Popular children’s content creator Ms. Rachel was confronted over her anti-Israel views and insisted that she’s not anti-Israel.
Podcast host Avi Lichtschein recently approached the YouTube star, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, at a neighborhood park, as he discussed on Sunday’s <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/1BwAMLpmArmo4pP0Kgn2KO">episode</a> of his show, “Depends on the Context.”
After meeting her, Lichtschein asked the educator why she was anti-Israel. Accurso reportedly told him that she was not anti-Israel, but anti-Israeli government and anti-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I pushed back on this, and I said, ‘That’s absurd,&#8217;” the podcast host said. “Saying you’re anti-Netanyahu, but you’re not anti-Israel? Netanyahu is the democratically elected leader of the sovereign nation. I think what you do is way beyond that.”
Lichtschein said that Accurso has accused Israel of committing a “genocide” through its war with Hamas.
 “She said something along the lines of, ‘Twenty thousand children have died. How is that not a genocide?&#8217;” Lichtschein said. “The answer is — and this is what I was trying to convey to her — genocide is not just a word for, like, a war. War is terrible. Again, Hamas started this war. Genocide is the specific accusation that [she’s] hurling at the Jewish people, hurling at the state of Israel, and now it gives carte blanche to go open season on Jews literally around the world,” he went on.
The podcaster said Accurso repeatedly used the justification that her “husband’s father is Jewish” and insisted she supports the right of Israel to exist. Lichtschein said he told her she was “spreading blood libel.” 
He told Accurso’s husband that he was sorry she got upset.
“I wasn’t planning on her changing her mind,” Lichtschein said. “I wanted to point out [that] [her] words are creating a lot of damage and I think someone with an audience as enormous as hers has a responsibility to understand what happens downstream from the things that she says.”
Lichtschein said he doesn’t think Accurso is a malicious antisemite, but added that her words are having a negative outcome just the same. 
“I think that what she’s doing is motivated by compassion for children, but I think she’s very naïve and very gullible and doesn’t realize what her actions are doing to the Jewish community at large, what her words are doing to the enemies of the Jewish people. What she’s doing is harmful.”
Ms. Rachel’s YouTube series “Songs For Littles” has grown rapidly in recent years, and her YouTube channel has reached 20.2 million subscribers. She receives over 400 million views each month, with her most popular video receiving over a billion views.
The YouTube star has gained massive popularity largely due to her uncanny ability to “entrance” and entertain babies and toddlers. She has even been called the “world’s babysitter.” But she’s espoused far-Left views on topics ranging from pushing pro-trans talking points to opposing the deportation of illegal immigrant criminals. She also partnered with New York City democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Ms. Rachel

Podcaster Confronts Ms. Rachel About Accusing Israel Of ‘Genocide’

anti-Israel

Celebrities

Entertainment

Israel

YouTube

Vice President Vance Speaks At Event For Michigan Republican Candidates

LISTEN: JD Vance’s Closed-Door Interview In Front Of Republican Jews

American Jews

J.D. Vance

Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed is ramping up efforts to repair his relationship with Jewish voters, with his campaign now <a href="https://www.jta.org/2026/08/31/politics/all-of-us-have-to-bring-down-violence-wherever-we-see-it-el-sayed-says-following-address-to-jewish-democrats">planning</a> to hire a &#8220;Jewish liaison&#8221; following months of controversy over his anti-Israel views.
The far-Left candidate’s sudden pivot comes on the heels of two back-to-back apologies from El-Sayed over comments he made following an attempted terrorist attack on a West Bloomfield Township synagogue preschool in March.
Speaking at the Michigan Democratic Party Jewish Caucus’s “Summer Simcha” fundraiser on Sunday, El-Sayed apologized for offering &#8220;context&#8221; for the attack by pointing to the assailant&#8217;s family being affected by fighting in the Middle East and saying that &#8220;hurt people hurt people.&#8221;
He claimed he would &#8220;take it all the way back&#8221; if he could and insisted he never meant to defend terrorism.
El-Sayed&#8217;s campaign reportedly said it intends to hire a Jewish liaison and is interviewing candidates for the position while consulting with Jewish community leaders, a person familiar with the campaign told JTA.
Yet, for many voters, the PR tour is nothing more than cheap political theater. The outreach comes as El-Sayed faces resistance from Michigan&#8217;s Jewish voters, a historically Democratic constituency that could prove consequential in his general election fight against Republican Mike Rogers.
While El-Sayed drops buzzwords like &#8220;tikkun olam&#8220; to charm the crowd, attendees weren’t buying the sudden change of heart.
When one mother asked if he would support funding Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system to protect innocent children, as her own were soon flying to Israel, he wouldn’t, a position he has <a href="https://forward.com/news/844100/el-sayed-israel-aid-jewish-voters/">taken before</a>.
“He doesn’t care about the safety of my children,” the mother commented.
On national television, El-Sayed has slammed the Jewish state as an &#8220;illegal apartheid regime&#8221; and <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2026/08/el-sayed-calls-israel-bloodthirsty-ahead-of-senate-primary-win/">branded</a> its government &#8220;bloodthirsty,&#8221; while openly demanding a complete freeze on all U.S. aid to Israel.
El-Sayed&#8217;s buddy, Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, pulled back the curtain on the entire charade. Piker exposed El-Sayed’s damage control as a complete deception, telling his followers, “There are going to be a lot of people who are already questioning Abdul El-Sayed’s sincerity on these issues that will then turn around and say, ‘Oh, he’s, you know, he’s moderating his position on Israel,’ all this stuff. I don’t think he is. Okay, I will say this. I am literally the person that is being dangled. And I’m going to tell you once again, he’s not moderating on his perspective on Israel or anything like that.”
Republican opponent Mike Rogers torched the candidate&#8217;s sudden pivot, calling El-Sayed&#8217;s apology campaign the &#8220;epitome of what a conman does.&#8221;
With a track record of cozying up to extremists and demonizing Israel, El-Sayed’s token hiring of a campaign liaison should be seen for what it is: a ruse.

MI Democratic Party holds nominating convention

El-Sayed To Hire Token Jew As Campaign Spirals

Abdul El-Sayed

antisemitism

Jews

Michigan

A trio of House Republicans is calling on the Trump administration to investigate Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal after he traveled to Iran for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei&#8217;s funeral.
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) sent the request Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Todd Blanche, co-signed by Reps. Keith Self (R-TX) and Randy Weber (R-TX), <a href="https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/2093684165732708672/photo/2">according</a> to a letter obtained by Laura Loomer. The letter builds on an earlier request Fine and colleagues filed in July seeking scrutiny of activists Calla Walsh, Jackson Hinkle and Christopher Helali for attending the same funeral, which the lawmakers describe as an event organized and orchestrated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The letter accuses Blumenthal of using journalism as cover to spread propaganda benefiting America&#8217;s enemies, pointing to his past commentary on the October 7 attacks — the letter accuses him of denying the massacre&#8217;s atrocities and calling some details &#8220;manufactured&#8221; by the Israeli government — and a 2025 reporting trip to Iran. The lawmakers also flagged Blumenthal&#8217;s lineage, noting he is the son of Sidney Blumenthal, a former aide to President Bill Clinton and a confidant of Hillary Clinton, calling it a matter of &#8220;grave concern&#8221; that a Democratic-aligned family has produced someone the letter alleges has become &#8220;an agent of influence&#8221; for Iran.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 EXCLUSIVE 🚨
GOP Members of Congress call for State Department and DOJ to investigate Radical Left Islamic Terror Sympathizer Max Blumenthal Following His Return From Iran
GOP Congressman <a href="https://x.com/RepFine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepFine</a> has written a letter to Secretary of State <a href="https://x.com/SecRubio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecRubio</a> and US Attorney General… <a href="https://t.co/QrSvRL1JJK">pic.twitter.com/QrSvRL1JJK</a>
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) <a href="https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/2093684165732708672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 
Beyond the funeral trip itself, the letter presses federal officials to examine who funds Blumenthal&#8217;s outlet, The Grayzone Project, and argues Homeland Security had grounds to seize his electronics and question him about financing when he reentered the country. It closes by urging Rubio and Blanche to investigate Blumenthal &#8220;to ensure the American public is safe from this traitor.&#8221;
Loomer&#8217;s post noted the letter lands two days after Rubio announced State Department sanctions on &#8220;violent far-left terrorist groups,&#8221; citing a Bush-era counterterrorism <a href="https://www.state.gov/executive-order-13224">executive order</a>. A State Department <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/08/imposing-sanctions-on-violent-far-left-terrorist-groups">press release</a> accompanying those sanctions said the action targets &#8220;terrorists, terrorist organizations, leaders and officials of terrorist groups, and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism,&#8221; and described the move as part of a broader effort against &#8220;transnational far-left terrorism.&#8221;
Blumenthal has not yet issued a public response to the letter, and did not respond to the Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment. The State Department and Justice Department have not indicated whether they will act on the lawmakers&#8217; request — neither agency immediately responded to the Wire&#8217;s requests for comment.
Loomer, who has closely tracked reporters&#8217; attendance at the funeral, suggested the letter could mark &#8220;the beginning of the end&#8221; for Blumenthal and The Grayzone.

Rep. Randy Fine

House Republicans Demand Investigation Into Liberal Activist Who Attended Ayatollah’s Funeral

Ali Khamenei

Iran

Laura Loomer

Marco Rubio

Randy Fine

Todd Blanche

Six months ago, the United States and Israel went to war with Iran to cripple its nuclear program and military capabilities. Six months later, Iran has suffered devastating losses — but the Islamic regime remains in power.
The war’s impact has extended well beyond Iran itself. The conflict has disrupted global energy markets and shipping, while ongoing negotiations have yet to produce a lasting agreement to end the war. With the fighting largely shifting from major military operations to economic warfare, the conflict has entered a new phase with no end in sight.
The campaign, originally named Operation Epic Fury, has delivered major military gains, imposed significant costs and left a long list of questions unanswered.
Here’s a look at the biggest achievements, losses and unresolved questions six months into the war.
<h2>Achievements</h2>
<h4>Ayatollah Khamenei Was Killed</h4>
The death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the conflict was arguably the most consequential single strike of the war. Khamenei had ruled Iran for decades and was the central figure in the Islamic Republic’s political and military system. His death did not bring down the regime, but it removed the country’s most powerful leader and forced Iran into a succession process in the middle of a war. His son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to be seen or heard in public or take on the public role his father once played.
<h4>Iran&#8217;s Military Leadership Was Devastated</h4>
Iran has also suffered extraordinary losses among its senior military leadership. Israel <a href="https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/israel-at-war/briefings-by-idf-spokesperson-bg-effie-defrin/february-26-press-briefings/press-briefing-by-idf-spokesperson-bg-effie-defrin-february-28-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">said</a> it killed dozens of senior Iranian commanders and officials in the opening strikes alone, including IRGC Commander Mohammad Pakpour, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh and other senior figures. As strikes continued, the Israel Defense Forces <a href="https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/iran-israel-war-2026/live-updates-iran-israel-war-2026/march-1-2026-iran-israel-war-2026-live-updates/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">claimed</a> it eliminated more than 40 Iranian senior commanders. On March 17, Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/he-threatened-america-then-came-the-strike-his-words-now-haunt">was killed</a> in an Israeli airstrike. He had been accused of overseeing the January crackdown that killed thousands of Iranian protesters and had threatened the U.S. military and President Trump shortly before his death.
<h4>Iran’s Economy Is In Shambles</h4>
Iran entered the war with an economy already under severe strain, with inflation, a collapsing rial, and worsening living conditions fueling protests in December and January. Six months into the war, the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has further squeezed Iran’s economy by choking off its ability to export oil. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/iran-economy-war-impact-oil-exports-inflation-unemployment-gdp-currency-2026-8">Business Insider</a> reported that Iranian oil exports fell as low as 65,000 barrels per day in May, down 69% from the 2.12 million barrels a day exported before the war. The IMF projects Iran’s economy will contract 5.4% in 2026, its sharpest contraction since 1988, while inflation could reach 68.9%. The rial has fallen to record lows, and Iran’s economic “Misery Index” reached 91.1, its highest level on record. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies estimates the war has caused roughly $144 billion in economic damage, equivalent to about 40% of Iran’s prewar GDP.
<h4>Iran’s Nuclear Infrastructure Is Buried</h4>
While several of Iran’s nuclear facilities were severely damaged by U.S. strikes ordered by President Trump last summer, the war provided an opportunity to continue degrading the program, targeting additional infrastructure and preventing Tehran from easily rebuilding what had been destroyed. The result is a nuclear program that has been repeatedly battered, with its ability to resume large-scale enrichment significantly constrained.
<h4>Navy and Air Force Neutralized</h4>
Iran’s conventional air and naval forces have been among the war’s biggest casualties. As of May, CENTCOM <a href="https://www.centcom.mil/ABOUT-US/POSTURE-STATEMENT/Al-Udeid-Air-Base/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">claimed</a> U.S. forces destroyed 161 Iranian vessels across 16 classes of warships, effectively crippling Iran’s ability to operate at sea. Before the operation, Iran’s air force was flying between 30 and 100 times a day. CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper told Congress that number is now zero, with U.S. and Israeli strikes destroying or disabling airfields, aircraft hangars, fuel supplies, weapons stockpiles and aircraft. Cooper also said 82% of Iran’s air-defense missile systems were knocked out.
<h4>Iran’s Proxies Have Been Sidelined</h4>
One of Tehran’s traditional advantages has been its network of armed proxies across the Middle East, but that network entered the war significantly weaker than it was before October 7. Hezbollah did join the fight and launched attacks against Israel, but years of Israeli operations had severely weakened the group’s leadership and military capabilities. The Houthis also fired missiles at Israel, but their attacks were largely ineffective. Meanwhile, the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria in 2024 removed a key Iranian ally and severed an important link in Tehran’s regional network. The result was a much weaker “Axis of Resistance” that was unable to meaningfully relieve pressure on Iran or turn the conflict into a broader regional war.
<h2>Losses</h2>
<h4>Fallen American Soldiers</h4>
The war has also come at a human cost for the United States. According to the Pentagon’s updated casualty figures, 18 U.S. service members have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/two-american-heroes-killed-in-iran-attack-identified">been killed</a> and another 624 wounded since the war began on February 28. Those killed include Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, Capt. Cody Khork, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, Sgt. Declan Coady, Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, John A. Klinner, Ariana Savino, Ashley Pruitt, Seth Koval, Curtis Angst, Tyler Simmons, Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards, Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales. 
<h4>The Strait of Hormuz Isn&#8217;t Open</h4>
The Strait of Hormuz is still operating, but traffic remains far below prewar levels. In August, only a handful of commercial vessels crossed the waterway each day, compared with more than 130 daily transits before the war, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hormuz-ship-crossings-hover-single-digits-data-shows-2026-08-21/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">according to Reuters</a>. And when traffic does return to normal, the strait’s administration could look different. Under the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-exactly-what-the-white-house-says-is-in-the-deal-with-iran">U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding</a>, Iran agreed to allow toll-free passage for commercial vessels for 60 days while working with Oman and other Persian Gulf states on the strait’s “future administration and maritime services.” A senior Trump administration official said the provision could pave the way for a longer-term arrangement, though Iran has so far indicated it wants to work only with Oman.
<h4>Key Allies Did Not Join the Fight</h4>
The war also exposed limits to how much support the United States could expect from some of its closest allies. Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain declined to join Trump’s efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz, while Italy and Spain also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/europe-pushes-back-us-military-operations-concerns-over-iran-war-mount-2026-03-31/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">restricted</a> U.S. military access to bases and airspace for operations against Iran. France denied Israeli aircraft carrying U.S. weapons overflight rights, while Britain limited its support largely to defensive operations. Trump publicly criticized Britain, France, Italy and Germany over their positions, leading to a series of diplomatic <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-to-confront-divided-west-in-g7-showdown">spats</a>.
<h4>A Heavy Price Tag</h4>
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee in July that the war had cost an estimated $37.5 billion so far. NBC News reported that the Pentagon’s internal estimate had reached $80 billion to $100 billion when accounting for repairing damaged bases, replacing destroyed aircraft and <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/6046742-house-democrats-letter-iran-conflict/">replenishing</a> depleted weapons stockpiles. The administration also sought $67.1 billion from Congress in June, including $21 billion for munitions and $17.3 billion for operational costs. The United States has also lost a significant number of aircraft during the conflict, including at least four F-15E Strike Eagles, a KC-135 aerial refueling tanker, an A-10 Thunderbolt II, a CH-47 Chinook, two MC-130 transport aircraft and multiple MQ-9 Reaper drones.
<h2>Unresolved</h2>
<h4>Negotiations Have Dragged On</h4>
Despite months of negotiations, the United States and Iran have yet to reach a lasting agreement. The proposed June memorandum of understanding ultimately collapsed, and talks now appear stalled, with the two sides still divided over Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions and the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has also accused Iran of saying one thing behind closed doors and another publicly, saying he does not trust the regime. 
<h4>Pickaxe Mountain</h4>
One of the biggest unresolved issues is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-is-pickaxe-mountain-and-why-is-trump-talking-about-it">Pickaxe Mountain</a>, a deeply buried nuclear-related complex near Iran’s Natanz facility that was not struck during previous U.S. attacks. Satellite imagery indicates construction and fortification have continued at the site, which some experts estimate is buried at least 100 meters underground — potentially deeper than the U.S. military’s conventional bunker-busting capabilities can reach. The International Atomic Energy Agency has never inspected the facility, raising questions about what Iran could eventually store or develop there. President Trump has publicly identified Pickaxe Mountain as a potential target, but for now the facility remains intact and could provide Iran with a hardened fallback for its nuclear program if it becomes operational.
<h4>Iran’s Nuclear Material Remains Unaccounted For</h4>
The fate of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile remains unknown. Before the strikes, Iran had more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, but the IAEA has been unable to determine how much survived, where it is or whether Iran has moved it. Trump has repeatedly called the material “nuclear dust” and said the U.S. wants it removed from Iran. Iran, meanwhile, has maintained that it has the right to a peaceful civilian nuclear program. During negotiations, Trump has discussed working with Iran to excavate and remove the potentially buried stockpile.

Mojtaba Khamenei

Six Months Into the Iran War, Who Is Winning?

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Donald Trump

Pete Hegseth

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who regularly rails against Israeli influence on American elections, had no issue speaking at a conference aimed at influencing the politics of a foreign country over the weekend.
Surrounded by Pakistani flags, El-Sayed spoke at the Pakistan Association of America in Metro Detroit on Sunday, celebrating the 79th anniversary of Pakistani independence and calling for an end to military rule in the South Asian country, The Detroit Free Press <a href="https://x.com/nwarikoo/status/2091643859272945749">reported</a>. He also compared the fight for democracy in Pakistan to his party&#8217;s efforts against President Donald Trump.
&#8220;I&#8217;m so honored to be here with you today to celebrate Pakistani independence, but I do want to speak specifically to this moment right now because the only reason I could be running for office is because I was born in these United States of America because of an accident of history,&#8221; El-Sayed said.
&#8220;Democracy is a precious thing. It is a beautiful thing,&#8221; El-Sayed added. &#8220;And it operates on a knife&#8217;s edge, and we see that in these United States right now under a president who threatens the very ideals of democracy itself.&#8221;
El-Sayed went on to condemn the current regime in Pakistan that has jailed its political opponents, including the former prime minister. The Democratic candidate, who routinely bashes the American Israel Public Affairs Committee&#8217;s (AIPAC) activities in U.S. elections, did not hesitate to push for major reforms in Pakistan while speaking at the Pakistan Association of America gathering.
El-Sayed&#8217;s campaign did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment.
The leftist Muslim made his opposition to Israel and AIPAC a central part of his Senate primary campaign against Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who was backed by AIPAC. El-Sayed regularly highlights how AIPAC and its affiliated groups <a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/elections/2026/aipac-has-spent-a-record-amount-on-michigans-senate-primary-the-biggest-test-of-its-influence-yet/">spent</a> roughly $30 million backing Stevens in the primary. In June, El-Sayed warned that he was &#8220;coming for the system that tells us that the best way to run and win campaigns is to take money from corporations and special interests like AIPAC,&#8221; adding that Israel was “the most egregious example” of foreign governments attempting to influence U.S. elections.
While El-Sayed touts himself as the candidate pushing back against foreign influence, questions have also been raised about outside influences on his own campaign. On Monday, The Midwesterner <a href="https://www.themidwesterner.news/2026/08/egyptian-sentenced-to-life-for-funding-muslim-brotherhood-giving-money-to-abdul-el-sayeds-u-s-senate-campaign/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that El-Sayed&#8217;s campaign is benefiting from thousands of dollars from an Egyptian-American activist who was sentenced to life in prison for helping radicals in the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mohamed Soltan, 38, the president of the American Committee for Middle East Rights, has made at least two contributions to El-Sayed&#8217;s campaign. Soltan&#8217;s organization has also donated $25,000 to the Fighting for Michigan PAC, which was created to support El-Sayed.
Soltan faced charges related to aiding protests against the military coup that ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, including accusations that he funded and belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood. Soltan disputed the charges. He was released from prison in 2015 after pressure from the Obama administration.
El-Sayed&#8217;s birth mother, Fatten Fathy Elkomy, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayeds-mother-worked-for-terror-group-that-funded-bin-laden-and-taliban">worked</a> for an Islamic charity later designated by the U.S. government as a supporter of terrorism after the organization was accused of funneling funds to Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and Hamas. El-Sayed has said little about his birth mother and said that his stepmother and grandparents mostly influenced him after Elkomy and his father divorced.
El-Sayed also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abdul-el-sayed-displayed-book-written-by-extremist-tied-to-1993-world-trade-center-attack?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Abdul+El-Sayed+Displayed+Book+Written+By+Extremist+Tied+To+1993+World+Trade+Center+Attack">displayed a book</a> written by an Islamic scholar linked to the 1993 World Trade Center terrorist attack, the Washington Free Beacon first reported. The book, called “Dream Interpretation According to the Qur’an,” was written by Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, an Islamic scholar listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the first bombing attack on New York’s World Trade Center. The book was just one of several tied to radical Islam seen on the bookshelf that El-Sayed attempted to hide from cameras in resurfaced documentary footage.
El-Sayed&#8217;s campaign responded, saying, &#8220;This was not Abdul’s bookshelf.&#8221; The campaign added, &#8220;Abdul is a doctor and Rhodes Scholar who reads widely, including authors whose views he may disagree with. A book appearing in the background of documentary footage is not an endorsement of its content nor a reflection of his beliefs.&#8221;
The Democrat has campaigned with Marxist streamer Hasan Piker, who said that &#8220;America deserved 9/11.&#8221; El-Sayed is also scheduled to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/el-sayed-to-speak-at-conference-that-will-include-cleric-who-forced-13-year-old-into-marriage?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=El-Sayed+To+Headline+Convention+With+Cleric+Who+Loves+Child+Marriage">headline a conference</a> organized by the Islamic Society of North America over Labor Day weekend. El-Sayed&#8217;s panel is set to address &#8220;Cultivating God Awareness in a Turmoiled America&#8221; alongside Cenk Uygur, the radical-leftist founder of The Young Turks and Piker&#8217;s uncle.
Allies of Republican Mike Rogers, who&#8217;s running against El-Sayed in the general election, are <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mike-rogers-allies-urge-aipac-to-stay-out-of-michigan-senate-race">reportedly</a> asking AIPAC to back off plans to broadcast its support for Rogers. Axios reported that Rogers met with AIPAC chairman Michael Tuchin earlier this month before the organization held off on releasing an ad attacking El-Sayed.

AIPAC-Obsessed El-Sayed Speaks At Event By Pakistan Association Of America

American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)

Mike Rogers

Pakistan

A questionable consensus has hardened on the Democratic Left. Israel, we are told with certainty, sits at the eye of American political power, its lobby the most potent, its money the most corrosive, and its influence the real reason United States policy bends and folds the way it does. The claim is repeated so often, and with such confidence, that it has begun to pass for common knowledge. It is also being deployed, quite deliberately, as a midterm strategy.
According to the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/fara">OpenSecrets</a> compilation of Foreign Agents Registration Act filings since 2016, Israel ranks tenth in total foreign lobbying spending. China, Qatar, Japan, Liberia, and Saudi Arabia all stand higher, and several other states outrank it as well. 
<a href="https://aipac.org/truth-lobbying">Israel</a> is not the largest foreign lobbyist operating in the United States by this measure.
<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/22/mamdani-called-aipac-dark-money-monsters-none-of-the-candidates-seem-to-care-00970873">Zohran Mamdani</a> has called AIPAC “monsters” who move “millions in dark money” to preserve their power, turn Americans against one another, and obstruct an end to what he terms genocide. <a href="https://www.memri.org/tv/abdul-el-sayed-michigan-aipac-two-masters-israel-most-egregious-example">Abdul El-Sayed</a> has described Israel as “the most egregious” foreign government shaping American politics and declared that “our foreign policy has been handed to us by the likes of the State of Israel and AIPAC.”
<a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/10/24/axios-show-bernie-sanders-aipac-oligarchy">Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)</a> has cast the same organization as part of a billionaire oligarchy that systematically defeats progressive critics while shielding Netanyahu. <a href="https://allisraelnews.com/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-says-us-congress-is-overly-influenced-by-aipac">Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)</a> has said Congress is “overly influenced” by AIPAC and labeled it an extremist organization that destabilizes American democracy. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/us/politics/aipac-congress-democrats.html">Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)</a> has asked why other interest groups may be scrutinized while the most “powerful lobbying group” pushing “allegiance to a foreign country” remains insulated, reducing the entire relationship to “all about the Benjamins.”
These statements are more than isolated criticisms. They form a working political agenda that turns policy disagreement into a story of external control and compromised government institutions.
Sixty percent of U.S. adults now hold an <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/07/negative-views-of-israel-netanyahu-continue-to-rise-among-americans-especially-young-people/">unfavorable</a> view of Israel, up from 53% last year. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, the number is far higher: eight in 10 view Israel unfavorably, up from 69% a year ago and 53% in 2022. Democrats under 50 years old are especially negative, with nearly half saying their view is very unfavorable. One recent survey also found that nearly three in 10 young Americans now view Jews as a <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/nearly-one-third-of-young-americans-view-jews-as-a-threat-to-society-poll/">threat</a> to society. 
Candidates who keep calling Israel the biggest foreign lobby are both speaking to and helping expand an audience that has already moved sharply against the Middle East nation, especially among younger Democrats. The claim encourages the belief that the American government itself is aligned with and controlled by Israel. For socialist and DSA-aligned activists, that picture is unifying. Their attitude is encapsulated by the Faust quote: &#8220;For all that comes into being deserves to perish.&#8221; It is a way of seeing the world that takes less intellectual effort and is more seductive.
That concentration of attention is harder to justify when larger foreign influences are taken into account. Qatar has directed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/qatars-billions-raise-new-questions-about-foreign-influence-on-campus">billions</a> into American universities, financing socialist student organizations on campuses, research centers, and academic programming that shape how students understand the Middle East and the Jewish state. 
At the same time, a longer-running network with documented ties to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-hearing-pulls-back-curtain-on-muslim-brotherhoods-ties-to-hamas">Muslim Brotherhood</a> and Hamas-supporting infrastructure has spent decades building influence through nonprofits, campus organizing, and educational programming. The 2008 Holy Land Foundation case and later Senate testimony showed this network continuing to operate. This operation helps produce a younger cohort already primed to see Israel as uniquely illegitimate and powerful, which makes the progressive claim that Israel is the top foreign lobby land more easily and turn more readily into votes.
China has spent heavily through its own channels, advancing influence that frequently aligns with socialist and communist political ideologies, and the Foreign Agents Registration Act database shows multiple countries exceeding Israel’s registered foreign agent spending. A movement truly focused on foreign influence would examine the largest spenders and the most embedded ideological networks with equal criticism.
In a midterm cycle in which Democrats are still trying to take back the House, calling Israel the biggest foreign lobby remains useful even when the numbers say otherwise. If they win the chamber, they regain the power to investigate and, if the politics allow it, try to <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/faith-freedom-self-reliance/4539460/republicans-cant-take-2026-midterm-elections-for-granted/">impeach</a> President Trump again. That is why the claim continues. It is not sustained by the data; it’s sustained by what it can still deliver in an election year.

US Currency One Hundred Dollar Bill in a circle on USA Red

The Left’s Israel Obsession And The Fiction Of Its Foreign Influence

2026 Midterms

Bernie Sanders

Democrat

Foreign Policy

Hamas

Ilhan Omar

Mayor Zohran Mamdani

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Qatar

A Palestinian prisoner serving a life sentence for his role in the 2001 assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister has reportedly fathered twins after his sperm was allegedly smuggled out of an Israeli prison.
Basel al-Asmar’s wife, Sanabel Al-Ra’i, announced the birth of a boy and a girl at a hospital in Qalqilya, according to Palestinian media reports cited by <a href="https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-906420">The Jerusalem Post</a>. The reported birth has also been celebrated by Hamas-affiliated media.
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcSY2b7zsOh/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=AB-r19VClz7ROz6zo8qfjKD">A video</a> shared on Instagram by a Palestinian influencer appears to show Al-Ra’i in a hospital bed with the two newborns. The footage has circulated alongside reports about the alleged sperm-smuggling operation.
Al-Asmar is imprisoned at Nafha Prison in Israel’s Negev region. He is serving a life sentence for his role in the murder of former Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi, who was assassinated at the Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem on October 17, 2001. Al-Asmar was also convicted of membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Palestinian terrorist organization.
The reported conception was apparently not immediate. According to Al-Asmar’s nephew, who spoke to Palestinian media, attempts to conceive using the allegedly smuggled sperm took place over roughly two years before the pregnancy was successful. 
The couple reportedly met while Al-Ra’i was visiting her brother, Shaher Al-Ra’i, in prison. Her brother was a PFLP member who was suspected of involvement in the killing of two Israeli hikers but was never convicted of those killings, according to the Post. Basel Al-Asmar and Sanabel Al-Ra’i subsequently married by proxy.
The Israel Prison Service has not confirmed that the twins were fathered by Al-Asmar.
In a statement to The Jerusalem Post, the Israel Prison Service said there was no scientific evidence confirming Al-Asmar’s paternity. The service added that such operations are not possible because prisoners have had no contact with the outside world since October 7, 2023.
The prison service specifically linked the timing to the tenure of Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi, saying that prison policy changed after his appointment and that, since October 7, 2023, there has been no contact between prisoners and the outside world that would allow such operations.
According to Indira IVF, sperm can survive for up to an hour in a warm, moist environment when kept in a sterile container. However, the clinic says sperm viability drops quickly when semen is exposed to water or surfaces.
Reports of Palestinian prisoners fathering children through allegedly smuggled sperm date back more than a decade. Over 100 children have been fathered by Palestinian prisoners through sperm smuggling since 2012, according to Palestinian media reports cited by the Jerusalem Post. This includes prisoner Ahmad Shamali, a Palestinian prisoner, claiming he fathered quadruplets in 2023.

Inside The Twisted Scheme To Help A Jailed Palestinian Terrorist Father Twins

Jailed Palestinian Terrorist Allegedly Fathers Twins After Sperm-Smuggling Operation

Palestine

Terrorism

Mark Ruffalo’s fight with Paramount may be new. His fight with Israel definitely is not.
The “Avengers” star spent the weekend denying accusations that he invoked “antisemitic tropes,” but a trail of Ruffalo’s own posts shows his criticism of Israel stretches back more than a decade.
The latest fight started after Paramount accused Ruffalo of invoking “antisemitic tropes” while he attacked the company’s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Ruffalo had shared a video of former Oracle CEO Safra Catz discussing technology the company made available to Israel following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. Ruffalo went after Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whose son David runs Paramount, and warned that the technology could eventually be “used on you.”
“Look how she revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle,” Ruffalo wrote.
Paramount wasn’t having it.
“We are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,” the company said.
Paramount also called Ruffalo’s use of words like “genocide” and “apartheid” in connection with the corporate fight “a bridge too far.”
Ruffalo pushed back, calling the accusation that he is antisemitic “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.”
“Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people,” Ruffalo said.
But Ruffalo’s posts about Israel go back years.
In 2014, he questioned accusations that Hamas was using civilians as human shields.
“Do you honestly think these people, these fellow human beings, would use their own children as shields?” Ruffalo wrote to another user. “Use your heart.”
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Days later, Ruffalo shared an article claiming Hamas had not kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers.
“Wow. It Turns Out Hamas Didn’t Kidnap and Kill the 3 Israeli Teens After All,” the headline Ruffalo shared read.
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And when criticism started flying over his Gaza posts, Ruffalo had an answer for that, too.
“Empathizing w/ Gaza does NOT make me anti-Semitic, nor pro-Hamas or anti-Israel,” Ruffalo wrote. “It makes me human.”
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Fast forward to 2021 when Ruffalo was calling for sanctions against Israel and comparing the country to apartheid-era South Africa.
“Sanctions on South Africa helped free its black people,” Ruffalo wrote before calling for sanctions on Israel to “free Palestinians.” 
He repeated the comparison days later while posting about Palestinian deaths in Gaza.
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Then Ruffalo walked it back.
Later that month, the actor apologized for posts suggesting Israel was committing “genocide.”
“I have reflected &amp; wanted to apologize for posts during the recent Israel/Hamas fighting that suggested Israel is committing ‘genocide,’” Ruffalo wrote.
He called the characterization “not accurate,” “inflammatory,” and “disrespectful.” Ruffalo also acknowledged something else about the rhetoric.
“It’s being used to justify antisemitism here &amp; abroad,” he wrote.
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The apology, though, didn’t stop Ruffalo from continuing to weigh in on Israel. In November 2023, Ruffalo went after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Netanyahu discussed civilian casualties in Gaza.
“They aren’t ‘collateral damage’ either,” Ruffalo wrote, referring to Palestinians. “They are human beings who happen to have been born there and live there and most of those human beings are stuck there.”
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Ruffalo has continued criticizing Israel and its handling of the war in Gaza in the years since. Now, the word he publicly apologized for using in 2021 has made another appearance.
Five years after Ruffalo called his “genocide” characterization inflammatory and acknowledged that it was being used to justify antisemitism, he is using the word again. Only this time, Paramount is accusing him of invoking “antisemitic tropes.”

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Mark Ruffalo Denies He’s Antisemitic. His Own Posts Tell A Different Story.

Hollywood

Mark Ruffalo

Paramount

The Washington Post has been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/business/washington-post-karen-attiah.html?unlocked_article_code=1.71A.plFf.yI_cDbktFcRd&amp;smid=url-share">ordered</a> by a private arbitrator to rehire opinion columnist Karen Attiah and hand over full back pay to the woman who issued a social media post seemingly mocking the reaction to the death of Charlie Kirk.
Attiah was booted from the paper last September after unleashing a series of jaw-dropping social media posts following Kirk’s assassination. Attiah took to Bluesky to mock the public grief surrounding the killing, writing, “Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is … not the same as violence.”
She also falsely claimed Kirk had stated, “Black women do not have the brain-processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot.”
Journalist Jerry Dunleavy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/liberal-washington-post-columnist-fired-over-charlie-kirk-comments">noted</a> that Attiah’s quote was inaccurate as she implied Kirk was referring to all black women when, in reality, he was targeting former first lady Michelle Obama, the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), former MSNBC host Joy Reid, and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Despite Post executives having deemed her remarks &#8220;beyond the pale,&#8221; &#8220;gross misconduct,&#8221; and a breach of company standards, arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa ruled last week that the paper lacked &#8220;good and sufficient cause&#8221; to fire her, claiming the outlet violated its labor agreement, The New York Times reported on Monday.
Attiah’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wapo-columnist-celebrates-anti-jew-terrorism-as-exactly-what-decolonization-means">history of radical takes</a> stretches far beyond mocking Kirk. Back in October 2023, on the very day Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1,200 innocent civilians in Israel, Attiah reposted rhetoric justifying terrorism, such as &#8220;what did y&#8217;all think decolonization meant? vibes? papers? essays? Losers.&#8221; She also reposted someone who stated, &#8220;All my American education taught was that all we have to do to fight brutal, racist oppression is schedule a single die-in or refuse to give up a single seat on a bus and justice automatically prevails through non-violence.&#8221;
Meanwhile, she boasted of her radical academic credentials: &#8220;I studied race construction, human rights and global anti-colonial resistance in college and grad school. Honey, we did the scholarship way before it was &#8216;cool.'&#8221;
Attiah even looked as if she were justifying raw violence by non-state actors, claiming that public opinion was shifting toward anti-Israel extremism and echoing posts that seemingly accused defenders of Israel of siding with &#8220;oppressors, murderers, thieves and political manipulators.&#8221;
Attiah celebrated the arbitrator&#8217;s ruling, calling the Post &#8220;one of the world&#8217;s most storied newspapers&#8221; and claiming she was &#8220;relieved to finally have that record set straight.&#8221;

WaPo Ordered To Rehire Radical Hamas Defender Who Mocked Reaction To Charlie Kirk’s Death

Charlie Kirk

Washington Post

The oldest surviving copies of biblical texts are on view for a final few weeks at the Museum of the Bible in Washington. <a href="https://www.museumofthebible.org/exhibits/dead-sea-scrolls-the-exhibition?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=paidperformancemax&amp;utm_campaign=cqr&amp;utm_content=pre_dss&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=23086097899&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADn6_nIDOICSo6jhJQGOtoovTnfUC&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwkaXUBhASEiwAZI3ds2g1quLXuRKg7dGTHaUnBof4HRYJZTQmtN_2cnsGj3Y6lQgJLakZZhoCdfkQAvD_BwE">Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition,</a> now in its last rotation on the museum’s fifth floor, closes September 7. The fragments recovered from the caves near Qumran remain among the most important archaeological finds of the twentieth century, offering a direct window into the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jewish world of the Second Temple period.
Dr. Carlos Campo, President and CEO of the Museum of the Bible, walked The Daily Wire through the galleries and spoke about what the manuscripts still make clear.
By Campo&#8217;s breakdown, roughly a third of the collection is biblical, another third covers the life and rules of the community that preserved the texts, and the rest concerns ancient practice. The people who lived at Qumran are usually called Essenes. They were Jewish separatists who withdrew to a remote place by the Dead Sea, studied the texts with care, and followed strict rules of purification. Campo explains that many scholars believe they settled there to prepare for the coming of the Messiah.
“There was an emphasis on the Messiah,” he says. “So very often, you think of Messiahship only as something related to Christianity, but that’s not true. Matter of fact, not just this scroll, of course, but if you look at the scrolls that were retained by these men in this community, a lot of them talked about the Messiah and the coming of the Messiah. And so while there’s clear debate between Jews and Christians about who was the Messiah, or has the Messiah come, there was no debate about the emphasis on the Messiah, and how he is pointed to in the Hebrew scriptures.”
The same collection shows how varied Jewish life already was. Pharisees and Sadducees appear often in the New Testament. The Qumran group stood outside both. “These men probably were Essenes,” Campo says. 
“If they were the Essenes, and that’s what we generally see, they would make up a whole different sect that are outside of those two. And so I think that’s the other thing that these scrolls demonstrate is that, certainly, as within Christianity, that many denominations and beliefs within those denominations, the same is true in Judaism. It’s a very diverse faith.”
One of the fragments on display comes from the Book of Isaiah and includes part of the Suffering Servant passage. Campo returns to the reliability of the text. Before 1947, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible available to scholars were medieval, copied in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The Qumran material pushed that horizon back by roughly a thousand years.
“We’re looking at a text even though this was a later Isaiah text, it’ll probably, you know, first century. So, AD. But still, the remarkable similarity between these texts and the text that we have today. So this is at least 1,000 years older than the oldest text that we had. And if you were to compare these texts to those texts, it’s extraordinary how similar they were. I mean, it’s not every jot and tittle, but it’s pretty darn close. So I think that’s one. The whole idea of the reliability of scripture, the Dead Sea Scrolls do many things, but for Jews and Christians today, it’s the reliability of the text.”
A Damascus Document fragment makes the historical texture concrete. It rules that an animal which falls into a well or ditch on the Sabbath should not be pulled out. Jesus spoke of the same situation and took the opposite view. “There’s actually a passage in the one that we have that talks about, what do you do if your animal falls into a well or falls into a ditch. This idea that, which of you, if your animal falls into a ditch, do you not pull it out. Even on the Sabbath. Well, this Damascus scroll actually says, You shouldn’t do that.”
Nearby sits the Magdala Stone, uncovered on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in 2009. Israeli antiquities officials were running a required salvage dig ahead of construction on a Catholic retreat center when a tractor turned up carved limestone barely a foot below the surface.
The stone came out of a first-century synagogue at Magdala, the town most scholars take to be Mary Magdalene&#8217;s home. Campo says she would have known the building. Archeologists have since uncovered a second synagogue at the same site.
The museum has its own history with these texts. In 2020, an outside investigation it commissioned and paid for found that all 16 fragments it had purchased and displayed as Dead Sea Scrolls were modern forgeries, manufactured on scraps of old leather to pass for antiquities. Nothing in the current exhibition comes from that collection. The fragments on the fifth floor are on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority, which holds the authentic corpus recovered from the caves.
 Each fragment may stay in the light for only three months. After that it must spend at least five years in complete darkness so the material does not break down further. “They treat these with the utmost care,” Campo says. “They see these as the most important relics in all Jewish history.”
Yet in a time of rising antisemitism the scrolls still function as texts that Jews and Christians both receive, manuscripts capable of closing distance rather than widening it. He reaches for an African saying. “When you’re really far away, you seem to me to be a wild beast. As you get closer, I can see you’re a human being. When you get closer, still, I see you’re a member of my family, and when I feel your breath upon me, I know you are my brother. And to me, that&#8217;s a message that is biblical.” He adds, “You have to atomize a human being into something less than human before you can hate them.”
What he hopes visitors take away is a desire to keep reading the written word. “We say that the Bible is one of the few documents in the world where the deeper you go, actually, the more you feel that you know about yourself. The more you know, the more you realize how little you know. That’s one of the things we believe about scripture. The deeper you go, the more you realize my goodness. This document is so much more complex than I thought it was. And to me, the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal some of that.”
The fragments remain on the fifth floor through early September. Then they must return to five years of darkness. Campo hopes people leave with a clearer sense of the continuity these texts have maintained from the Second Temple period to the present.

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The Oldest Biblical Fragments On Earth Leave Washington In Two Weeks — Then Return To The Dark

Bible

Christianity

Dead sea scrolls

Judaism

Museum of the Bible

TAMPA, FLORIDA — “Yeah, I have feelings about that flag over there,” the young campaign volunteer said to me.
He gestured toward the white and blue Star of David banner perched above the front of the sanctuary of Turning Point Church of God in Clewiston, Florida, where it hung a mere 20 feet from the ‘Fishback for Florida’ lectern. Somehow, despite the proximity, neither the sign nor the Israeli flag had burst into flame.
Sitting in the front row of the church, we were chatting about politics and the movement he had joined. Up until that point, not one attendee at James Fishback’s “closing argument” speech on the eve of the election had brought up Israel, or the Jews, without me raising it.
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<div id="attachment_1161793" style="width: 2058px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1161793" class="wp-image-1161793 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Israel-Fla.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1536" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Israel-Fla.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Israel-Fla-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Israel-Fla-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Israel-Fla-1536x1152.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" />Credit Dylan Housman</div>
“Israel is a broken record, though. We’ve made our point, it’s time to talk about other things,&#8221; the volunteer dismissively said to me, explaining that everyone who cared deeply about that hot button had already decided which camp they were in.
There were just over a hundred people there — good turnout for Clewiston, a rural town of just over 7,000 people about an hour and a half from Fort Lauderdale. I had flown to Orlando, and then made the nearly three-hour drive to Hendry County, to see for myself what the “groyper” movement — we’ll shorthand them as followers of Nick Fuentes and his “America First” faction — looked like in real life.
There have been other groyper-inspired candidates for public office, but Fishback is perhaps this new creature in its purest form. He launched his campaign with inflammatory Twitter tirades about Israel and AIPAC, he secured endorsements from both Tucker Carlson and Fuentes, he frequently lobbed racist attacks against his opponent Byron Donalds. But the critical difference from other groyper grifters was the act of running a real campaign. He made dozens of stops in the closing days of the campaign alone, had a strong digital operation, an organized group of real volunteers, and is a gifted communicator when he isn’t triggered into <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/208610/republican-candidate-fishback-black-man-lynched">telling a black voter they should be lynched</a>.
What he lacked in fundraising he made up for in an army of young men shitposting their way into social media semi-relevance. The ancient Vulcan proverb tells us Twitter is not real life. I wanted to put that to the test, and not just by reading a vote tally from my office in D.C.
The volunteer next to me said his main priorities were “family values” and affordability. In his early 20s, he was about to enter college, and said he had learned about Fishback via Instagram. I asked what his media diet was. He said he listened to Fuentes and Carlson, but since he liked to hear all sides, he sprinkled in the streamer Destiny — a professional StarCraft player turned political commentator. We laughed at the career move.
Two other young men sat by me in jeans and ballcaps, sparking memories of my cousins from rural South Carolina. They didn’t have anything to say about Israel or the Jews either. Their concerns were Flock cameras, data centers, and reclaiming “the Florida I grew up in.”
The event, hosted by senior pastor Troy Ezell, opened with a group prayer before Fishback finally took the stage and spoke for roughly an hour. I had seen Fishback earlier in the parking lot when I arrived, looking somewhat distracted from afar. But he performed well on stage. It was a speech that the vast majority of Americans on the right could cheer for — small town Florida, the American dream, citrus, cattle, and sugar.
“The real test of the economy is if a 30-year-old can get married and buy a home,” he said, which made a lot of sense to me as a renting 28-year-old getting married next year. He touted affordability, DOGEing Florida, banning abortion, and clamping down on migrant workers taking people’s jobs.
Perhaps most shocking was a positive reference to Ronald Reagan, who is broadly loathed as a false boomer idol by the young far-right, and his &#8220;I&#8217;m from the government and I&#8217;m here to help&#8221; line.
There was one mention of AIPAC, which was put side by side with CAIR, in the entire speech. There was one veiled reference to Israel in a section about foreign aid, and that was it. Some groyper.
After the speech ended, Fishback approached me. He struck me as quite slender in person, wearing a black suit with round-framed glasses that gave the 31-year-old a more boyish appearance. He was cordial, and greeted me warmly, if skeptically: &#8220;You&#8217;re from the Daily Wire?&#8221;
I asked him why he was talking about Israel and AIPAC less now than at the start of his campaign. He had tweeted about Israel 22 times in the month of March alone, but only three times in the final month before election day. He seemed increasingly reticent to play the hits that made him vertical video famous.
He rejected the premise. He promised he still planned to divest from Israel if he became governor, but also implied that it wasn&#8217;t forefront in his supporters&#8217; minds: “This campaign is about the issues that matter to Floridians. I am still bothered by the fact that the Florida State Pension Fund lends the Israeli government $385 million a year, but the closing argument of this campaign is about the insurance crisis in our state, education, the development choices that we’re making, but I still stand by the fact that I think we need to divest from any foreign governments.”
I wondered if I had gotten my priors wrong. The people I had met were, by and large, not groypers. The speech was cookie-cutter populist. I came to Florida expecting the Mos Eisley cantina, not bespectacled blather. But I was reminded that I was dealing with the Jim Bakker of Right-wing politics.
During his speech, Fishback said it “wasn’t personal” with Byron Donalds, whom he had falsely accused of being under federal investigation for sex-trafficking two weeks prior. I asked how the repeated racist attacks and inflammatory social media conduct could be anything but personal.
“My wife and I trade jokes and jabs together, it’s nothing personal between she and I. I have tremendous respect for Congressman Donalds … I wish them all the best.”
It had only been a month since he publicly asked why Donalds’ father “never calls” in a post about black parenthood. It had only been three months since Fishback&#8217;s <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/p/james-fishback-florida-governor-candidate-very-weird-groyper-wedding">curious wedding to his mystery wife</a>, but he was more than happy to invoke her on the campaign trail.
As soon as my interview with Fishback ended, an outside advisor to the campaign approached me and said “the Israel stuff is dead.” When I asked what he meant, he explained he had been helping Fishback during the home stretch of the campaign and advised him to soften his rhetoric on Israel and Jews, because it was wrong to “attack a group of people.”
The advisor explained that he himself is a devout supporter of Israel for theological reasons, and he wouldn&#8217;t back any candidate who was anti-Israel. He said Fishback had been “taken out of context” earlier in the campaign, and that in reality, the candidate wasn&#8217;t particularly anti-Israel at all, much less antisemitic.
It was hard for me to square that with the candidate who had referred to kids’ cafeteria meals as “goyslop” on the campaign trail. But it was a common theme. When I spoke to Rev. Ezell, who was introduced to Fishback by his Gen Z son, he said he wanted a candidate who would “shake things up.” That he cared about immigration, data centers, and taxes. He liked Trump, and really liked Ron DeSantis, but Donalds was too much of a politician for him. I asked about Israel, and he too said he was supportive of the Jewish state, and seemed either unbothered or unaware of Fishback’s rhetoric about it.
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<div id="attachment_1161795" style="width: 2058px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1161795" class="wp-image-1161795 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Turning-Point-Church.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1536" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Turning-Point-Church.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Turning-Point-Church-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Turning-Point-Church-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Turning-Point-Church-1536x1152.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" />Credit: Dylan Housman</div>
I began to wonder if the groypers had simply not survived contact with reality. Perhaps the necessities of primary politics had swept them aside as a vulnerability for a candidate who actually wanted to win instead of get nutpicked by the Daily Beast. Perhaps they really were all humble Pakistani bot farmers after all.
Actually, no. The next night, I was in Tampa at the airport Hilton for the Fishback election night party. There weren’t any signs or staff there to direct me where to go. I wandered deep into the bowels of the hotel, following scattered 20-somethings in suits and dresses like a trail of breadcrumbs through the Backrooms until I found the ballroom where the gathering was taking place.
There were a couple of staffers at a table that seemed to be checking people in. I had no credentials to speak of, so I simply walked past them. I spotted a bar cart and got into line for a beverage before I would start working the room. It turned out to be a cash bar. I was devastated.
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<div id="attachment_1161797" style="width: 1546px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1161797" class="wp-image-1161797 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1.jpg" alt="" width="1536" height="2048" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1-432x576.jpg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w" sizes=" (max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px" />Credit Dylan Housman</div>
I took my whiskey neat and began talking to the kids around me. A 16-year-old black girl who had phonebanked for the campaign said she was Christian and liked Fishback&#8217;s pro-life social media presence.
I asked if she thought he was racist.
“We all have our moments, but I don’t think he would talk to me so nicely if he were really racist,” she said.
Without realizing it, I had blasted back in time. The room had all the awkwardly sincere vibes of the Young Americans for Liberty and CPAC conferences I had attended as a college student a decade ago. Out of the 250 or so attendees there, the vast majority were under 30, and half would need their ID scanned if they wandered skittishly down to the hotel bar. Just like our graybeard forebears with the Ron Paul Revolution, most of these kids seemed to know Fishback wasn’t going to win. But they were sure the future would be “America First” in due course.
Here, there was more interest in Israel. Notably, it disproportionately came from kids who I had talked to from out of state, not the Floridians themselves. A cadre of true believers had made a pilgrimage to see their leader on his campaign&#8217;s night of nights. Their Mecca was the Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore.
Fuentes often stresses to his followers the importance of “hiding your power level,” and unlike the Clewiston event, I suspect I encountered this on election night. The young crowd did not seem particularly politically sophisticated, and yet they were savvy in a Gen Z, digital native type of way. One young man I spoke to very cordially asked me multiple times if I was recording (I was not), and kept glancing down at my hands until he settled into the conversation. He was no fan of Israel, but he also decried Islam and &#8220;third-world Duginism&#8221; while totally rejecting any notion of alliance with the far-Left, an idea bandied about by a number of podcasters in this world.
Fishback eventually spoke to the crowd that night, for a much shorter period of time. He conceded his loss, but said the movement he champions is just beginning. Unlike at Turning Point Church, the shots at AIPAC came earlier and more often this time around. The crowd erupted into a chant of “Christ is King.”
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Credit: Dylan Housman
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It was around this moment, with Fishback netting just over 10% of the vote for a third-place showing, that I realized the groypers had survived contact with literal reality, but not political reality. They are like youngsters of the past voting independent in the 2016 election, palling around with the other kids at the libertarian club in college, having late-night discussions about how war and tariffs were bad, energized by every little bit of confirmation bias we could find that the movement was going “our way,” just not quite yet. I know this because I was one of those. But even for all that talk, there was the underlying feeling that the movement was not, in fact, going our way. And once we were hit with political reality, most of us grew up and moved on.
&#8220;The online thing is real in the sense that it&#8217;s loud,&#8221; Polk County GOP Chairman Sam Romain told me the next morning. &#8220;It&#8217;s just not attached to anything. It doesn&#8217;t produce a volunteer, it doesn&#8217;t produce a check that clears, and it definitely doesn&#8217;t produce a grandmother in Lake Wales who marks your name.&#8221;
Yes, there is a darker element to this generation of starry-eyed radical Right-wing youths. Our discussions of free trade and gun rights did not have the vile implications that the &#8220;Jewish Question&#8221; does. But the overall arc looks the same. Just like most of us Gary Johnson voters at the YAL conference ended up becoming conservatives once he crashed and burned, I imagine most of these kids will have their sharp edges whittled down by institutional conservatism as they are increasingly exposed to Big Boy Politics.
That&#8217;s not to say that some of the ideas may not last. But the dumbest, most extreme ones likely won&#8217;t, and the <a href="https://www.richardhanania.com/p/the-based-ritual">Based Rituals</a> in hotel lobbies at conferences will get replaced by 9-5 jobs and pragmatism in due course.
Fishback’s strength is his smooth-talking, chameleon-like charisma. He was anything to anybody during his campaign. A pro-life warrior to the young Christian girl, a God-fearing warrior for old Florida to the pastor, an anti-data center protector of farmland to the young blue-collar laborers, and a truth-teller about Jewish power to the antisemitic podcast listeners. The incongruence is a product of our evermore-siloed media environment.
Like Bakker, the televangelist superstar who was undone by allegations of sexual misconduct and a financial fraud conviction, the charm Fishback has in spades is undone by his erraticism. Just two years ago he was making staunchly <a href="https://x.com/ianmiles/status/2023202273678233659">pro-Israel arguments</a> against liberals and writing for the Free Press. Then he tried to grift his way onto DOGE and <a href="https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/floating-challenge-trumps-florida-governor-pick-james-fishback-127603333">join arms with the likes of Vivek Ramaswamy</a>. This year, he ran a campaign targeting Jews and Indian immigrants.
He is an empty vessel who will say or do whatever the whims of the moment call for. Pulling that off if you’re disciplined with a clean record can make you a president. Doing it when you are facing lawsuits, have unpaid legal bills, lied about working for DOGE, were credibly accused of dating a 17-year-old, and hurl racial epithets at your opponents by the dozen gets you 10% of the vote in a gubernatorial primary.
And probably a podcast on Rumble, too.
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Dylan Housman is the Managing Editor of the Daily Wire. <a href="https://x.com/Dylan_Housman">You can follow him on X here. </a>

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