Every generation has had its vice. Boomers had cigarettes. Gen X had Diet Coke. Millennials and Gen Z? We have lattes.
Somewhere along the way, coffee became a personality trait. It used to be free at restaurants. Now we happily spend $8 for lattes while simultaneously complaining about the cost of living and food.
If coffee were just coffee, this phenomenon wouldn&#8217;t quite make sense. But coffee stopped being just coffee a long time ago. A simple cup of espresso and milk has become a cultural institution. So what does that say about our culture at large?
In 2025, the U.S. had 45,000 coffee shops, with the number of shops increasing by roughly 6% over the previous year. The coffee industry is up $10 billion from pre-pandemic levels. In Nashville alone, there are nearly 400 spots to grab a fun drink.
Why this coffee explosion? Well, on the surface, the simple answer is the sugar or the caffeine combo. It&#8217;s highly addictive as we all know, and feel, if we don&#8217;t have our morning coffee. But needing a coffee has already been a norm since, well, the 15th century Yemen Muslims.
But back then, coffee was a nighttime drink. They used it to stay awake during long nighttime prayers, rather than as a morning necessity. During the 16th and 17th centuries, it spread throughout the Ottoman Empire as coffeehouses began to appear. It slowly turned into a daytime activity.
By the 17th century, when coffee reached Europe, it started replacing existing breakfast beverages of beer, ale, and wine. Thankfully, Europeans upgraded from a people fueled on booze to one fueled on caffeine.
Some historians argue that the rise of coffee houses across Europe contributed to the Enlightenment period. Writers, scientists, and politicians could gather to discuss ideas over coffee rather than alcohol. It&#8217;s a good thing that the brilliant minds of the day were not muddling their thoughts with liquor.
But it wasn&#8217;t until the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century that the idea of morning coffee came into play. Suddenly, millions of workers now needed to wake up at the same time every day. By the 20th century, advertising secured the idea that no breakfast was complete without a cup of coffee. Today, the classic Folgers theme song is ingrained in our minds. 
The 21st century has taken the popularity of the drink and run with it. Not a coffee person? No problem. There are a million other &#8220;fun drinks&#8221; to get addicted to instead. Caffeine is only one factor. Some of my favorite drinks have little to none in them. Nor do I feel the effects. It&#8217;s purely for the fun of it. The coffee run itself has become a lifestyle. As one example, New York magazine <a href="https://www.grubstreet.com/article/starbucks-strawberry-acai-refresher-tiktok-success.html">reported</a> earlier this year on how &#8220;a caffeine-laced strawberry-açai drink became the allowance-draining status symbol of New York’s teen elite.&#8221;
There are three waves of the modern-day coffee movement. The first wave resulted in coffee becoming a convenient household staple. The second wave found places such as Starbucks and Dunkin&#8217; popularizing coffee drinks and café culture, as well as social media demanding consumers post their daily latte art. Coffee went from being something you consumed to something you displayed. The latte evolved into a status symbol or personality trait. With wave three of the coffee movement, coffee has become an artisanal product. 
Although the price for admission keeps getting higher, many are treating the product with much more value. Someone with espresso knowledge is the new sommelier. In some respects, the fast food classics are now looked down upon as consumers favor more specialized coffee shops. With the local shops that prize themselves on sourcing the beans, the right machine, the right tools, it’s become an art form.
It’s this generation&#8217;s form of an adult “treat.” It&#8217;s inexpensive enough that it doesn&#8217;t feel irresponsible but indulgent enough to feel like a reward. But coffee isn&#8217;t necessarily what people are paying for at a shop; it serves as an admission fee for a seat inside.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5TqVwZpzCP8?si=f-nVZb7axiKiZNGu" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
As the world grows more virtual, the traditional hangout spaces seem to be dwindling away. The sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term &#8220;third place&#8221; in his 1989 book &#8220;The Great Good Place.&#8221; He argued we spend our lives in three places: home, work (or school), and, third, somewhere we gather simply because we want to.
Historically, those were places such as the mall, church, community center, local diner, or park. You didn&#8217;t need to spend much or any money to attend. Their role in society was more interactive and community-focused. For many people, coffee shops serve as the third space we all still need and crave. Whether it&#8217;s to meet a friend or go on a first date, the abundance of coffee shops answers the question of what to do or where to go. 
Of course, spending too much time at a coffee shop can get pricey. But I don&#8217;t think young adults are deciding between lattes or paying a mortgage. Instead, we&#8217;re deciding between a cup at the office or an excuse for fresh air, change of scenery, and some human interaction to break up our days.
We half joke that our generation can&#8217;t afford homes, but somehow we&#8217;ve managed to rent the same coffee shop table every morning for $8 a day. And while the cost of our willingness to pay is certainly a conversation, I find myself to be less interested in the price of lattes and more interested in what we are willing to pay for the simple experience of community.
I started this deep dive set on criticizing my generation for our crazed consumption of costly coffee, but throughout my research — some of which was conducted in these very coffee shops — I realized our coffee run habits may be a sign of what we really crave: craftsmanship, local business, human connection, intentionality, and the simple act of slowing down.
***
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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What Gen Z’s Expensive Latte Habit Really Means

coffee culture

coffee shops

consumer spending

gen z

lifestyle

third place

It’s increasingly common to see films slated for big-screen releases get <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/news/madden-movie-prime-video-streaming-release-nicolas-cage-david-o-russell-1236829167/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://variety.com/2026/film/news/madden-movie-prime-video-streaming-release-nicolas-cage-david-o-russell-1236829167/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1786461952363000&amp;usg=AOvVaw38zmQ9HEUOkXFBBo3Or6o6">relegated</a> to streaming service premieres. Rarely, if ever, do we see things go in the opposite direction, which makes “The Amazing Digital Circus” all the more notable.
The final two episodes of Glitch Productions’ popular YouTube series got a theatrical release after two years of streaming on the video-streaming platform. The show takes place in the titular Digital Circus, a realm controlled by a godlike artificial intelligence bot named Caine.
That the heroes are teenagers is enough to explain why the show became popular with my generation. But not everything popular among teenagers is destined to blow up like this. What explains the show’s success?
The episodes released in theaters offer a clue. In the finale, we learn that the show’s protagonists are merely the social media avatars of real people. We see those people living happy lives, outside the Digital Circus where the main character, Pomni, and her friends face challenges at the hands of Caine and his world. The characters we’ve come to know are shown to be different from the people controlling them.
This fact — the dissonance between how someone is in real life and how they appear online — speaks to teenagers today. In fact, throughout its run, “The Amazing Digital Circus” deals with issues that young people face as they attempt to strike a balance between the real and digital worlds and struggle with what happens when humans lose humanity.
A kid may be a straight A+ student in school but a wannabe criminal online, or an F student in real life and a nerd online. Maintaining both identities can be hard to manage, something we see in the film. By the end of the movie, the characters have discovered and accepted that they are merely digital, and they choose to move forward with their lives in the Circus. Watching these digital characters accept their artificiality reminds those of us watching the importance of accepting our humanity.
But the protagonists don’t always have an easy time. When a character is overwhelmed with emotion, they experience “abstraction.” Their brain stops functioning and they become a black mass of rainbow eyes, acting like a feral animal in terror.
The fear comes from the idea of being seen as less of a person or being socially dehumanized. In the Circus, this fear is rooted in the fact that the characters are cartoon avatars. But this is, of course, a fear real people have. Do my parents, teachers, or friends see me as less of a person and more of a problem? Something fragile to be avoided? So often we worry about expressing emotions or being vulnerable around our friends out of fear that we too could be reduced to our issues, nothing more than an abstraction.
“Digital Circus” also deals with the lack of control young people often feel. The show begins with Pomni awakening in the Circus, with no idea how she got there and no ability to change her course. This is certainly a common feeling among teens, one I’ve felt myself.
With its theatrical release, “Digital Circus” did more than just give voice to the alienation young Americans feel. It also gave them an opportunity to break free from the digital world and connect with each other in person. I felt quite underdressed in a flannel and sweatpants, surrounded by screaming fans in full cosplay and “Digital Circus” merch.
The staff repeatedly warned the crowd to be quiet. No one listened. There was singing, screaming, crying, and cheering — and that was just my friends.
For any other film, this would have made for a terrible viewing experience. But here it made sense. We weren’t there for the cinematic experience, but the camaraderie. We were there to mingle with other fans, break the anonymity of the internet, and have a social life off-screen.
For two years, “The Amazing Digital Circus” has helped its fans grapple with, and even escape from, the abstraction and oppression of digital life. By premiering its final two episodes in theaters, it provided a real-world opportunity for fans to come together as a community. That’s why it’s breaking the industry and why so many teens, and maybe even some adults, love it.
***
Charles Marcus is a high school student in West Virginia who writes about the unique challenges his generation faces.
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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Gen Z’s Biggest Digital Obsession Comes With One Giant Irony

social media

the amazing digital circus

youtube

The Democratic Party has a socialism problem, or rather, a disaffected young voter problem. Several self-avowed socialist candidates have won contentious Democratic primary races in the past few months, many of them backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.
The DSA surpassed <a href="https://democraticleft.dsausa.org/2026/04/27/how-high-is-the-sky/">100,000 members</a> in January, up from just 6,000 in 2015. The group&#8217;s <a href="https://program.dsausa.org/">radical policy wishlist</a> includes socialized healthcare, nationwide rent control, nationalizing industry, and dismantling the presidency, Senate, and Supreme Court. Candidates <a href="https://democraticleft.dsausa.org/2026/07/17/dsa-launches-new-program/">must agree</a> to this platform before receiving DSA endorsement.
This summer, DSA-endorsed congressional candidate <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/23/darializa-avila-chevalier-wins-new-york-congress-primary-00972370">Darializa Avila Chevalier</a> advanced in New York. DSA member <a href="https://www.dsausa.org/news/hot-dsa-electoral-wins-may-2026/">Christopher Rabb</a> secured a congressional seat in Pennsylvania, and in Michigan, DSA ally Abdul El-Sayed beat out Rep. Haley Stevens in the Senate primary.
The DSA&#8217;s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/12/nyregion/dsa-young-voters-primary-ny.html">supporters</a> are young, fun, and socialist. They <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/03/zohran-mamdani-new-york-mayor-block-party-more-politics">party</a> with the candidates and fangirl over the far-left <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/el-sayed-pals-around-far-left-streamer-hasan-piker-day-before-crucial-michigan-senate-election">e-celebrities</a> who swoop in to campaign. They lean into <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/18/hot-girls-zohran-new-york-city-mayor">sex appeal</a> and discourse that would horrify their elders. They’re on a mission to normalize the ideas of socialism throughout the U.S., and it’s working.
Sixty-two percent of young people now view socialism favorably, according to a <a href="https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2025-04/Tax%20Policy%20Survey_2025_2.pdf">Cato Institute survey</a>, which also <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/young-americans-socialism-too-much-thats-problem-libertarians-must-fix">found</a> that a third of young people hold similarly favorable views of communism.
Earlier generations may be confused by these statistics. Has the American education system failed to impart the horrors of 20th-century socialism? Are America’s youth ignorant of the Venezuelan and Cuban refugees who fled to our shores?
There are three theories to explain why young people are drawn to socialism. Each has merits, and together they create a more complete picture. 
<div id="attachment_1155125" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1155125" class="size-medium wp-image-1155125" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-633888852-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-633888852-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-633888852-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-633888852-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-633888852.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photo by Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto</div>
Young Americans are poor (or feel poor).
Gen Z’s nihilistic view of their economic future is going unaddressed by Republicans or mainstream Democrats, and Democratic socialists are filling the void. They give young people a convenient enemy — the rich —  and prey upon generational inequalities to bolster their argument.
From the hotly debated <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/isabel-brown-show-ep-191">$20 burrito</a> to <a href="https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-statistics">skyrocketing</a> student loan debt, young Americans are feeling the post-COVID economic burn. Some quickly write off Gen Z’s economic woes as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/ng-interactive/2025/nov/17/gen-z-workplace-criticism">entitlement</a>, but there is a more sympathetic story.
American voters and politicians have long pursued a policy of &#8220;soft socialism&#8221; — the subsidization of demand, restriction of supply, and ever-encroaching power of government into American economic life – all done with the expressed aim of easing financial burdens.
In 2023, Mark Perry at the American Enterprise Institute released the <a href="https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-or-century-8/">Chart of the Century</a>. It revealed the disorienting financial world Gen Z has inherited.
While consumer technology (TVs, phones, laptops) has become more affordable, healthcare, college, and housing have skyrocketed in cost relative to inflation and wages. Between 2000 and 2022, the <a href="https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-or-century-8/">price</a> of hospital services climbed 220%, college tuition jumped 178%, and the cost of housing grew 80%. These stress points are reflected in the DSA platform, which urges Americans to imagine a day where “you have no debt. You don’t need health insurance. You don’t pay a mortgage or have a landlord, because comfortable housing is a human right.”
Education, health, and home are core tenets of the American dream, which promised that you could achieve all of this through hard work. Republicans, and even some mainstream Democrats, still come back to this message. 
Socialists have one thing right: In a way, something has been stolen from Gen Z. But instead of business owners and landlords stealing from workers, the past stole from the present. COVID-era monetary policy, for example, saw <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/disaster/covid-19">$4.7 trillion</a> allocated to relief spending and <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/money-printing-and-inflation%3A-covid-cryptocurrencies-and-more">$13 trillion dollars</a> printed to ease our momentary woes. In layman&#8217;s terms, our money is worth significantly less than before the pandemic. Gen Z is working hard but seeing a lot less return.
<div id="attachment_1155071" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1155071" class="size-medium wp-image-1155071" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2244770348-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2244770348-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2244770348-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2244770348-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2244770348.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photo by Zack Zhang/Xinhua via Getty Images</div>
Gen Z has been sold a false image of socialism.
Young DSA members are not strict readers of Karl Marx. They just want healthcare, they’ll tell you. They think it’s wrong for poor people to suffer. They want equality, comfort, and community.
They’ll point to <a href="https://americancompass.org/economic-inequality-guide/?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=11199510140&amp;gbraid=0AAAAACR4Dsm23zTfoxb0iTcDz3zVSZSw6&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwhNbTBhB4EiwAsFSg-sihZe2n22RZRLU5OHFp0gqskz3m4aofiyPuZMjFRubZ_iYVGMWXVBoC-qIQAvD_BwE">studies</a> showing how the rich accumulate wealth more quickly than other Americans, ignoring growth in other income brackets. They’ll bemoan the “hollowing out of the American middle class,” not realizing the middle class has shrunk because the <a href="https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/the-middle-class-is-shrinking-because-of-a-booming-upper-middle-class/">upper middle class</a> has grown.
Capitalist wealth creation is the tide that lifts all boats. But for young socialists, capitalism is the root of all our social and economic woes, including the loneliness epidemic. They argue that individualism begets isolation and the financial pressures of capitalism lead to less time for leisure, even though we spend <a href="https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/january-2007/working-hard-or-hardly-working-the-evolution-of-leisure-in-the-united-states">far less time</a> working than we did over a century ago.
When asked to give the elevator pitch for socialism, a DSA activist <a href="https://x.com/NateFriedman97/status/2078878926953238886">said</a>, “Are you tired of sitting alone and being by yourself and having no one to talk to? Be a socialist. It’s all about community.” 
This pitch feels more like a cult recruitment tactic than a thoughtful introduction to political philosophy. Ending capitalism will not cure Gen Z’s personal or financial woes, but the DSA offers a sense of community that makes its platform feel palatable.
<div id="attachment_1155097" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1155097" class="size-medium wp-image-1155097" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2241305912-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2241305912-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2241305912-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2241305912-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2241305912.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photo by Amy Sussman/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images</div>
Socialism is sexy.
Democratic socialist candidates are young, stylish, and charismatic. Zohran Mamdani energetically floats around New York City, always greeting constituents with a suit, tie, and wide smile. His underemployed wife wears <a href="https://www.azafashions.com/blog/rama-duwaji-fashion-inspiration/?srsltid=AfmBOoqBBP-EFc30k6O_XgXeg-_gvGpWKxG074AiMj2l_UavUM_2cQ1R">cool-girl designers</a> and outfits that confuse the rest of the country. He treats New Yorkers with respect, releases viral videos every week, and even ended his campaign by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/28/nyregion/whats-the-hottest-spot-in-new-york-for-campaigning-the-club.html">club hopping</a> throughout the city.
Other socialist candidates are similarly tapped into millennial and Gen Z culture. Abdul El-Sayed is a <a href="https://crooked.com/podcast-series/america-dissected/">podcast</a> bro. Claire Valdez also hit <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/28/nyregion/whats-the-hottest-spot-in-new-york-for-campaigning-the-club.html">clubs</a> on campaign stops. And Darializa Avila Chevalier is being prematurely <a href="https://x.com/EmmaVigeland/status/2068905654538895382?s=20">crowned</a> as one of the most stylish members of Congress.
Meanwhile, the socialist masses don <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reels/DLSHcLUsPnX/">Hot Girls for Zohran t-shirts</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/30/us-news/liberals-are-drooling-over-very-handsome-leftist-hasan-piker-after-ny-times-profile/">fawn</a> over e-celebs like Hasan Piker, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_trends_among_American_conservatives">mock</a> Republican women for having MAGA makeup and “Mar-a-Lago face.” They’re like a socialist Regina George.
In a way, socialism has become a fashion trend in itself, with the implicit message to outsiders being: You are an ugly loser if you don’t get on board. This is a compelling, albeit subconscious, selling point for young people searching for belonging.
Whether or not socialism is a flash-in-the-pan trend or a lasting ideology depends on how quickly its loudest defenders can shift the Overton window while they still have the microphone. If we want any chance to defeat this destructive movement, we have to update our understanding of the political, social, and economic landscape in which Gen Z finds itself.
***
Maggie Anders is a video journalist and political commentator. Her work explores international political movements, history, pop culture, economics, the cost-of-living crisis, and Gen Z social issues. 
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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Why Socialism Is Winning With America’s Youth

democratic socialists of america

opinion

politics

socialism

zohran mamdani

Academy Award-winning Russell Crowe revealed a lot about his own values, giving a thoughtful answer when he was asked about which movies should be required viewing for young men, specifically Gen Z.
Crowe, who won the coveted Best Actor award for his role in &#8220;Gladiator,&#8221; was asked to look back at his filmography and explain which movies he thought every young man should watch. He based his answer on what values and lessons the younger generation could take away from the movies he&#8217;d chosen to make.
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&#8220;That&#8217;s kind of a very serious question,&#8221; Crowe began with a smile, adding, &#8220;It would probably take me a month to write a dissertation.&#8221;
Crowe then selected three of his movies — 2000&#8217;s &#8220;Gladiator,&#8221; 2003&#8217;s &#8220;Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,&#8221; and 2005&#8217;s &#8220;Cinderella Man&#8221; — and explained what he believed young men might learn from each of them.
<h4>&#8220;Gladiator&#8221;</h4>
&#8220;Gladiator&#8221; was first on his list because he said it would teach young men about &#8220;honor and the importance of la familia.&#8221;
Crowe has often talked about the fact that family, and one man&#8217;s mission to avenge his loss, is the heart of that film. He felt so strongly about that particular point that he pushed back — hard — when producers and even director Ridley Scott wanted to add a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/russell-crowe-reveals-why-he-refused-to-do-a-sex-scene-for-gladiator">sex scene</a> into the movie.
&#8220;When we were shooting that film, there was a lot of pressure. The studio, the producers [thought] there should be sex between Maximus and the female characters. I just kept pushing back,” he said in a previous interview.
&#8220;This is the story of a man avenging the death of his wife and his child,” Crowe explained. “There cannot be a moment in that journey where he stops and has sex with somebody. It doesn’t make any sense because then that destroys the journey.&#8221;
The end results spoke for themselves: Scott ultimately sided with Crowe, agreeing that a sex scene would take away from the film&#8217;s &#8220;moral core.&#8221; The finished product netted them not only Crowe&#8217;s Best Actor statue, but also the Best Picture Oscar. (Crowe has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/russell-crowe-blasts-gladiator-2-for-lacking-moral-core-that-made-the-first-one-great">also said</a> that the reason &#8220;Gladiator 2&#8221; failed to capture the audience in the same way was that it strayed from that &#8220;moral core.&#8221;)
<h4>&#8220;Master and Commander&#8221;</h4>
The second film Crowe listed was &#8220;Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,&#8221; a period piece set in 1805 and loosely based on the &#8220;real-life naval exploits of British Captain Lord Thomas Cochrane.&#8221;
The actor said that film, which did not garner anywhere near the commercial or critical success he saw with &#8220;Gladiator,&#8221; would nonetheless teach young men &#8220;about loyalty and fealty.&#8221;
&#8220;There are a few movies in the things that I&#8217;ve done which can have a profound connection to a young man,&#8221; Crowe continued before offering up his third and final selection. &#8220;Those two are very important, but there&#8217;s also a film called &#8216;Cinderella Man,&#8217; which is about somebody who&#8217;s facing the worst kind of situation, but he still goes forward. And because they go forward, they end up achieving what they set out to achieve.&#8221;
<h4>&#8220;Cinderella Man&#8221;</h4>
&#8220;Cinderella Man,&#8221; as Crowe noted, follows the career of the boxing champion who almost wasn&#8217;t: Jim Braddock. After a hand injury and the onset of the Great Depression stalled what had looked to be a promising boxing career, Braddock was forced to work manual labor jobs on the New Jersey docks — and rely on government assistance at times — to support his family.
In 1934, he got a chance to step back into the ring, but he wasn&#8217;t fighting for the title so much as for his own name. He won in a knockout — and kept winning. But as the prize money rolled in, Braddock didn&#8217;t spend it or even put it into savings. Instead, he tracked down every government agency through which his family had gotten aid, paying every cent back.
Dubbed &#8220;the Cinderella Man&#8221; due to his rags-to-riches story, Braddock went into the 1935 championship match at Madison Square Garden against World Heavyweight Champion Max Baer with 10-1 odds that he would lose. But years of working on the docks had given him the stamina to wear Baer down, and after 12 rounds, Braddock was named the new world champion.
With more than 80 acting credits to his name, Crowe could have answered that question dozens of different ways. The way he chose to answer, what he chose to pass on to the next generation, revealed that values he holds dear: family, loyalty, honor, and determination. And, as Crowe himself showed when the &#8220;moral core&#8221; was threatened during the filming of &#8220;Gladiator,&#8221; he is willing to fight for them when necessary.
***
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe’s Three Movies Every Young Man Should Watch

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hollywood

Kennedy Centert

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upstream

On June 2, 2020, I spent my 18th birthday entirely alone. For much of the day, I sat on my front porch, answering text messages from friends, but mostly I allowed time to pass in a crawl, the way it did for much of the COVID-19 lockdown. In the evening, I went inside and turned on the nightly news out of habit. It had become addicting watching the number of COVID cases rise and hearing concerned news anchors pour over virality data and quarantine horror stories. I spent my 18th birthday alone, shut away from my friends and family, watching people post black squares on their Instagram accounts in solidarity with George Floyd. 
That same day, Dr. Anthony Fauci met with President Donald Trump, during which time Trump <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/07/27/faucis-diary-released-revealing-his-thoughts-fame-rambling-trump/">allegedly stated</a>, “I love you, Tony. I feel like giving you a big hug.” After meeting for awhile to discuss vaccines, Trump called Fauci “close” to his desk and complimented him by saying, “You are looking real good.” According to Fauci’s diary, upon leaving the White House, he bumped into a friend and bragged about his performances on recent media hits. He then excitedly anticipated his plans for a morning breakfast meeting with Michael Caputo, the former assistant secretary for Health and Human Services. The previous day, June 1, Fauci bragged in his diary about getting to do a Zoom graduation ceremony for the Regis High School’s senior class. By his own judgement, they “loved it.”
While hundreds of thousands of children and young adults were blocked from having actual graduation ceremonies, or meeting with family members, or having morning breakfasts with their friends, Fauci was living a normal life. After he spent months scaring Americans and convincing local and state governments that they had to shutter their doors, he was parading around D.C., doing media hits and making notes about which celebrities offered him public praise. 
For members of Gen Z, the pandemic was the first major cultural event they experienced. Many were too young to remember 9/11 or the 2008 financial crisis. While some of my friends vaguely remember a few things about the Obama presidency or Trump’s first term, very few of them were mature enough to be politically engaged. The pandemic stripped away their ignorance, forcing them to deal with the tyrannical political inclinations of Fauci, state governments, and liberal elites. 
At the time, very few young people saw any upside to the COVID pandemic. It led to 46% of Gen Z reporting new mental health issues, 65% <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2021/one-year-pandemic-stress-youth">reporting</a> feeling &#8220;very lonely,&#8221; and spikes in dangerous social trends such as <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Trans-Pop-Update-Jun-2022.pdf">transgenderism</a>. Some students never got to say goodbye to their friends before leaving for college or, upon arrival, weren’t allowed to leave their dorm rooms without a mask. Numerous colleges required students to be vaccinated if they wanted to attend classes in person, while other universities and high schools simply told people to take virtual classes without any end in sight. Many of my teenage friends suddenly found themselves smoking weed every night to pass the time, or turning to dangerous illicit drugs just to “feel something.” With bars closed and parties cancelled, many of my former classmates started drinking alone in their rooms. Meanwhile, out-of-touch celebrities posted cringey videos of themselves singing “Imagine” and hiding in their Beverly Hills mansions. 
For some Zoomers, the reaction to COVID was despair. But for many others, the reaction was defiance. After months of lockdowns and mask mandates, young people realized that their likelihood of getting sick was very slim and that quarantining barely mitigated the spread. As “two weeks to slow the spread” spiraled into endless months of forced isolation, many people realized the government was being weaponized against them. Just a few of my peers&#8217; stories back this up. 
Alex, who is now 26, dropped out of Northwestern just a few months into his freshman year after realizing the school’s online classes didn’t match its pricey tuition fees. In his free time, he taught himself computer programming. After landing a job at a well-known bank, he came to the conclusion that college was a scam, COVID was a scam, and that the only people who hadn’t lied to him were conservatives.
Jake, 27, had recently graduated from high school and got into the trades during the start of the pandemic. After going into several people’s houses per day, he realized the quarantines had had very little effect on people’s safety and Fauci’s HHS had been spreading lies.
Eric, 24, was forced to spend all of his time alone in his dorm room as a college student. He began listening to podcasts, starting with Jordan Peterson, and eventually wound up listening to Michael Knowles and Charlie Kirk every day. Within the course of less than a year, he went from being apolitical to volunteering for Turning Point USA. 
COVID taught young Americans that they couldn’t trust the government to make decisions for them. In the past few years, a majority of my peers have admitted a similar experience: that COVID caused them to see the tyrannical abuse of power inflicted by left-wing governments. It’s no surprise that Trump won the popular vote for Gen Z men in 2024; he represented freedom from radical leftism. I was not the only Gen Z kid who spent her birthday, or graduation, or weekends alone. I was one of many young people who realized that Fauci’s shutdowns and power grabs were nothing but narcissism. Gen Z will never forgive Fauci for lying to them, but they can be grateful that he showed them how dictatorial politicians can be.
***
Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is a senior contributor at New Guard Press, a publication she joined while attending Hillsdale College.
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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The Lasting Scar Fauci Left On Gen Z

anthony fauci

COVID-19

Nearly half of Generation Z says one political factor is making them less likely to attend church, according to newly released survey data. 
The research found that 48% of Gen Z adults say Christian support for President Donald Trump makes them less likely to attend church. 
Political scientist and religion researcher Ryan Burge highlighted <a href="https://religionnews.com/2026/07/20/half-of-gen-z-says-trump-support-keeps-them-out-of-church/">newly released data</a> from the Billy Graham Center Research Institute examining barriers that keep young adults from embracing Christianity. The survey included 2,365 Gen Z adults ages 18 to 28 and was led by Rick Richardson of Wheaton College. 
Overall, nearly one in five respondents said they &#8220;strongly agreed&#8221; that Christians&#8217; support for the president discourages them from going to church services. 
“So, it’s fair to say young adults are pretty evenly divided on this idea,” Burge and Richardson wrote. “But these results are confounded by a few variables: Younger adults tend to be more left-leaning in their politics, and a significant share of Gen Z claims no religious affiliation, which means a lot of these respondents wouldn’t be going to church much anyway.”
Digging deeper, the survey found a sharp partisan divide. Among Gen Z Democrats, 67% said they &#8220;strongly,&#8221; &#8220;somewhat,&#8221; or &#8220;lightly&#8221; agreed that Christian support for Trump makes them less likely to attend church. Fewer than half of independents shared that view. Republicans, however, broke sharply in the opposite direction, with 74% saying they disagreed. 
About 72% of Gen Z atheists said Christians’ support of Trump has made them less likely to attend a church service. For agnostics, the figure fell slightly lower to 65%. Gen Z Protestants were least likely to feel that way, according to the report, which was highlighted by Religion News Service. 
“But even among Gen Z Christians, there’s a significant share who said Trump made it harder for them to attend at all: 44% of those who identified as a generic Christian, 42% of Catholics and 30% of Protestant young adults said they were turned off by the Christian-Trump alliance,” the report stated. 
White evangelicals have played a pivotal role in Trump&#8217;s electoral success, forming the backbone of the Republican coalition and backing him by overwhelming margins in all three of his presidential campaigns. In 2024, Trump captured 82% of the white evangelical vote, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/election/2024/exit-polls/national-results/general/president/0">according to exit polls</a>. Catholics also broke decisively in his favor, with nearly 60% backing Trump after <a href="https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results">narrowly supporting Joe Biden</a> in 2020.
At the same time, other recent surveys suggest religion may be gaining traction among some segments of younger Americans. 
About 42% of men aged 18 to 29 now say religion is “very important” in their lives, up from 28% two years earlier, according to a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/708410/young-men-religious-young-women.aspx">recent survey from Gallup</a>. The 14-point jump was the largest recorded among any demographic group in the poll’s recent history and returned young men to levels of religiosity not seen since the early 2000s.
Vice President JD Vance has <a href="https://x.com/VP/status/2056135528752234892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2056135528752234892%7Ctwgr%5Ec3aaf5b9e9b1bcf5d074b80023045f4e297c71f6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Fthousands-of-christians-fill-national-mall-for-prayer-service-celebrating-americas-faith-heritage">hailed the numbers</a> as a rebuke to the expert class that has long predicted the demise of American Christianity. 
“Defying predictions, the experts said that religion and faith were dying. Today, a wave of young Americans is returning to the pews, and we know that they’re looking for meaning, for authority, for direction, and of course, for closeness with God,” Vance said. “That should give all of us hope for our future together.” 
<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2026/05/14/how-americans-feel-about-religions-influence-in-government-and-public-life/?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email">A Pew Research poll</a> in May showed 37% of U.S. adults believe religion is gaining influence in America, the highest share since 2002.

Worshipper praying on a church

Half Of Gen Z Say A Political Factor Is Keeping Them Out Of Church

christianity

Faith

News

religion

America&#8217;s homeownership crisis may be even more severe than widely understood. A new <a href="https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2026/new-homeownership-measure-puts-people-first">study</a> argues that while official government statistics show about 65% of U.S. homes are owner-occupied, only about 53% of American adults actually own the homes they live in. 
The difference stems from how homeownership is measured. The Census Bureau&#8217;s longstanding homeownership rate tracks whether a home is owner-occupied, not whether every adult living there owns it. For example, a married couple who own a home they share with an adult son counts as one owner-occupied household, even though the son does not own the property himself.
The researchers argue that measuring homeownership by individual adults provides a more accurate picture of how many Americans have actually achieved homeownership, particularly as more adults live with family members or roommates because of high housing costs.
Researchers estimate that nearly 14% of adults live in owner-occupied homes without actually owning them. That group includes adult children, aging parents, roommates, friends, and others living with homeowners. To better capture individual ownership, the researchers propose a new metric, Homeownership-to-Population, or HPOP, which measures the share of adults who own the home they live in.
The lower estimate comes as homeownership becomes increasingly out of reach for many Americans, particularly younger generations. According to recent surveys, 62% of Gen Z say they worry they will never be able to buy a home. Meanwhile, the median age of first-time homebuyers jumped from 33 in 2021 to 40 in 2025, reflecting the growing financial hurdles facing prospective buyers.  
Those hurdles continue to mount. In June, the median existing-home price reached a record <a href="https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/nar-existing-home-sales-report-shows-2-4-decrease-in-june">$440,600</a>, up 49.2% from June 2020. 
National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said the biggest obstacle remains a lack of housing supply. 
“Without a doubt, affordability is a major challenge for people who want to become homeowners, which is the reason why we need more supply,” Yun said. 
<a href="http://realtor.com">Realtor.com</a> estimates the United States faces a housing shortage of roughly 4 million homes. 
Higher borrowing costs have compounded the problem. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates from near zero to above 5.25%, while the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has more than doubled from roughly 3.11% in 2020 to about 6.55%.
Congress attempted to address the housing shortage by passing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act in July, legislation designed to reduce regulatory barriers to home construction while encouraging state and local governments to reform zoning and land-use policies through grant incentives. 
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the legislation &#8220;transformational.&#8221;
&#8220;This transformational legislation will help address the housing affordability problem, reduce regulations so builders can build, limit institutional investing in the housing market, and bring the American Dream back into reach for millions of young and working families,&#8221; he said.
Housing economists welcomed the legislation but cautioned that meaningful relief will take time.
“This bill directly targets some of the biggest drivers of housing costs: land-use restrictions, permitting delays, financing constraints and regulatory hurdles,” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/11/21st-century-road-to-housing-act-homebuyers-sellers.html">said</a> Selma Hepp, chief economist at Cotality. “Unfortunately, homebuyers should not expect immediate relief.” 
Hepp added that “housing development takes time and many of the benefits would likely materialize gradually rather than overnight.”

US-ECONOMY-HOUSING-REAL ESTATE

America’s Home Ownership Crisis May Be Even Worse Than Previously Known

Housing

Housing Crisis

President Donald Trump’s granddaughter, Kai Trump, recently took her followers on a tour of the White House, describing the famous landmark with nonchalance and a hint of sarcasm.
The Gen-Z internet personality showed off the White House in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxV0P0602M">video</a> posted on Wednesday and gave some more behind-the-scenes perspective of the White House UFC fight.
As she entered the White House, which she called &#8220;my house,&#8221; she gestured towards a portrait of George Washington, saying, “We got my best friend, George Washington. We’re real tight.” 

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Credit: Kai Trump via YouTube
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Kai also described the newly-installed statues of Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin in the Rose Garden as if they were old friends.
“This is my friend Alexander Hamilton. What a chiller,” Kai said. “Over here we have Benjamin Franklin, who’s also my dear friend. Old Boy Benji. We call him Benji. What a nice guy.”
As she walked through a hallway adorned by paintings, glass lamps, and an old grandfather clock, Trump&#8217;s granddaughter commented that she &#8220;used to play soccer in these halls.&#8221;
After dodging aides who were moving furniture on the second floor, Kai found a podium.
“I’m about to do a speech in front of everyone. Look, look at my crowd,” she joked to the few people filming her.
She continued showing other rooms in the White House, commenting with her deadpan sense of humor.
“This is the Red Room. As you can tell, it’s red and that’s why it&#8217;s called the Red Room.” Kai joked. “This is the Blue Room. As you can tell, it’s also blue.”
To conclude her White House tour, Kai went into the Oval Office, showing off the Declaration of Independence on the wall, the portraits, Trump’s Sharpies, and the various articles of gold in the office.
“All right guys. We’re in the Oval Office right now,” she said. “So everything is gold because my grandpa hates gold so he actually decided to add a lot of gold to the Oval Office. That’s a joke. He loves gold. It’s like his favorite thing on the planet if you guys haven’t noticed.&#8221;
“He has a very good attention to detail, so everything that he thought should be gold, he made gold,” Kai added. 
Kai has over three million followers on Instagram and 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube. She is attending the University of Miami this fall, where she is <a href="https://miamihurricanes.com/roster/kai-trump/">joining</a> Miami&#8217;s golf team.

Untitled design – 2026-06-25T132950.303

The White House Through Kai Trump’s Eyes

Kai Trump

white house

The internet is melting down. Politics is broken. Culture is spiraling. And Mat Nuclear is going live.
The Daily Wire’s newest show, “The Nuclear Reaction,” drops viewers into a post-apocalyptic shortwave broadcast where the only mission is helping those who are still Left … get Right in the head.
Part reaction show, part debate arena, part emergency transmission from the wreckage of modern discourse, “The Nuclear Reaction” puts Nuclear into the middle of the day’s dumbest, darkest, and most combustible arguments. Guests, callers, clips, chats, and assorted survivors wander through the broadcast as Nuclear tries to separate what’s real from what’s fake — and figure out who’s having the biggest public meltdown.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
The Nuclear Reaction starts tonight ☢️🔥
Meet The Daily Wire’s newest talent, <a href="https://x.com/MatNuclear?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MatNuclear</a>!
Part reaction, part debate, part broadcast from the ruins of rationality — Mat&#8217;s getting into it all.
Watch tonight on YouTube at 6PM, plus his guest appearance on Friendly Fire🔥 <a href="https://t.co/AkGPcbHbWh">pic.twitter.com/AkGPcbHbWh</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://x.com/realDailyWire/status/2067279309505524166?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
“It’s politics, culture, internet drama, and apocalyptic nonsense all treated with the level of lols it deserves,” Nuclear said.
The show marks a new chapter for one of the Right’s fastest-rising young voices.
Nuclear built an audience as a teenage debater taking on opponents across social media. What started with arguments against vegans on Discord quickly evolved into viral clashes on TikTok, where he developed a reputation for relentlessly questioning progressive assumptions and refusing to let opponents escape uncomfortable questions.
His national breakout came through Jubilee’s viral “Surrounded” series, where he faced activist Amanda Seales in front of a live audience. Clips from the debate spread rapidly online and introduced millions of viewers to the then-18-year-old commentator.
Soon afterward, appearances with major conservative figures followed. Figures like Ben Shapiro and Charlie Kirk praised Nuclear’s debating ability and composure.
Now, Nuclear is bringing that same energy to a nightly live format built around audience interaction, real-time reactions, and unpredictable debates.
Each episode of “The Nuclear Reaction” will feature a mix of breaking news, political commentary, livestream debates, audience call-ins, social media clips, and internet chaos. No topic is off limits, and no sacred cow is guaranteed protection.
For Nuclear, the appeal of debate has always been rooted in a simple idea: most political arguments become much less convincing when someone asks a straightforward follow-up question. Rather than relying on talking points or outrage, Nuclear built his audience by challenging claims directly and forcing conversations back to basic questions of truth, logic, and consistency.
That approach has resonated particularly with younger audiences, many of whom encountered him through short-form social media clips before following him into longer discussions and debates.
While the show embraces the absurdity of modern politics and internet culture, it also reflects Nuclear’s belief that persuasion matters — especially for a generation increasingly surrounded by ideological noise.
“The Nuclear Reaction” streams regularly across The Daily Wire’s platforms, delivering reactions, arguments, laughs, and chaos from the front lines of the culture war.
The world may be falling apart, but Mat Nuclear will be there to talk about it.

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WATCH: Mat Nuclear Gets Hot On His Daily Wire Livestream

daily wire

Debate

Poltiics

Entitlement reform is about to become a hot-button issue, again, due to imminent fiscal shortfalls.
And right now the politics don’t look great for Americans under 40. According to recent <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/social-securitys-finances-are-getting-worse-americans-dont-know-how-hard-choices-will-be">polling</a> by the Cato Institute, 89% of senior citizens would support raising taxes on younger workers in order to maintain their Social Security benefits. Now consider that the <a href="https://voteathome.org/new-report-on-primary-voting-highlights-path-to-increase-voter-participation/">median</a> primary voter is 65 years old.
Gen Z <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025/2024-presidential-election-voting-registration-tables.html">votes</a> at much lower rates than older Americans, especially in <a href="https://theharvardpoliticalreview.com/gen-z-voter-barriers-2024-election/">midterms</a>. Worse, many Zoomers don’t even know how Social Security works. Half think their payroll taxes are either saved for them in a personal account or invested in a trust fund on their behalf.
In reality, Social Security is a <a href="https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/social-security-trust-fund-myth">pay-as-you-go program</a>. That means today’s beneficiaries are funded through taxes paid by younger workers, today. While retirees say they “paid in,” those dollars were spent long ago. Social Security’s mythology has obscured the economic trade-offs it requires: between the incomes of younger workers and the retirement lifestyles of seniors.
For decades, Social Security spending has gone in one direction: up, up, and up, on <a href="https://epicforamerica.org/federal-budget/epic-explainer-discretionary-v-autopilot-spending/">autopilot</a>. As a result, it now accounts for <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-does-the-us-spend-on-social-security-is-it-sustainable/">over</a> 22% of the federal budget, costing nearly $1.6 trillion per year. That makes it the single biggest item in America’s federal budget, and it’s <a href="https://www.pgpf.org/article/top-10-largest-budget-functions/">not close.</a> If you add up all spending on seniors in the federal budget, it’s about <a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/p/2026-04-01-how-federal-spending-is-distributed-by-age-group-in-fy2025/">$2.7 trillion</a> annually. We spend six times as much on senior citizens, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/over-65-congratulations-you-own-the-economy-5acea4c4">wealthiest demographic,</a> as we do on children and young adults.
Congress has made no major changes to Social Security since 1983, when President Ronald Reagan signed a bipartisan bill that saved it from imminent collapse. Contrary to today’s facile notion that entitlement reform is “a third rail,” Reagan signed bipartisan legislation that cut Social Security and Medicare spending in 1983, in addition to raising taxes. He won 49 states the very next year (when the economy jumps 7% in a single year, they let you do it).
Since Reagan, no president has been able to change the course of Social Security. Bush and Obama both talked about it. Neither got it done.
Something must change. The Social Security Trust Fund (technically it’s the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund) is projected to run out in late 2032. That’s just six years from now. It means senators elected or re-elected in the November 2026 midterms will confront this crisis within their upcoming terms.
And that’s not the only crisis on the horizon. Medicare Hospital Insurance is <a href="https://www.cms.gov/oact/tr/2026">projected</a> to run out in 2033. Chinese President Xi Jinping has directed the Chinese military to be able to strike Taiwan by 2027, though this does <a href="https://news.usni.org/2026/03/19/china-not-committed-to-2027-taiwan-invasion-u-s-intel-report-says">not</a> necessarily mean China will attack then. And the United States has been so occupied with <a href="https://americanmind.org/salvo/what-is-total-boomer-luxury-communism/">transferring</a> wealth to senior citizens that it forgot to match its defense production to its national security strategy. And that means significant production shortages of <a href="https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/chinas-naval-buildup-exposes-us-shipbuilding-gaps-and-fleet-weakness">ships</a>, <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/rebuilding-us-missile-inventory-multiyear-project">missiles</a>, and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/the-u-s-wants-to-break-chinas-drone-dominance-heres-where-it-will-struggle-39e69e18">drones</a>. America faces a rapidly complicated geopolitical situation, yet is maintaining <a href="https://econofact.org/u-s-defense-spending-in-historical-and-international-context">historically</a> low defense spending.
Making this all more intractable is America’s demographic collapse. We have fewer and fewer younger Americans <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/history/ratios.html">supporting</a> more and more older Americans. And this will get worse, impacting America’s ability to fund its entitlement programs — the fertility rate is falling <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/low-falling-fertility-means-social-securitys-funding-problems-are-worse-expected-0">faster</a> than the Social Security Trustees seem to think.
This will all come to a head, and soon. The U.S. must either significantly cut the growth trajectory of Social Security and Medicare spending or dramatically raise taxes. (Or some combination of benefit cuts and tax hikes).
There is no way to finesse our way out of this. It’s far too late to “privatize” Social Security, and any such plan would <a href="https://debtdispatch.substack.com/p/debt-digest-the-cassidy-kaine-social">dramatically</a> raise the national debt, making America’s fiscal problem worse, not better. And while AI promises to accelerate economic growth, excessive government regulation, grassroots backlash, and early demands for Universal Basic Income all cast doubt on the notion that AI will save us from the consequences of our own government spending.
By law, when the Social Security and Medicare trust funds run out, the programs’ spending will be cut significantly (by over 20% for Social Security and over 10% for Medicare Part A). But Congress is unlikely to allow these cuts to happen, given the political realities we have discussed.
American senior citizens know what they want: retirement benefits that keep going up forever, paid for by younger workers. Meanwhile, younger people don’t even know their own interests. Or what threatens them. Even among Americans under 30, 47% would protect current retirees’ benefits even if that means higher taxes on younger workers like them.
Expect more of the same. At least until America’s fundamental imbalance, between elderly power and youthful ignorance, changes.
America did not begin as a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gerontocracy-America-Hoarding-Power-Wealth_and/dp/0374607648">gerontocracy</a>. Thomas Jefferson was just 33 years old when he drafted the Declaration of Independence. Alexander Hamilton was around 20 in July 1776, but he was up north <a href="https://armyhistory.org/major-general-alexander-hamilton/">serving</a> as a captain in a New York artillery company.
With respect to America’s founders, however, if taxation without genuine political representation was a <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/colonial-life-today/early-american-economics-facts">problem</a> back in 1776, it is a much larger problem now.
***
Russ Greene is Executive Director of the Prime Mover Institute and the <a href="https://americanmind.org/salvo/what-is-total-boomer-luxury-communism/">coiner</a> of the term “Total Boomer Luxury Communism.”

Senior woman’s hands counting cash us dollars at home

The Boomer Ponzi Scheme Robbing Americans Of Future Prosperity

Boomers

DW Opinion

Medicare

social security

This summer has been anything but normal in La La Land.
Two indie horror films, one made for less than $1 million, are crushing the box office. A Steven Spielberg film about aliens visiting Earth can only dream of catching up. The same holds for a film franchise “in a galaxy far, far away.”
Nothing makes sense in Hollywood now, and that might be the best news possible for a flailing industry and audiences hoping for more voices, not fewer.
The Old Guard is fading to black. Enter the New Guard, weaned on YouTube and ready to tell fresh stories that connect with Gen Z.
Take director Curry Barker. The 26-year-old isn’t a household name like Spielberg, unless you live on YouTube. Barker cut his teeth on the platform, delivering viral hits like the creepy “Milk &amp; Serial,” an hour-long found-footage film no studio would touch.
That convinced Hollywood to let him direct his first feature, “Obsession,” about a lovestruck man granted one powerful wish: Make the girl of his dreams fall in love with him.
It works, and that’s when the macabre elements rush in.
The micro-indie opened to a solid $17 million in U.S. theaters, but it just kept growing. The film made significantly more money in its subsequent two weekends, a feat that doesn’t happen without adding movie screens.
As of June 11, the film snuck back to <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/date/2026-06-10/?ref_=bo_di_table_1">reclaim the top box office</a> slot nearly a month after it opened (May 15). Once again, that simply doesn’t happen.
But it did. And its worldwide total as of mid-June is north of $240 million. Hollywood already handed Barker the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” franchise to revive. More gigs will follow, with one studio waving a <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/obsession-filmmaker-curry-barker-gets-7-figure-offer-1236606967/">$10 million check</a> in front of him to do something, anything, for them.
Here’s betting Kane Parsons will get similar offers. The 20-year-old director also flexed his storytelling chops on his YouTube channel (Kane Pixels), building on creepy stories that lurk across digital platforms like 4chan.
The result? “Backrooms,” which opened to $81 million stateside.
That comes on the heels of an early 2026 hit, “Iron Lung.” Once more, a neophyte director weaned on YouTube. Mark Fischbach, AKA Markiplier, wrote, edited, directed, and starred in a sci-fi/horror film that earned a stunning $40 million on a $3 million budget.
As if 2026 couldn’t get any more unpredictable, there’s “The Amazing Digital Circus.” The Australian animated series debuted the final two episodes of its first season in select theaters. That release, subtitled “The Last Act,” briefly topped the box office and ended its debut weekend <a href="https://www.boxofficepro.com/the-amazing-digital-circus-the-last-act-lands-standout-box-office-debut/">with more than $20 million</a>.
All for two TV-like episodes set to debut in less than a month, for free, on YouTube. We shouldn’t be shocked, though. The show’s pilot episode has generated <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwAPLk_sQ3w&amp;t=120s">440 million views</a> on the platform to date.
These films did more than just wildly overperform; they let YouTube storytellers have their say. They brought Gen Z back to theaters in droves. That’s what’s been missing in recent years. Something blamed on a generational shift, short attention spans, and a dearth of compelling content.
And it took a new guard of storytellers to make it happen.
Now, imagine this stunning success complemented by older, more established franchises and iconic directors. Except it’s not working out that way.
“The Mandalorian and Grogu,” the first new “Star Wars” feature since 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker,” is underperforming. Badly. The film is laboring to crack the $300 million mark at the global box office, a fraction of what a “Star Wars” movie should earn.
For comparison, “The Rise of Skywalker” brought in $1 billion worldwide, and that film got skewered by franchise fans. The least successful “Star Wars” film in the modern era, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” brought in $392 million in 2018.
And then there’s the man who gave us “Jaws,” “Jurassic Park” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Spielberg’s new film, “Disclosure Day,” lets the Oscar winner revisit his most popular theme — aliens.
The thriller stars Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, and Colman Domingo, and early reviews are promising — north of 80 percent “fresh” at RottenTomatoes.com. Yet the film is expected to earn roughly <a href="https://deadline.com/2026/06/box-office-disclosure-day-projection-1236951773/">$35 million in its opening weekend in the U.S.</a>
Mediocre word of mouth could sink the film, and fast.
Once upon a time, a new Spielberg film felt like a cultural event, one that couldn’t be missed. That’s especially true for his summer-style features.
Not anymore.
Then there’s Clint Eastwood. The actor-director just turned 96, and various media reports suggest he’s either <a href="https://consequence.net/2026/06/clint-eastwood-may-not-be-retired/">retired or hasn’t decided yet</a>. Either way, the Hollywood legend has earned the right to sit back and marvel at his magnificent film legacy.
There won’t be another star like him, maybe ever.
Hollywood is in flux, and the new kids are in charge. It could also lead to more voices being heard and movie studios losing their iron grip on content. After all, technology is breaking down the barriers between artist and studio. Someone can shoot a movie on their iPhone and edit it on any number of cheap but powerful tools.
Plus, Fischbach self-distributed “Iron Lung,” bypassing the Hollywood gatekeepers — the same gatekeepers who often make sure select stories and voices aren’t heard on screen. We know which ones.
That won’t be the case for much longer.
The new, emerging Hollywood isn’t just saving the theatrical experience. It’s opening cinema up to fresh new ideas and, eventually, to more voices than ever before.
***
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News&#8217; Big Hollywood. He&#8217;s also the host of <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hollywood-in-toto-podcast-w-christian-toto/id1186449155">The Hollywood in Toto Podcast</a>. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en">@HollywoodInToto</a>.

Los Angeles Special Screening Of Focus Features’ “Obsession” – After Party

Gen Z YouTube Creators Are Shaking Up Tinseltown

entertainment

Independent Film

star wars

Steven Spielberg

The internet has been up in arms about one of the biggest Lego scandals in human history, involving a record-breaking Lego set and accusations of corporate greed, content farming, and police irresponsibility. 
 
Eric Mansell, along with his son Bryan, reportedly <a href="https://bricksandminifigs.com/blog/blog/2026/05/28/bricks-minifigs-salem-oregon-clarity-and-resolution/">collected</a> a Lego Star Wars collection consisting of 780 boxed Lego sets and 1,200 rare figures as an investment for his grandchildren. The collection was reportedly priced between $60,000 to $200,000. 
 
The family gave the collection to Bricks and Minifigs, an after-market Lego reseller, to sell on consignment. But when the store changed hands, the new owner refused Mansell access to the collection and denied even having it. 
 
“All you have to do is let me in back. We can go that route or we can go to court,” Mansell said he told the store owner, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wscQpkcwgNU">adding,</a> “And the guy there just looks at me, crosses his arms and goes, ‘Let me tell you what’s going to happen. If we go to court, we’re going to drag this thing out so long and you’re going to end up spending so much more money than your collection is ever worth or what you ever would have gotten out of it, then it ain’t worth it, man.’”
Bricks and Minifigs denied &#8220;knowingly&#8221; stealing the Lego collection, stating, “The actual origin of this dispute lies in an unauthorized, local consignment arrangement between an independent former franchisee of the Salem store and the Mansell family.” The company stated that the collection was not even in the store when Johnson and Brandon Best took it over, as the collection was moved to an &#8220;offsite secure location.&#8221; 
Bricks and Minifigs stated that it found between $2,000 and $5,000 worth of the sets in the store that could possibly belong to the Mansell family. It stated, “We offered to return these items to the Mansell family though BAM had no legal obligation to do so, but it was refused.”
“Neither corporate nor the incoming owners (Josh Johnson and Best) ever took, sold, or concealed this collection,” the company added, claiming that inventory logs show the collection was already missing at the time of the takeover of the franchise.
Ben Schneider, who is known on YouTube as Reckless Ben, brought the case to the public&#8217;s attention after he sought to help the family get compensation for the massive Lego set. Schneider even went to the Bricks and Minifigs store to look into the case, but the police were called and he was ordered to stay off the property after being <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wscQpkcwgNU">accused</a> of harassment. Schneider was also accused of trespassing after he attempted to go to the office of Ammon McNeff, the CEO of Bricks and Minifigs.
After Schneider reportedly tried all forms of discussion with Best and his business associate Joshua Johnson, he managed to win a default judgement in a small claims court against them for the Legos. However, Best and Johnson closed the Bricks and Minifigs store shortly after the controversy erupted.
Schneider then tried to personally sue Johnson and Best to recover the money, but said he had difficulty having a good faith conversation and serving the court papers required to personally sue. 
Schneider said he waited outside Johnson’s house away from his property so he could talk with him about the lawsuit while not being accused of trespassing. Johnson reportedly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxZPfj8AlmY">refused</a> to leave his property and called the cops multiple times on Schneider, one time allegedly accusing him of having heroin in his car, which turned out to be false. 
After Schneider was released on bail, the police later raided the house where Schneider and his friends were staying. The police arrested them all, and Schneider accused officers of dislocating his arm in the process.
Schneider and his friends were interrogated, and the police tried to keep Schneider in jail with no bail, but a judge allowed him to go. When Schneider was reportedly notified that there was another bail out for his arrest on the pretext that he was a physical threat to Johnson, he fled to Mexico to wait until things were sorted out.
In response to the ongoing problem with Schneider, Mansell, Johnson, and Best, Bricks and Minifigs filed a lawsuit against Schneider for conducting a harassment and extortion campaign against Bricks and Minifigs in Utah and Oregon. The company also <a href="https://bricksandminifigs.com/blog/blog/2026/05/28/bricks-minifigs-salem-oregon-clarity-and-resolution/">released</a> an official statement defending their side of the story.
The Bricks and Minifigs website has called Schneider and his content creator friends “zealous online profiteers” who have been engaged in “viral mischaracterizations” and &#8220;sensationalization&#8221; of their actions, and the actions of Johnson and Best.
Bricks and Minifigs also denied receiving verifiable copies of the signed contract, receipts of payment to the Mansell family, and a true listing of the inventory. It also said the store was closed “because our staff — including local teenagers — faced severe real-world safety hazards, targeted in-person stalking, and explicit bomb threats driven by viral videos.”
The American Fork Police Department posted a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcVmSQpIPRY">video</a> detailing its perspective on the events, including previous claims about harassment, stalking, forging of signatures, and theft of Legos. The police department also stated it wanted to stop Schneider&#8217;s attempt to contact Johnson about the Legos because Johnson &#8220;reported that he was going to shoot someone as a result of the ongoing harassment.&#8221;
Schneider has also issued a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YEzhDn0jY8">response</a> to the police video, stating that the police raided &#8220;my house for stealing the Legos when there&#8217;s an overwhelming amount of evidence that Josh stole the Legos&#8221; and that the police &#8220;redacted everything&#8221; that supported Schneider in the body cam footage, saying that the reason was &#8220;to protect the victims.&#8221;
Schneider also started a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-bryan-recover-his-lego-collection">GoFundMe</a> to help the Mansell family recover the cost of their collections and to pay for legal fees as he is considering suing Best, Johnson, and the police department.
Most recently, Bricks and Minifigs released a statement <a href="https://bricksandminifigs.com/blog/blog/2026/06/04/bricks-and-minifigs-salem-joshua-johnson-brandon-best-resignation/">declaring</a> that it was permanently closing their Salem location, parting ways with Johnson and Best, and &#8220;personally reached out to Bryan Mansell and family to meet, to review documentation revealed in the investigation, and to come to a mutual and positive resolution.&#8221;

Legoworlds in the Bomann-Museum Celle

GRAND THEFT LEGO: How One Man’s ‘Star Wars’ Collection Set The Internet Ablaze

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