+Radical+Somali+American+Socialist+Poised+To+Be+The+Next+Mayor+Of+Minneapolis">endorsed</a> him.
Feeding Our Future was a key player in the massive fraud scheme — the nonprofit distributed federal money meant for low-income children to groups running fake meal distribution sites, who, in turn, gave Feeding Our Future kickbacks, prosecutors <a href="https://alphanews.org/several-dfl-donors-charged-in-free-food-fraud/#:~:text=ImageLiban%20Yasin%20Alishire%2C%20right%2C%20pictured,Omar%20Fateh%2C%20center">said</a>.
Fateh <a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/04/16/feeding-our-futures-political-connections-should-serve-as-a-warning-to-the-dfl/">fought</a> for Feeding Our Future when Minnesota moved to pause the group&#8217;s funding, saying it didn&#8217;t keep records properly.
In June 2021, Fateh attended an event with Feeding Our Future celebrating the group&#8217;s legal victory over the state on the funding freeze.
&#8220;I want to thank also Aimee and her team, Feeding Our Future for making this first court victory a reality,&#8221; Fateh <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmxJzMmFjg4&amp;t=95s">said</a> at the event.
Aimee Bock, the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/federal-jury-finds-feeding-our-future-mastermind-and-co-defendant-guilty-250-million">ringleader</a> of the fraud scheme, was <a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/03/19/aimee-bock-and-said-salim-guilty-on-all-counts-in-feeding-our-future-trial/">found</a> guilty earlier this year on all charges related to the scam, including wire fraud, conspiracy, and bribery.
Fateh also said at the event that he had met with state officials and confronted them about the funding.
&#8220;In that meeting, we were asking what was going on, and we asked very directly, was there any evidence of fraud? Was there any concerns or suspicions?&#8221; Fateh told the audience. &#8220;And they told us that there was zero evidence. Nothing was there. So to us, that was immoral, what was going on.&#8221;
A staffer from Rep. Ilhan Omar&#8217;s office also spoke at that event and said that Feeding Our Future &#8220;sticks to the truth, and the truth wins.&#8221;
At one point, Fateh <a href="https://alphanews.org/several-dfl-donors-charged-in-free-food-fraud/#:~:text=ImageLiban%20Yasin%20Alishire%2C%20right%2C%20pictured,Omar%20Fateh%2C%20center">was</a> also photographed with one of the scammers, Liban Yasin Alishire.
Alishire operated a fake food site that falsely claimed to serve 800,000 meals to low-income children between February and October 2021, according to the indictment against him. He also created a shell company that he used to buy a luxury <a href="https://alphanews.org/several-dfl-donors-charged-in-free-food-fraud/#:~:text=ImageLiban%20Yasin%20Alishire%2C%20right%2C%20pictured,Omar%20Fateh%2C%20center">resort</a> in Kenya with the stolen taxpayer dollars.
Alishire ultimately <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/brooklyn-park-man-pleads-guilty-his-role-250-million-feeding-our-future-fraud-scheme">pled</a> guilty to fraud, with prosecutors saying he pocketed $712,084 in stolen taxpayer dollars.
The next year, Fateh condemned the fraud.
“In 2021, I supported the USDA programs that were allegedly stolen from,” Fateh <a href="https://sahanjournal.com/democracy-politics/omar-fateh-feeding-our-future-campaign-contributions/">said</a> in a statement in 2022. “Providing free nutritious meals to kids in urban food deserts is something the state is morally obligated to do. Getting rich by exploiting those same children and using them as cover is the opposite of what I stand for, what the people elected me for.”
Fateh also <a href="https://sahanjournal.com/democracy-politics/omar-fateh-feeding-our-future-campaign-contributions/">returned</a> $11,000 in campaign donations, a total of 11 donations, seven of which came from people specifically named in search warrants related to the scam. The donations were made in the summer of 2021 when the scam was in full swing.
Fateh has radical <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meet-omar-fateh-the-radical-somali-american-democratic-socialist-running-for-minneapolis-mayor?author=Mairead+Elordi&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Meet+Omar+Fateh%2C+The+Radical+Somali+American+Socialist+Poised+To+Be+The+Next+Mayor+Of+Minneapolis">goals</a> for Minneapolis, including making it the “last line of defense” against Donald Trump and a “safe haven” for transgender surgeries.
The state senator, 35, is running on an uber-progressive <a href="https://www.fatehformayor.com/vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">platform</a> that includes cracking down on the police, getting “economic justice” for LGBT and minorities, and keeping Minneapolis a sanctuary for not just illegal migrants, but also for abortions and transgender drugs and surgeries, all while spending lots of taxpayer dollars.

Screenshot 2025-07-28 at 11.40.12 AM

Somali Socialist Running For Minneapolis Mayor Defended Fraudsters Who Stole Food From Poor Kids

Elections

Minneapolis

Minnesota

Omar Fateh

Politics

Rally at the capitol to raise awareness of the human rights violations in Somalia

How Minneapolis Turned Into Somalia

Fraud

Matt Walsh

Mayor

Opinion

Somalia

In 2020, as state authorities across the country were closing down churches and dictating worship practices — No singing! No more than fifty people! — my editor at a Christian magazine offered me an assignment. Would I interview renowned preacher John MacArthur, who at that time was making national headlines for opposing California Governor Gavin Newsom’s shutdown orders?
I could not have said &#8220;yes&#8221; faster.
My editor was unaware, but from the time I became a Christian some 20 years earlier, no public figure’s work had meant more to my life. No ministry had shaped me in greater ways than his international radio and podcast ministry, Grace to You. Like millions of other Christians around the world, his daily teachings had been the backdrop of mundane domestic tasks, long car rides, and sleepless nights. His books were the first resources I turned to when dealing with a crisis or trial. When I received a Stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis, his messages on suffering and prayer played through the wee hours, comforting me until I could catch a few hours of rest. When he sent me a message of personal encouragement, I told him that someday, it would be like showing my grandchildren a note I’d received from Charles Spurgeon. I laughed as I said it, but I wasn’t really joking.
They say you should never meet your heroes, the idea being that it will lead to inevitable disillusionment. I had the opposite experience with John MacArthur.
As we continued to correspond, my estimation of him grew deeper and richer. The man I spoke to privately was the same man whose public ministry I had followed so closely for so many years. His concern was always for faithful application of Scripture to any situation. And for souls. After I took a job with a conservative media company, every call I had with him included his urging me on to love and good works, especially to act as a Christian witness to any unbelieving coworkers and friends around me.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-tribute-to-john-macarthur-a-lion-who-was-my-friend?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Ben+Shapiro&amp;category=Opinion&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=A+Tribute+To+John+MacArthur%2C+A+Lion+Who+Was+My+Friend">BEN SHAPIRO: A Tribute To John MacArthur, A Lion Who Was My Friend</a>
Whether in debates on The Larry King Show or preaching from his pulpit, he never watered down the truth of Scripture to appeal to a general audience. His adherence to sound doctrine never wavered, and he never showed an ounce of reticence to preach the Word, clearly and plainly. Even in the bright glare of the secular media, he never equivocated on issues that are biblically true, but culturally unpopular.
So his staunch opposition to a government that thought it could claim jurisdiction over the practices of the church was no surprise. Nor was the open letter he wrote to Newsom, calling him to repentance.
Now, at his death at age 86, I cannot help but feel we have seen the last of the great lions pass out of the world. But I know, as Pastor John would’ve taught me, that the Lord does not leave himself without a witness. And He will raise up more teachers like Johnny Mac, as his dear friend, the great theologian R.C. Sproul, another of the great lions, used to call him.
On that note, I smile now to imagine the two of them reunited, their races now complete.
I thank the Lord for MacArthur’s legacy and that he now has the full joy of his salvation. And I live in the reassurance that, due in large part to his ministry, I will one day hear the words he is surely hearing now: well done, good and faithful servant.

John MacArthur

The Great Lion Enters Into His Rest

Christianity

Church

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Monday that he’s gutting the panel that advises on vaccination safety and efficacy, arguing that it’s another step toward restoring public trust.
Kennedy, whose department has already made <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cdc-stops-pushing-covid-shots-for-healthy-pregnant-women-children-common-sense">several moves</a> to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hhs-investing-500-million-to-develop-universal-vaccines?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=HHS+Investing+%24500+Million+To+Develop+Universal+Vaccines">shake up</a> vaccination research and recommendations, said he’s “retiring” all 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, known as ACIP.
“Today, we are taking a bold step in restoring public trust by totally reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP),” RFK <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/rfk-jr-hhs-moves-to-restore-public-trust-in-vaccines-45495112" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. “We are retiring the 17 current members of the committee, some of whom were last-minute appointees of the Biden administration.”
Kennedy said he had to remove these panel members or the Trump administration wouldn&#8217;t be able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028.
RFK Jr. suggested the panel effectively works as a rubber-stamp and is plagued with conflicts of interest.
ACIP, he highlighted, has never recommended against a vaccination it’s been asked to advise on, even vaccines that were later withdrawn for safety reasons. “It has failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women,” he wrote.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/gift/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=wisepops&amp;utm_campaign=dad&amp;utm_content=fathersdaygiftpopups" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gift Dad an All Access Membership. Use code DAD40 at checkout to save 40%!</a>
“To make matters worse, the groups that inform ACIP meet behind closed doors, violating the legal and ethical principle of transparency crucial to maintaining public trust,” RFK said.
Kennedy cited a 2000 investigation that found enforcement of ACIP conflict-of-interest rules were “weak to nonexistent.”
“Committee members regularly participated in deliberations and advocated products in which they had a financial stake,” he wrote. “The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) issued conflict-of-interest waivers to every committee member.”
Citing a 2009 HHS inspector general report, Kennedy added that not all committee members completed full conflict-of-interest forms, and of the ones who did, it was found that 97% of the forms had omissions. Additionally, the CDC – which is the agency ACIP passes along its recommendations to – “took no significant action to remedy the omissions.”
“The public must know that unbiased science guides the recommendations from our health agencies,” Kennedy said. “This will ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible.&#8221;
As previously reported by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hhs-investing-500-million-to-develop-universal-vaccines?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=HHS+Investing+%24500+Million+To+Develop+Universal+Vaccines" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a>, HHS, under Kennedy&#8217;s leadership, is investing half a billion dollars into a project that seeks to develop universal vaccinations for numerous viruses, called &#8220;Generation Gold Standard.&#8221;
Moreover, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kennedys-cdc-to-reportedly-study-potential-link-between-vaccines-and-autism?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Kennedy’s+CDC+To+Reportedly+Study+Potential+Link+Between+Vaccines+And+Autism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC is studying the sharp rise in autism rates</a>, which reportedly includes research on whether there&#8217;s any link between vaccinations and the rise in autism.
And, last month, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cdc-stops-pushing-covid-shots-for-healthy-pregnant-women-children-common-sense">CDC rescinded guidance</a> that pregnant women and children should receive a vaccine against COVID. “I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that, as of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule,” RFK said at the time.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cdc-stops-pushing-covid-shots-for-healthy-pregnant-women-children-common-sense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CDC Stops Pushing COVID Shots For Healthy Pregnant Women, Children: ‘Common Sense’</a>

RFK Jr

RFK Jr. Guts CDC Vaccine Panel, ‘Retiring’ All 17 Members

Health

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

U.S.

Vaccines

Former New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would focus his attention on fighting the Trump administration and spend &#8220;eight years in Washington&#8221; if he wins his election for mayor of New York City.
In a piece published by <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/03/cuomo-reportedly-under-probe-by-trumps-doj-wants-to-organize-dems-nationally-00381794">POLITICO</a> on Tuesday, Cuomo, 67, revealed his strategy to use the mayoral office to push back against Trump&#8217;s policies and campaign for Democrats to retake the House. Cuomo, who resigned from his position as governor over allegations that he sexually harassed numerous women, is being <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/justice-department-probe-takes-aim-at-andrew-cuomo-amid-his-nyc-mayoral-bid">investigated</a> by the Department of Justice for allegedly lying to Congress over a report that covered up the number of COVID deaths at nursing homes during the pandemic.
Asked how he would &#8220;handle working with the president while potentially under criminal investigation,&#8221; Cuomo replied, “I would spend eight years in Washington — go to that U.S. Conference of Mayors, go to the National Governors Association. [Trump&#8217;s] cutting Medicaid. Medicaid is not a blue-city, blue-state situation. That is in every state. That is a lot of red Congressional districts. And he could lose the House on cutting Medicaid if you organized it and got it moving.”
“You’re going to have to be a spokesperson, advocate, organizer,” he added. “This is what Medicaid means in Mississippi, this is what Medicaid means in Texas. … And you organize that, they don’t have a lot of Congressional seats left to lose.”
Trump, whose second term in office will end in less than four years, has <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-medicaid-were-not-touching-anything">promised</a> that Republicans are &#8220;not touching anything&#8221; when it comes to Medicaid benefits, adding, &#8220;All I want is one thing. Three words. We don&#8217;t want any waste, fraud or abuse. Very simple — waste, fraud, abuse.&#8221;
Cuomo has also faced scrutiny over an order he issued as governor in 2020 requiring New York nursing homes to accept patients even if they tested positive for COVID. In the interview with POLITICO, Cuomo described the DOJ investigation as &#8220;laughable&#8221; and &#8220;purely political nonsense.&#8221;
According to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), there is “overwhelming evidence” that Cuomo knew about an audit that undercounted COVID nursing home deaths in New York by 46%. A report from New York Attorney General Letitia James also found that Cuomo&#8217;s nursing home policy &#8220;requiring nursing homes to take in patients from hospitals who had COVID-19 and were stable enough to be discharged had likely contributed to the loss of life,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/cuomo-undercounted-nursing-home-deaths-by-as-much-as-50-report-finds">ProPublica</a>.
Cuomo initially claimed that he was not involved in the report that undercounted COVID nursing home deaths, but now he says that he doesn&#8217;t recall reviewing the report, according to POLITICO.
“My thing is, I don’t recall. There’s no incorrect statement in, I don’t recall,” he said.
The former New York governor is currently leading in the polls to replace incumbent NYC Mayor Eric Adams, a registered Democrat running as an independent this election cycle, but Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is receiving <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nycs-mayoral-race-takes-sharp-turn-putting-muslim-socialist-neck-and-neck-with-cuomo">surging</a> support and cutting Cuomo&#8217;s lead in the Democratic primary, according to a PIX11/Emerson College poll released last week.
In the poll, Cuomo stands at 54.4% to Mamdani&#8217;s 45.6%, a massive swing from late March when Cuomo was ahead 38% to 10%.

Andrew Cuomo

Cuomo Says He’ll Spend ‘Eight Years In Washington’ Fighting Trump If He Wins NYC Mayor’s Race

Department of Justice

Donald Trump

Medicaid

New York

New York City

Trump Administration

Washington D.C.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has rescinded guidance that pregnant women and children should receive a vaccine against COVID.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced the change in guidance on Tuesday. Kennedy in a video statement was flanked by National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary.
“I couldn&#8217;t be more pleased to announce that, as of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy then slammed the Biden administration for pushing COVID shots and boosters on healthy children “despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children.”
Bhattacharya jumped in: “That ends today. It&#8217;s common sense and it&#8217;s good science.”
Makary added: “There&#8217;s no evidence healthy kids need it today, and most countries have stopped recommending it for children.”
“We&#8217;re now one step closer to realizing President Trump&#8217;s promise to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’”  Kennedy finished.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from <a href="https://twitter.com/CDCgov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CDCgov</a> recommended immunization schedule. Bottom line: it’s common sense and it’s good science. We are now one step closer to realizing <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>’s promise to Make America Healthy Again. <a href="https://t.co/Ytch2afCLP">pic.twitter.com/Ytch2afCLP</a>
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy/status/1927368440811008138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
The announcement follows the release of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bombshell-biden-admin-covered-up-adverse-covid-vaccine-reactions-including-myocarditis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> earlier this month from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on the potentially deadly side effects associated with COVID vaccines and the Biden administration’s lack of action to notify the American people.
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The report is titled: “Failure to Warn: How Federal Health Agencies Downplayed the Risk of Myocarditis and Other Adverse Events Following COVID-19 Vaccination.” The investigation into the Biden administration’s handling of COVID vaccines found that officials “knew about the risks of myocarditis,” “downplayed the health concern,” and deliberately “delayed informing the public about the risk.”
Committee chair Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said that the Biden administration covered up vaccine side effects to prevent “vaccine hesitancy,” but “in being concerned about that, they violated the inviolable principle of informed consent.”
Amanda Prestigiacomo contributed to this report.

CDC Stops Pushing COVID Shots For Healthy Pregnant Women, Children: ‘Common Sense’

COVID-19 Vaccine

Jay Bhattacharya

The Biden administration was aware of potentially deadly side effects associated with COVID vaccines and chose not to alert the public about the risks for months, according to a bombshell Senate report obtained by The Daily Wire.
According to the report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, officials knew as early as February 2021 that the vaccines were associated with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the thin sac surrounding the heart). Still, they waited to warn the public until June as they pushed the vaccine on Americans. 
The report concludes that U.S. health officials &#8220;knew about the risks of myocarditis,&#8221; &#8220;downplayed the health concern,&#8221; and deliberately &#8220;delayed informing the public about the risk.&#8221;
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who chairs the committee and will lead a hearing on it later this afternoon, told The Daily Wire that Biden officials delayed reporting the side effects because they were concerned about &#8220;vaccine hesitancy.&#8221; 
&#8220;But in being concerned about that, they violated the inviolable principle of informed consent,&#8221; Johnson said.
READ THE FULL REPORT:
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&nbsp;
&#8220;The federal government was very well aware of the myocarditis signal, particularly in young men, as early as February [2021],&#8221; Johnson told The Daily Wire, adding that Israeli officials were informing the United States about side effects they were noticing.
In late February, a CDC official named Lauri Markowitz, who co-led the Vaccine Safety Technical Work Group (VaST), sent an email concerning the “draft minutes and summary report from the VaST call this week” and stressed that “all VaST documents and communications are confidential.”
According to that email, the call included an update about nearly 1,000 death reports to VAERS following vaccination. Notably, the email said that in the cases where cause of death was “known,” it was “often cardiovascular”:
<blockquote>There have been 19536 VAERS reports (Moderna: 7092 PfizerBioNTech: 12444), including 1287 reports of COVID-19 disease after vaccination and 980 death reports to VAERS. Of the death reports, 470 were from long term care facilities. Where known, the cause of death was often cardiovascular.</blockquote>
Israel rolled out vaccinations quicker than the United States, so Israeli health officials saw adverse effects sooner.
The report states that the Israeli Ministry of Health notified Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials of “large reports of myocarditis, particularly in young people, following the administration of the Pfizer vaccine.”
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Johnson said the report — &#8220;Failure to Warn: How Federal Health Agencies Downplayed the Risk of Myocarditis and Other Adverse Events Following COVID-19 Vaccination&#8221; — documents this apparent cover up in over 2,400 pages of attachments, which largely derive from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
&#8220;For a number of months, they were talking about these things. At some point in time, they actually internally said, &#8216;Is there a signal of myocarditis, a safety signal?&#8217; And the answer was &#8216;Yes,'&#8221; Johnson explained. &#8220;And yet, a couple of days later, they decided not to issue a warning on the Health Alert Network (HAN).&#8221;
&#8220;Rather than provide informed consent, the federal health agencies, the Biden administration, covered it up,&#8221; Johnson charged. &#8220;They downplayed the signals.&#8221;
The report notes that the Biden White House &#8220;distribut[ed] talking points to top U.S. health officials,&#8221; including National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, downplaying the risk of myocarditis:
<blockquote>Rather than provide the public and health care providers with immediate and transparent information regarding the risk of myocarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration waited until late June 2021 to announce changes to the labels for the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines based on the “suggested increased risks” of myocarditis and pericarditis. Even though CDC and FDA officials were well aware of the risk of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration opted to withhold issuing a formal warning to the public for months about the safety concerns, jeopardizing the health of young Americans. </blockquote>
An executive summary of the report notes that Johnson&#8217;s committee was effectively stonewalled by the Biden administration when requesting documents, seeking transparency. Under the Trump administration, that changed.
&#8220;Now, under a new administration and a new HHS secretary, HHS is beginning to produce records, pursuant to the chairman’s subpoena, that should have been provided years ago, without redactions, to Congress and the public,&#8221; the report said.

President Biden Receives His Updated Covid-19 Booster Vaccine

BOMBSHELL: Report Lays Out How Biden Covered Up Deadly Side-Effects Of COVID Vaccine

Bombshell: Biden Admin Covered Up Adverse COVID Vaccine Reactions, Including Myocarditis

Anthony Fauci

COVID-19

Joe Biden

Ron Johnson

Vaccine Mandate

On Thursday, the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee announced that it received bombshell evidence that suggested Pfizer executives pushed to delay full testing for their company&#8217;s COVID vaccine until after the 2020 election.
British drugmaker GSK informed the panel that Philip Dormitzer, a former Pfizer executive who became a senior scientist at GSK, told colleagues at GSK that &#8220;in late 2020, the three most senior people in Pfizer R&amp;D were involved in a decision to deliberately slow down clinical testing so that it would not be complete prior to the results of the presidential election that year.&#8221;
The Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), said that it had sought information from GSK after The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/health/pharma/pfizer-covid-vaccine-2020-election-probe-2f3ec247" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in March that U.S. prosecutors were looking into a tip from the company that came in &#8220;soon&#8221; after President Donald Trump won a second term in 2024.
The Journal noted that Trump, who lost to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential contest, &#8220;for years has claimed that Pfizer sat on the positive results of clinical trials, which could have reflected well on his management of the pandemic and reassured voters as they headed to the polls. There has never been evidence to support the accusation, and the development of the Covid vaccines is widely viewed as a medical miracle, coming faster than any other vaccine in history.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
:rotating_light: HUGE :rotating_light:
New Information Suggests Senior Pfizer Executives Conspired to Delay COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Testing to Influence 2020 Election.
One exec was so scared about this being investigated that he asked to be relocated to Canada!
MASSIVE SCANDAL uncovered by <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Jim_Jordan</a>. <a href="https://t.co/pZKLAz1Wmx">pic.twitter.com/pZKLAz1Wmx</a>
— House Judiciary GOP :us::us::us: (@JudiciaryGOP) <a href="https://twitter.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1923046327136485732?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
As relayed by the Judiciary Committee, GSK responded to the panel&#8217;s inquiry in mid-April. In another part of the reply given to congressional investigators, GSK said Dormitzer had requested a transfer over concerns about what the new Trump administration might do to him.
&#8220;In November 2024, shortly after the election, Dr. Dormitzer approached a representative from the GSK human resources team to speak about a potential relocation abroad. As the human resources representative recalls, in their meeting, Dr. Dormitzer was visibly upset; he requested that he be relocated to Canada due to concerns that he could be investigated by the incoming Trump Administration over his role in developing Pfizer&#8217;s COVID-19 vaccine,&#8221; GSK said. &#8220;According to the human resources representative, when asked what prompted his request, Dr. Dormitzer made a comment to the effect of: &#8216;Let&#8217;s just say it wasn&#8217;t a coincidence, the timing of the vaccine.'&#8221;
The Journal reported in March that GSK and Pfizer, who are rivals in the pharmaceutical industry, have sued each other over patent rights tied to vaccines.
Dormitzer, who has since left GSK, provided a statement to the newspaper.
&#8220;My Pfizer colleagues and I did everything we could to get the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization at the very first possible moment,&#8221; Dormitzer said. &#8220;Any other interpretation of my comments about the pace of the vaccine’s development would be incorrect.&#8221;
The House panel sent a <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2025-05-15-jdj-to-dormitzer-re-vaccine-delay.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to Dormitzer requesting documents and a transcribed interview by May 29. Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla was the recipient of another <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2025-05-15-jdj-to-pfizer-re-vaccine-delay.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> that sought records by the same date.
In response to a request for comment, a Pfizer representative told The Daily Wire that the company received the letter asking about the allegations in the Wall Street Journal report and &#8220;will respond directly&#8221; to the House Judiciary Committee.
Pfizer also provided a statement that said: &#8220;The COVID-19 vaccine development process was driven by science and guided by the U.S. FDA back in 2020. We have consistently and transparently reiterated the facts and the timeline of the tireless work of scientists, regulators, and thousands of clinical trial volunteers who made the vaccine possible. Theories to the contrary are simply untrue and being manufactured.&#8221;
The Judiciary Committee emphasized that it is &#8220;unclear which Pfizer R&amp;D employees were involved with Dr. Dormitzer in the decision to delay the clinical testing,&#8221; but did note that he &#8220;represented to GSK that Pfizer&#8217;s CEO was not aware of the delay.&#8221;
A GSK spokesperson declined to comment.
Jordan (R-OH), a close ally to Trump, <a href="https://x.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1923046662139785572" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X in response to the information obtained by his panel: &#8220;Did Pfizer executives conspire to delay COVID-19 vaccine testing to influence the 2020 election? Based on our oversight, it sure looks like it.&#8221;

Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19

Pfizer May Have Plotted To Delay COVID Vaccine Until After 2020 Election, Congress Says

2020 Election

Congress

House Judiciary Committee

Jim Jordan

Pfizer

U.S. House of Representatives

President Donald Trump took action on Monday to stop federal money going toward gain-of-function research, a controversial practice linked to the COVID origins debate, in China and other countries.
The move came in the form of an executive order, which Trump showed off in the Oval Office of the White House, with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya, and others in attendance.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a big deal,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;It could have been that we wouldn&#8217;t have had the problem we had if we had this done earlier,&#8221; he continued, alluding to the COVID pandemic, which began during Trump&#8217;s first term.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨 BREAKING: <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> just signed an executive order protecting Americans from dangerous gain-of-function research.
The order:
— Ends any present and all future Federal funding of dangerous gain-of-function research in countries of concern like China and Iran and in foreign… <a href="https://t.co/4Cn7iQ4i3L">pic.twitter.com/4Cn7iQ4i3L</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919497045204992144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/improving-the-safety-and-security-of-biological-research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> halts federal funding for &#8220;dangerous&#8221; gain-of-function research conducted in China — which is believed to be ground zero for the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019 that led to millions of deaths and various lockdowns around the world — and other foreign countries with &#8220;insufficient&#8221; levels of oversight, citing risks to public health and national security.
Gain-of-function research — in which viruses are enhanced by scientists, often to study potential treatments or prepare for future outbreaks — has become a major focus of the lab leak theory <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cia-assesses-chinese-lab-leak-responsible-for-coronavirus-pandemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increasingly</a> favored by U.S. agencies.
Last year, the federal government <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hhs-moves-to-defund-ecohealth-alliance-says-action-needed-to-protect-the-public-interest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspended</a> funds to EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S.-based nonprofit group that was receiving <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/health/ecohealth-alliance-peter-daszak-nih-grants.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millions</a> of dollars in grant money as it faced intense scrutiny for its collaboration with a lab in Wuhan, China, suspected in the COVID outbreak.
Dr. Anthony Fauci denied under oath that NIH funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan, but he did not convince Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who accused the longtime health official of lying to Congress with a criminal <a href="https://x.com/RandPaul/status/1685370259451109376" target="_blank" rel="noopener">referral</a> to the Department of Justice.
While President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-issues-last-minute-pardons-for-fauci-mark-milley-and-jan-6-committee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> Fauci a preemptive pardon before leaving office, the Trump administration may yet have more to say on the matter. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-reveals-when-her-team-will-pinpoint-exact-moment-of-covid-lab-leak" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> her team is working with Bhattacharya and hoped to release information &#8220;very soon&#8221; on gain-of-function and the COVID outbreak.
Trump&#8217;s executive order also mandates stricter oversight, transparency, and enforcement mechanisms for federally funded life-science research, while demanding frameworks for regulating non-federally funded research and nucleic acid synthesis to prevent misuse.
&#8220;Anthony Fauci essentially restarted the bio-weapons arms race and did it under the pretention [sic] of developing vaccines — eventually moving his experiments offshore, mainly to the Wuhan Lab,&#8221; Kennedy <a href="https://x.com/SecKennedy/status/1919543281349734858" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;[The president] today moved to shut down this kind of research in this country and to stop funding it abroad.&#8221;

President Trump Signs Executive Orders

Trump Signs Order To Cut Funds For Gain-Of-Function Research

China

Executive

Science

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday called for the United States to stop funding gain-of-function research at biolabs around the world.
Gabbard made the comments during an interview with podcast host Megyn Kelly, as they discussed the likelihood that the United States directly funded the research that led to the creation of COVID-19 and the state of the ongoing probe into the lab leak that released the virus. It is now widely accepted by American officials that a lab leak stemming from gain-of-function research triggered the 2020 pandemic.
“The reason why this is so important is not just what has happened in the past, it&#8217;s because this gain-of-function is happening in biolabs around the world,” Gabbard <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMKTSYxto_Y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, pointing to her previous warnings about U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine.
“In order to prevent another COVID-like pandemic or another major health incident that could effect us in the world, we have to end this gain-of-function research and provide the evidence that shows exactly why and how it’s in our best interests, the American people’s best interest, to bring an end to it,” she added.
Gain-of-function research is a process in which scientists genetically alter an organism to study how it responds under specific conditions. It can involve increasing transmissibility, virulence, and other characteristics of a pathogen.
Gabbard did not specifically name which American-funded labs she said were performing gain-of-function research.
Gabbard told Kelly that she still had an intelligence team working with National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya and Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to investigate direct links between U.S.-funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, and the pandemic.
Kelly asked when the public could expect to find out the &#8220;exact experiment&#8221; that led to COVID. Gabbard replied that her team was working on it with Bhattacharya and would release the information &#8220;hopefully very soon.&#8221;
Based on the increasing consensus that the lab leak was the cause, Gabbard said she was not surprised that Dr. Anthony Fauci had been pardoned preemptively as President Joe Biden left office. “Is it any wonder that he sought a preemptive pardon for anything during a certain period of time by President Biden before he left office?” she said.
In May 2021, Fauci <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/20/if-anybody-is-lying-here-senator-it-is-you-fauci-tells-sen-paul-in-heated-exchange-at-senate-hearing.html">said</a> that the NIH “has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” However, later evidence from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic determined that the EcoHealth Alliance used NIH dollars to fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan. EcoHealth is currently under investigation by the Justice Department and has been barred from receiving any further federal grant dollars.
Gabbard said that much of the research her team has conducted can be found at <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID.gov</a>, where the Trump administration has compiled a page explaining how the coronavirus is believed to have originated in a Chinese lab.
In addition to the COVID investigation, Gabbard said that her team was looking at other instances of the United States funding &#8220;dangerous&#8221; gain-of-function research that &#8220;in many examples has resulted in either a pandemic or some other major health crisis.”

President Trump Presides Over Cabinet Meeting

Tulsi Gabbard Reveals When Her Team Will Pinpoint Exact Moment Of COVID Lab Leak

Communist China

Medical Research

Megyn Kelly

Tulsi Gabbard

World

Wuhan Institute of Virology

As we lay to rest <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pope-francis">Pope Francis</a>, a man entrusted with the astonishing task of leading <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262883/worldwide-catholic-population-hits-14-billion#:~:text=Concretely%2C%20there%20has%20been%20a,to%20281%20million%20in%202023." target="_blank" rel="noopener">1.4 billion</a> Catholics worldwide, we must acknowledge that he was a pope who inspired devotion and yet also disillusionment.
The first non-European pope in over a millennium, the first Jesuit to hold the Chair of Peter, and the first to take the name Francis — after the saint of humility and radical poverty — he came to the papacy with the power of symbolism already at his side. But symbols alone do not make a legacy. His pontificate has been marked by deep paradoxes, extraordinary global events, and the unrelenting scrutiny of a digital age that magnifies every gesture, every silence, and every word into global significance.
Pope Francis led the Catholic Church at a time when questions of identity, history, and moral authority were being fiercely renegotiated across every sphere of public life. From the rise of “woke” ideology and the deconstruction of long-standing societal structures, to the counter currents of cultural revivalism and nationalist pushback, the world around the Church was changing — faster and more fundamentally than ever.
To that world, he showed incredible, compelling pastoral sensibility by embracing the very sick, the downtrodden, before the eyes of the world, making him a beloved figure among so many.
No moment captured the spiritual loneliness and universal leadership of Francis more than the evening of March 27, 2020. As the world reeled from the shock of a global pandemic, Francis <a href="https://catholicvote.org/when-pope-francis-became-a-solitary-beacon-of-hope-during-the-worst-days-of-the-covid-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stood utterly alone</a> in the rain-drenched emptiness of St. Peter’s Square. His solitary figure, small under the weight of a sodden white cassock, illuminated by the flickering torches before the Eucharist, became an icon of global grief — and hope. He did not thunder. He prayed. He did not offer a solution. He stood there in the silence of that unforgettable moment.
<div id="attachment_911243" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-911243" class="size-large wp-image-911243" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-23-Apr-2025-11-10-AM-5561-1024x576.jpg" alt="Pope Francis gives an extraordianry urbi et orbi blessing in St. Peter's Square, March 27, 2020. | Credit: Vatican Media" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-23-Apr-2025-11-10-AM-5561-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-23-Apr-2025-11-10-AM-5561-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-23-Apr-2025-11-10-AM-5561-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-23-Apr-2025-11-10-AM-5561-1536x865.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-23-Apr-2025-11-10-AM-5561-2048x1153.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Vatican Media</div>
Yet while he insisted Church doctrine could not and would not be changed, many weary Catholics saw how he loosened the uniquely stalwart position of the Catholic church on issues related to marriage and family. 
On one hand, he condemned abortion, equating it to <a href="https://catholicvote.org/throughout-his-pontificate-a-look-at-pope-francis-statements-on-abortion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;hiring a hitman&#8221;</a> and <a href="https://catholicvote.org/pope-francis-strongly-warned-against-ideological-colonization-gender/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denounced gender ideology</a>; but more than once he gave a <a href="https://catholicvote.org/pope-francis-writes-preface-fr-james-martins-book-about-lazarus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disturbing nod</a> to ministries aimed at changing Church doctrine over gay &#8220;marriage&#8221; and transgenderism, including his brief <a href="https://outreach.faith/2022/05/pope-francis-speaks-to-lgbtq-catholics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exchange</a> with Father James Martin, the founder of the LGBT Catholic ministry, Outreach.
Pope Francis’ handling of clerical sex abuse was also marked by troubling contradictions. On one hand, he <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/pope-issues-updated-vos-estis-text-handling-abuse-cases" target="_blank" rel="noopener">established clearer procedures</a> for investigating abuse and holding bishops accountable and publicly condemned the culture of cover-ups that protected abusers. On the other hand, his actions in high-profile cases like those of <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/cna/father-marko-rupnik-accused-of-abuse-and-returned-to-ministry-a-timeline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fr. Marko Rupnik</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/argentine-catholic-bishop-gustavo-zanchetta-sentenced-sexual-abuse-pope-francis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta</a> raise serious questions about consistency and impartiality.
Perhaps more than any other pontiff before him, Pope Francis lived his entire papacy inside the glass house of modern social media. Every homily, every off-the-cuff remark, and even every carefully crafted document was instantly dissected by millions across ideological, religious, and national divides, though it was often his informality in communication that blurred clarity, allowing ideologues across the spectrum to weaponize his words.
In the echo chambers of the internet, he was often cast simultaneously as a reformer and a betrayer, a prophet and a populist, a revolutionary and a regressive. The speed with which opinions formed around his leadership was unprecedented — and sometimes uncharitable.
In his many interviews and press conferences that often required follow-ups or clarifications, it is clear that he perceived himself as a pope who stood at the crossroads of history amidst the noise of clashing narratives.
In many ways, his legacy will be as divided as his papacy. To his supporters, he will be the “Pope of the Peripheries,” to his critics, the Pope of Ambiguity, leaving behind a trail of confusion and even division that his successor in the papacy will have to deal with.
Francis reminded us that the Pope is both a man and a sign — fragile, flawed, and beloved. We now pray not only for his soul but for the Church he leaves behind: wounded in places and always in need of shepherds who speak with both his tenderness but also with the clarity of truth.
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Kelsey Reinhardt is Director of Media and Evangelization for CatholicVote.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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