For all the hysterical claims that President Donald Trump is some sort of First Amendment supervillain, the reality is precisely the opposite. Trump has done more to defend constitutionally protected speech and to dismantle the most coordinated censorship regime in modern American history than any president in living memory.
But don’t tell that to the New York Times, NPR, or the ladies at The View. According to them, Trump is basically moments away from burning the Bill of Rights on live TV.
Why the disconnect? The modern Left has confused breaking norms with breaking laws, and those are two very different things.
Norms are unwritten rules, handshake agreements shaped by cultural institutions. Over decades, those institutions shifted left and rewrote the norms to ensure that public policy always bends in their direction. One glaring example is the “norm” that government spending must increase every year at rates higher than inflation, substantially higher.
Laws, by contrast, are enforceable with financial penalties or jail time.
Trump breaks norms. The Left breaks laws and then screams “authoritarian!” when someone tries to enforce those laws. That, in a nutshell, is the dynamic between Trump and the Democrat Party today.
To understand the elitist media’s role in all this, start with the epic collapse of journalism. The press still loves calling itself the “Fourth Estate,” bravely speaking truth to power. That may have been true once, back when reporters described reality instead of trying to socially engineer it. But over time, journalism mutated, first through ideologically uniform J-schools, then through newsroom monocultures, into something far more partisan.
Post-Watergate hero fantasies turned reporters into crusaders. Conservative viewpoints disappeared. Elitists replaced objectivity with “moral clarity” — their euphemism for political activism.
This has led to the death of journalism. The vapors emanating from its stinking corpse have made it nearly impossible for so-called “reporters” to understand basic constitutional law. So let’s clarify.
The First Amendment protects a broad range of speech, but not all speech. Speech in service of a crime? Not protected. Offer a bribe and try claiming “free speech.” See how that goes. Defamation? Also not protected. And when you take a government handout, whether as a defense contractor or a publicly funded media broadcaster, you accept the regulatory conditions that come with it.
NPR and PBS assumed otherwise. They took billions from taxpayers while repeatedly violating the law that required them to “ensure strict adherence to objectivity and balance.” They assumed the norm, that they’d always get our money through Congressional earmarks, even while breaking the law.
Trump did what no other president has ever done: he broke that norm and enforced the law. His Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Brendan Carr, has done something similar with broadcasters. That’s not censorship. That’s accountability.
The same principle applies to universities. For years, the norm was that campuses would tolerate and even encourage criminal behavior under the guise of “social activism.” Blocking highways, occupying buildings, vandalizing property, and assaulting students was perfectly fine, as long as the rioters chanted the right slogans. But the First Amendment doesn’t magically convert crime into protected speech. Trump ended that law-breaking norm, too.
None of this alone makes Trump the “greatest defender of free speech.” His words and his deeds earn him that gold model.
Just before taking the oath of office for the second time, Trump laid down the truth long forgotten by the left: “If we don’t have free speech, then we just don’t have a free country. … If this most fundamental right is allowed to perish, then the rest of our rights and liberties will topple, just like dominoes.” 
Trump’s actions followed suit. He and his administration have eviscerated the sprawling censorship apparatus built by President Joe Biden.
MRC Free Speech America has shown how the Biden administration operated the <a href="https://mrcfreespeechamerica.org/biden-censorship-initiatives-tracker">most expansive government-driven censorship system in U.S. history</a>. Not metaphorically. Literally.
A few &#8220;lowlights” from the Biden censorship regime include: federal agencies pressuring social media platforms to suppress lawful political speech; agencies partnering with private entities to provide “plausible deniability” while carrying out government censorship goals, and government “switchboards” funneling thousands of takedown demands, creating lists of posts to hide, throttle, or erase.
Biden’s objective wasn’t about fighting “misinformation,” as he has claimed. It was about controlling and shaping narratives before an election. This was speech policing.
This was government censorship.
This was illegal.
Trump tore it apart.
Through executive orders, personnel changes, and directives barring government censorship, Trump dismantled Biden’s censorship machine. Platforms can no longer hide behind federal pressure, and bureaucrats can no longer run secret speech-surveillance pipelines.
That is what defending the First Amendment looks like. Not symbolic gestures. Not pretty rhetoric. Real action. Real results. Restoring the foundational principle that in America, the government does not decide which opinions are allowed.
No other president has done more to defend the First Amendment. Trump truly has made free speech great again.
* * *
Dan Schneider is Vice President for Free Speech at the Media Research Center.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
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TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP

By Dismantling Biden’s Censorship Machine, Trump Made Free Speech Great Again

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Many people blame the troubles of the world on the news media. Many say that journalists have become out-of-touch elites, so committed to the destructive lies of leftism that their minds have become gnarled and pocked with hatred of those everyday Americans whose better values threaten to expose journalists to themselves as Gollum-like creatures eaten away by their own corruption until they look into the mirrors of their imaginations and see horrific images of their bodies riddled with leprous decay as a physical representation of the spiritual degeneracy that clearly foreshadows an eternity of desolation in bleak and endless severance from the God who created them and who now, even in his omniscience, himself turns to alternative forms of media in the hopes of getting some honest news once in a while.
Of course, many people still trust the news media and softly murmur to themselves that Walter Cronkite seems awfully nice, before they retreat into a corner of the assisted care facility and stare at the blank wall with rheumy eyes, fondly watching a parade of misty memories from a distant past that now seems much better than it really was.
Recently, unseemly revelations have detracted even more from the news media’s reputation so that trust in the honesty of journalists has now sunk to just 28% of journalists, and they’re journalists, so they’re obviously lying and don’t trust journalists any more than the rest of us do.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974735 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
In formerly Great Britain, for instance, the British Broadcasting Corporation has recently become mired in scandal. The once-respected news organization, often affectionately referred to as “Auntie,” because it reminds viewers of the sort of grey-haired old lady whose silhouette can sometimes be seen at the second story window of a gothic mansion while her delusional, hectoring high-pitched rants drift down to the desolate motel below until, in the last reel, we find out the silhouette is really Norman Bates in a dress and a wig, and the real Auntie is the rotten corpse of a once respected news organization…
What was I talking about? Oh yeah…
Recently, the BBC was exposed for deceptively editing a speech by Donald Trump for a 2024 report that was clearly meant to influence American voters against Trump’s re-election. In Trump’s original speech, delivered to a group of protestors on January 6th after Trump’s 2021 election loss, Trump said, “God bless America, land that I love, stand beside her, and guide her through the night with a light from above.” In the BBC version, Trump said, “Kill them all! Storm the Capitol and kill them all! Kill, Kill, Kill! Insurrection now! Destroy Democracy and kill them all!”
BBC President Cor Blimey issued a statement saying that the minor discrepancy was the result of an innocent mistake in which producers confused the Trump speech with the film “Starship Troopers” because they think of Americans as just so many gigantic alien bugs.
To be fair, not all news organizations have sunk out of sight into the BBC’s tarpit of disgrace, shame, corruption, decadence, degradation, and vice. With some outlets, you can still just see the tops of their heads for a few final moments before the tar closes over them. 
For example, the New York Times, a former newspaper, was recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize for linking Donald Trump’s name to Jeffrey Epstein’s name a record number of times, without once explaining that no one has ever plausibly accused Trump of doing anything wrong with Epstein. The Pulitzer Committee says it hopes the Times prize for irrelevantly linking Trump and Epstein will encourage other former news outlets to distract people from the fact that Trump has closed the border, brought peace to the Middle East, drawn in trillions of dollars of new investment to the U.S., lowered inflation and bettered our trading deals in ways that promise to cut the deficit, not to mention the fact that he barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for being a creep while sleazy journalists like George Stephanopoulos and Katie Couric were still attending dinners in Epstein’s honor.
In a statement carved into the clay of a goat-headed idol, the Pulitzer Committee said it would continue to give news outlets like the Times awards for what they do best, namely, lie.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Cameron-Winter-Mysteries/dp/1613166869/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EGZUC370LG46&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y_NI0mDOKeowShheDQTVx5NH-fAeimJoCD56_T0Acpl8C0mup7uJf-nGGSRLEItaaekoDnvS2vWLMa4Zd2UBXQ8Y-g-P502jOWz-Y8IX3ZQsdlO7WMLrg1xIhNoKmjCorSWUR4C2l_RbiZ7apJ1MfPzGOrrEf7AdAXX6xwnJRVP_XqUfWuMuVthTWscaU3P4vgmS86-96n-721enHfX12CFQWTajqFbVnrsDkexfUf4.6_gTH6h1Bb9Pn375QdF_VAVZSayDvjQBBKGXE-MTiFo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=klavan&amp;qid=1754049918&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C80&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After That, The Dark,</a> is NOW AVAILABLE. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>
The views expressed in this satirical piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
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New York Times

NY Times Wins Pulitzer For Linking Words ‘Trump’ And ‘Epstein’ Record Number Of Times

NY Times Wins Pulitzer For Linking Words 'Trump' And 'Epstein' Record Number Of Times

Andrew Klavan

Humor

Legacy Media

Satire

The New York Times

Four staffers who recorded themselves confronting the head of Human Resources at Condé Nast over recent layoffs at Teen Vogue have been fired.
The clips were filmed on Wednesday outside HR exec Stan Duncan’s office at One World Trade Center in New York City. In the awkward clip, a crowd of employees stand outside Duncan’s office and badger him about the layoffs, prompting him to repeatedly tell them to “go back to the workplace.”
Four of those employees were later fired for &#8220;extreme misconduct,” per <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/11/conde-nast-fires-staffers-teen-vogue-1236609695/">Deadline</a>.
Those individuals included Jasper Lo from the New Yorker, Jake Lahut from Wired, Alma Avalle from Bon Appétit, and Ben Dewey from Condé Nast Entertainment.
In the video, Duncan can be heard telling employees to refrain from “congregating” outside his office.
“What counts as congregating?” Lahut said. “What’s your definition of congregating?”
“We’d appreciate if you would go back to the workplace, to your workplace assignments,” Duncan responded.
“Is there a place that you’d be able to speak to us?” Avalle said to Duncan. “Do you think we’re not worth speaking to, Stan?”
“Those are your words, not mine,” Duncan said.
“But they might be your beliefs!” Avalle replied.
“They’re not my beliefs,” Duncan can be heard saying.
“Well, we have some quick questions. If you answered them, we’d be happy to go back to our desks,” Avalle tried again.
“Are you running away from us?” Avalle said incredulously as Duncan started leading the group away from his office.
“We’re concerned about our colleagues,” a person off-camera said.
 “We’d like you to answer questions,” Avalle said. “We’d love to move forward.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The most brutally awkward thing you&#8217;ll see today: Condé Nast staffers confront head of HR Stan Duncan over layoffs outside his 34th-floor office.
Four of the employees featured in this exclusive video from the confrontation were then fired for &#8220;extreme misconduct.&#8221;
The whole… <a href="https://t.co/Ze6Vmyz0iI">pic.twitter.com/Ze6Vmyz0iI</a>
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheWrap/status/1986555099469230496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In a statement, Condé Nast said that “extreme misconduct is unacceptable in any professional setting. This includes aggressive, disruptive and threatening behavior of any kind.”
“We remain committed to working constructively with the union and all of our employees.”
The media giant also said they have filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board against the News Guild of New York “for their repeated and egregious disregard of our collective bargaining agreement.”
Meanwhile, the guild took the side of the fired employees, <a href="https://www.nyguild.org/post/statement-from-the-newsguild-of-new-york-and-conde-united-on-illegal-firing-of-four-union-leaders-who-demanded-answers-about-thi">writing</a>, “These terminations are a flagrant breach of the Just Cause terms of our contract and an unprecedented violation of their federally protected rights as union members to participate in collective action.”
Avalle, a transgender-identifying employee who was one of those participating in the incident, wrote about it on X.
“I love my job, I love my coworkers, and I love my union. I’m devastated the company made this move. There are so few trans women in media at all — particularly ones who aren’t confined to ‘Queer Media’ — and I was incredibly proud of what my position at Bon Appétit meant at large,” the post <a href="https://x.com/GoodbyeAlma/status/1986505896068063351">said</a>.
“More important to me than my identity, I am also the Vice President of the NewsGuild of New York, and targeting me with a blatantly retaliatory termination like this feels like an egregious shot against our union and against media workers as a whole.”

Conde Nast building

Condé Nast Fires Four Employees For Confronting HR Exec Outside His Office

Condé Nast Fired Four Employees For Confronting HR Exec Outside His Office

Entertainment

layoffs

magazine

Media

U.S.

Unions

A clip from Sydney Sweeney’s interview with GQ has gone viral on social media, with most viewers applauding her refusal to take the virtue signaling bait.
In the clip, interviewer Kat Stoeffel scrunched up her face and pressed Sweeney on her viral American Eagle ad campaign. Stoeffel tried a variety of different tactics to get the actress to apologize and denounce white supremacy. Commenters praised Sweeney for remaining cool and collected.
“This is the slimiest journalist I’ve ever seen. This entire &#8216;interview&#8217; is a bad faith gotcha where she’s trying to trap Sydney into admitting she’s conservative lol what a psychopath,” TP USA podcast host Alex Clark <a href="https://x.com/yoalexrapz/status/1986703753605751061?s=43">wrote</a> in response to the clip.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
This is the slimiest journalist I’ve ever seen. This entire “interview” is a bad faith gotcha where she’s trying to trap Sydney into admitting she’s conservative lol what a psychopath <a href="https://t.co/xX8HU7I0Ox">https://t.co/xX8HU7I0Ox</a>
— Alex Clark (@yoalexrapz) <a href="https://twitter.com/yoalexrapz/status/1986703753605751061?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“GQ Reporter: why aren’t you ashamed that people will think you’re a conservative? You should be. Sydney Sweeney: Next question,” Jennifer Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics <a href="https://x.com/jennifersey/status/1986556246627897714?s=43">wrote</a>. 
“To me, the most interesting aspect of this conversation is the smug progressive woman who lives in a bubble and says stupid stuff because it seems to her like the most natural thing in the world,” Dinesh D’Souza <a href="https://x.com/dineshdsouza/status/1986563463695515781?s=43">shared</a>. “I’m sure she’s still wondering why Sydney Sweeney didn’t go along.”
Another commenter pointed out that liberals don’t expect conservatives to be real people, but instead assume they are just caricatures as the media portrays them.
“The thing you have to remember about this woman and those like her is that she genuinely doesn’t know that anyone disagrees with her basic worldview. She doesn’t even see it as a worldview. It’s just the obvious truth,” Hunter Ash on X <a href="https://x.com/artemisconsort/status/1986551356673687697?s=43">observed</a>.
“Of course she knows abstractly that half the country voted for Trump. But those aren’t people. Those are cartoon characters. They’re either fat slobbering rednecks in klan hoods, or mustache-twirling robber barons manipulating the rednecks for profit,” Ash continued. “Anyone she might actually sit down and talk to is, of course, a person, and therefore agrees with The Obvious Truth. It is inconceivable to her that anyone capable of being a pleasant dinner party guest would not share her basic beliefs and values.”
The commenter argued that the question wasn’t meant to be a “gotcha” but rather came from the interviewer assuming that Sweeney “got mixed up in the whole jeans/genes fiasco by mistake.”
At another point in the interview, the actress was asked what it was like when President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance weighed in on the campaign. Sweeney gave a one-word answer: “Surreal.”
Controversy erupted over the summer over an ad spot featuring Sweeney in various seductive poses while saying she had “good jeans.” The double entendre with the word “genes” made leftists deem the ad racist, noting that Sweeney is white with blond hair and blue eyes.
In one of the ads, Sweeney says, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”
American Eagle responded to the backlash by issuing a simple statement: “&#8217;Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans&#8217; is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”

Sydney Sweeney

Sydney Sweeney Praised For Keeping Her Cool As GQ Reporter Tries To Shame Her

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Thanks to valiant efforts from on-air personalities Kasie Hunt and Kaitlan Collins, CNN managed to deliver two acts of actual journalism in the same 24-hour period — on two different topics.
The first came on Monday evening from Collins, who was discussing the political hot topics of the day with Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on &#8220;The Source&#8221; and took a moment to fact-check the Texas Democrat when she played fast and loose with the context of a statement made earlier in the day by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Jasmine Crockett immediately runs the debunked &#8220;Trump’s main priority is the ballroom” hoax on her CNN hit.
The lie is so egregious, she actually gets fact-checked by Kaitlan Collins. <a href="https://t.co/HRfeoTZ3ys">https://t.co/HRfeoTZ3ys</a> <a href="https://t.co/lvdp4gkuGu">pic.twitter.com/lvdp4gkuGu</a>
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1982988988072722491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
When asked whether she thought the ongoing government shutdown was likely to end any time soon, Crockett attempted to make it look like President Donald Trump was going out of his way to prioritize other things.
&#8220;The president has time to do everything but what he needs to focus on. In fact, we heard the press secretary say his main priority is the ballroom — the ballroom that no one asked for. The ballroom that requires him to destroy historic pieces of the White House. And so it doesn’t seem like he’s interested [in the shutdown],&#8221; Crockett claimed.
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Collins pushed back immediately, noting that Leavitt had said the ballroom was the president&#8217;s top priority — but that she had been specifically referring to construction and renovation projects at the White House.
&#8220;Yeah, and that context of the comment from Karoline Leavitt, she was asked if the president was working on any other renovations when it came to the White House, and she was saying his focus was the ballroom,&#8221; Collins said.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Karoline Leavitt was asked if &#8220;the president is looking at any other renovations&#8221; at the White House?
Karoline answered: &#8220;At this moment in time of course, the ballroom is really the president&#8217;s main priority.&#8221;
This is how easily Democrats lie about stupid stuff. <a href="https://t.co/qGuZkvYYPV">https://t.co/qGuZkvYYPV</a> <a href="https://t.co/1fBzh8sdRN">pic.twitter.com/1fBzh8sdRN</a>
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewKolvet/status/1981491616591597662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Less than 24 hours later, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined host Kasie Hunt to discuss the ongoing shutdown — and she pressed him repeatedly on his party&#8217;s evolving position on keeping the government shuttered in order to leverage political gains.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Ruben Gallego just got wrecked on CNN for his hypocritical stance on shutdowns reverting to a &#8220;BUT TRUMP&#8221; response:
Host: &#8220;Why is it suddenly right to do it this way?&#8221;
Gallego: &#8220;It&#8217;s DONALD TRUMP &#8230; it&#8217;s all out the window Casey.&#8221;
There is nothing that Democrats have aside… <a href="https://t.co/sZKARGLRKA">pic.twitter.com/sZKARGLRKA</a>
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewKolvet/status/1983278331157196951?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;So I think my question is this, I mean, I take your point about these millions of people, the cost of living is incredibly high, but also Republicans control the White House, they control the Senate, they control the House, and in the past, Democrats, when Republicans have tried to do something like this, Democrats have argued that the norms of our government should be that you negotiate policy outside of a government shutdown,&#8221; Hunt confronted Gallego right from the start. &#8220;I mean, over many years covering Washington, people have said that over and over and over again.&#8221;
&#8220;Now I have neighbors in the D.C. area who are both employed by the federal government who are having to use food banks. We are heading into Thanksgiving. Why is it suddenly right to do it this way and to do it for this long when it didn’t used to be the right way in Democrats&#8217; view?&#8221; Hunt asked directly.
&#8220;Oh, that’s an easy answer. It’s Donald Trump,&#8221; Gallego replied, spinning quickly to change the topic. &#8220;You’re talking about norms in the time of Donald Trump? It’s also normal not for you to tear down the East Wing.&#8221;
Hunt did not budge: &#8220;Right, but Democrats have spent so much time arguing about how maintaining those norms is actually incredibly important in the face of Donald Trump.&#8221;
&#8220;It doesn’t. It’s all out the window. It is all out of the window, Kasie,&#8221; Gallego insisted, arguing that because he and Democrats did not like what Trump was doing, they were justified in breaking rules in order to level the playing field. &#8220;No. When you’re doing this time with Donald Trump, this is the man that is extorting people. He’s literally breaking every rule. We’re not going to go back and play by the norms when we know that&#8217;s what’s on the line. What’s on the line is 24 million people are going to have their insurance rates premiums doubled. That’s a new thing, by the way. And the fact is the president and everyone expects us to play by these old norms.&#8221;
&#8220;But didn’t Democrats kind of set that up in the bill that you passed, though, that these subsidies were going to expire?&#8221; Hunt was clearly not convinced.
Gallego admitted that Hunt was, in fact, correct — but once again attempted to spin, blaming Republicans for not wanting to pony up billions of taxpayer dollars to fund endless subsidies, all just to rescue the Affordable Care Act they hadn&#8217;t supported in the first place.
&#8220;When we passed the bills and back in the day, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, of course we were trying to maybe hope for the best that this country and our Republican colleagues would understand that raising insurance rates on people is a bad thing. I’m sorry they don’t see it that way, but it’s also not my job to make their job easier,&#8221; he said. &#8220;My job is to make sure that the premiums of 24 million Americans does not double overnight. And if it makes it harder on the Republicans that we’re putting them in a very difficult position, then they have to answer for that &#8230; But I’m not gonna abide by old norms, especially when you’re dealing with this presidency, this administration, and how the Republicans themselves have been acting.&#8221;

2024 Republican National Convention: Day 1

PLOT TWIST: CNN Commits Two Acts Of Journalism In The Same Day

CNN Commits Two Acts Of Journalism In The Same Day

Kaitlan Collins

Karoline Leavitt

Kasie Hunt

Politics

The Italian journalist under fire online for a controversial #MeToo and Black Lives Matter question at the Venice Film Festival is now defending herself.
Federica Polidoro sat down with “After the Hunt” stars Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edebiri for an interview to promote the project. One moment from the conversation, posted to the ArtsLifeTV YouTube channel, has gone viral, with critics accusing Polidoro of being “racist” for directing one of her questions specifically to Roberts and Garfield, who are white, while being accused of excluding Edebiri, who is black.
“Now that the #MeToo era and the Black Lives Matter are done, what do we have to expect in Hollywood and what we lost, we lost something with the politically correct era?” she asked.
Despite the question not being directed at her, Edebiri jumped in to answer it.
“I know that that’s not for me, and I don’t know if it’s purposeful that it’s not for me, but I just am curious,” the star of “The Bear” said.
She went on, “I don’t think it’s done. I don’t think it’s done at all,” as Roberts chimed in with her agreement.
Edebiri went on: “I think maybe hashtags might not be used as much, but I do think that there’s work being done by activists, by people, every day, that’s beautiful, important work that’s not finished, that’s really, really, really active for a reason, because this world is really charged. And that work isn’t finished at all. Maybe if there’s not, like, mainstream coverage in the way that there might have been, daily headlines in the way that it might have been eight or so years ago, but I don’t think it means that the work is done. That’s what I would say.”
Garfield chimed in, agreeing that the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements “are still absolutely alive, as you say, just maybe not as labeled or covered or magnified as much.”
The exchange triggered widespread backlash online, with many commenters accusing Polidoro of asking an insensitive question while being dismissive of the only black actor participating in the interview.
Following the resulting backlash, Polidoro took to Instagram to defend herself in a lengthy post.
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<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOUHWCuCEmv/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Federica Polidoro 🎥 Film Journalist &amp; Theorist (@federica__polidoro)</a>
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“I am not aware of any protocol that dictates the order in which questions must be asked in an interview,” the journalist wrote in part. “Censoring or delegitimizing questions considered ‘uncomfortable’ does not fall within the practice of democracy.”
“To those who unjustly accuse me of racism, I would like to clarify that in my work I have interviewed people of every background and ethnicity, and my own family is multi-ethnic, matriarchal, and feminist, with a significant history of immigration,” she continued. 
“I have collaborated for over 20 years with numerous national and international publications of all political orientations, always approaching my work with openness and professional rigor. In my view, the real racists are those who see racism everywhere and seek to muzzle journalism, limiting freedom of analysis, critical thinking and the plurality of perspectives.”
“After the Hunt” is a psychological thriller about a college professor (Roberts) whose student (Edebiri) makes an accusation against one of her colleagues (Garfield). The film’s tagline is, “Not everything is supposed to make you uncomfortable.”

Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edebiri

Reporter Under Fire For Directing BLM Question Only To White Actors Says Backlash Is Censorship

Black Lives Matter

Hollywood

MeToo

Racism

World

As anti-ICE rioters began to swarm Los Angeles on Friday, former PragerU personality-turned-independent-journalist Aldo Buttazzoni was right there to greet them.
Buttazzoni captured the escalating situation with photos and video footage, dedicated to painting a more accurate picture of the riots than he knew the mainstream media would. He documented the activity on his X <a href="https://x.com/AldoButtazzoni">feed</a>, where hundreds of users have shared his photos, including tech titan Elon Musk.
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This is my photo! Thank you for sharing Elon! <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a>
&mdash; Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) <a href="https://twitter.com/AldoButtazzoni/status/1931900528390492556?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“I love independent journalism,” Buttazzoni told The Daily Wire. “I was in Houston after the Uvalde shooting. I was in D.C. right after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. When there’s stuff going on, I like to be there because I know how much disinformation there is. To be quite honest, I trust myself to get that news out and get the stuff that other people might not.”
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Protests clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Friday, June 6, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/anti-ice-activist-run-over-as-protests-over-raids-get-ugly?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=81&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Anti-ICE+Activist+Run+Over+As+Protests+Over+Raids+Get+Ugly">reported</a>. Many hardline Democrats sided with the protestors, with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass saying she was “deeply angered” by the ICE raids.
On Saturday, Buttazzoni spent the entire day in Paramount, which is on the border of Compton, and said that was the first day the rioting started.
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NOW: Current scene in Paramount, CA between protestors &amp; LAPD <a href="https://t.co/Mo9IwTGlbE">pic.twitter.com/Mo9IwTGlbE</a>
&mdash; Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) <a href="https://twitter.com/AldoButtazzoni/status/1931480149209559506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“We have good gear, so I personally don’t feel like I’m in imminent danger, but it is scary,” he admitted. “It’s definitely jarring when there’s explosions going off next to your ear. [As] a public figure, the most dangerous and scariest part is having your face out there. On Friday, before things even got really bad, I was surrounded by a mob of protestors and assaulted.”
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NOW: Anti-ICE protestors surrounded me &amp; attempted to grab my belongings while documenting the protests. 
They accused me of being an agitator &amp; “infiltrator” despite me wearing a name tag. I never hide who I am when filming protests like I have done countless times. <a href="https://t.co/vST8pLdOls">pic.twitter.com/vST8pLdOls</a>
&mdash; Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) <a href="https://twitter.com/AldoButtazzoni/status/1931198649008054755?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“[Saturday was] when I really saw the damage. The street was damaged, dumpster fires, empty lots caught on fire, graffiti, vandalism. … I would say the mile-radius of immediate damage was Hill Street to Temple to Central Avenue. It was relatively small, but that doesn’t discount the amount of damage they were able to do in such a small area.”
Buttazzoni said personal politics should not matter in situations where the law must be enforced, especially when violence is involved.
“President Trump is not taking over. He’s doing the bare minimum job that the citizens elect people to do, which is to keep their cities safe. … On Sunday, I witnessed rioters tearing up sidewalks and hurling twenty to thirty pound rocks off an overpass while shouting, ‘Aim for the heads, aim for the heads!’ That’s all that needs to be said. There was violent intent, not just violent outcomes.”
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🚨BREAKING: Rioters are tearing up the side walk &amp; collecting ROCKS to throw at law enforcement. LAPD continues to show incredible restraint despite multiple of their vehicles being destroyed.
Graffiti &amp; destruction is widespread with no sign of stopping. <a href="https://t.co/igkbnVrzdw">pic.twitter.com/igkbnVrzdw</a>
&mdash; Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) <a href="https://twitter.com/AldoButtazzoni/status/1931897508185416123?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Despite having documented multiple protests and riots, Buttazzoni said these are the worst he’s ever seen and that the rioters&#8217; brazenness is the most disturbing part of it.
“The protests and the riots I’ve been to, there’s always a sense of fear. Or, at least, there’s a sense that people are on alert that they’re going to get caught. On Sunday, I don’t think I’ve ever seen protestors act with such impunity and such confidence that law enforcement was going to do nothing — or could do nothing.”
Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has come under fire for his mishandling of the riots, yet refuses to take responsibility, blaming President Donald Trump for escalating the situation by sending in the National Guard.
“Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions,” Newsom said in an X <a href="https://x.com/GavinNewsom/status/1931916595628237077">post</a>.
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Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions.
If he can’t solve it, we will.
To the bad actors — Violent acts will not be tolerated. You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You are doing more than just damage to buildings and property. You are… <a href="https://t.co/VMLqdUDS56">pic.twitter.com/VMLqdUDS56</a>
&mdash; Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1931916595628237077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Buttazzoni disagrees, saying the National Guard “absolutely needed to come in.”
“I want to stress this — yesterday was the least violent of all of the three days, and I think a big reason for that was because the National Guard was deployed. They were stationed at the Federal Building very early on in the day, and what we saw throughout the day was a significantly increased presence of LAPD on the street.”
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This is the least violent / least amount of altercations of the last 3 days (so far). Possibly due to it being the work week &amp; increased media presence.
&mdash; Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) <a href="https://twitter.com/AldoButtazzoni/status/1932247654584684967?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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According to Buttazzoni, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, LAPD presence on the street lasted only until nightfall because they did not have the manpower to protect the federal buildings at the same time. He said that when the National Guard came in, LAPD made more arrests than the prior three days combined.
“They corralled a big group of rioters. Maybe 150 people were in that group. I was detained, but that large scale arrest was the first I had seen of the last four days.”
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All is well. LAPD detained &amp; released me after verifying my information.
Thank you for the well wishes. <a href="https://t.co/f1xRjO1jYV">https://t.co/f1xRjO1jYV</a>
— Aldo 🌞 (@AldoButtazzoni) <a href="https://twitter.com/AldoButtazzoni/status/1932293485325078763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
Buttazzoni went on to criticize the higher-ups for choosing to complain about President Trump’s involvement instead of welcoming it.
“When you’re the governor of a state and the downtown area is being destroyed — people are losing businesses and people are getting injured and the taxpayer is going to have to foot the bill for this. So, for them to not do their job and then get upset at a person higher than them saying they’re going to do their job for them … it’s ridiculous.”
As an independent journalist, Buttazzoni pays for much of his own expenses and is <a href="https://tr.ee/MitolNAC3K">accepting donations</a> toward his continued activity.

LA Riots

Independent Journo Documents Carnage In Los Angeles: ‘I Was Surrounded By A Mob’

Gavin Newsom

Los Angeles

Organized crime

PragerU

Riots

A German-language daily newspaper that caught heat for publishing a birthday tribute to Clint Eastwood that included decades-old quotes has issued a statement after it was accused of being fake news. 
The controversy kicked off earlier this week when Eastwood, 95, referred to the article in Kurier as false. The actor released a statement to <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/06/clint-eastwood-assails-austrian-interview-in-austrian-kurier-entirely-phony-1236420771/">Deadline</a> to “set the record straight” and asserted that he “never gave an interview to an Austrian publication called Kurier, or any other writer in recent weeks, and that the interview is entirely phony.”
In the statement, the outlet noted that the writer they contracted for the piece, Elisabeth Sereda, used old quotes from Eastwood that created the perception that she had just interviewed the iconic film legend. In reality, Sereda used a mashup of quotes from Eastwood lifted from different interviews dating back to 1976.  
“There was no immediate reason to doubt that she had interviewed Eastwood,” a translated version of the Kurier statement <a href="https://kurier.at/kultur/medien/clint-eastwood-interview-hollywood-kurier-in-eigener-sache/403047088">said</a>. Outlet reps noted how Sereda had a long history of interviewing celebrities and was a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
The statement went on to note that Sereda had spoken to Eastwood 18 times during roundtable discussions and that none of the quotes were altered. However, the outlet admitted that framing the article as an interview rather than a tribute did mislead audiences. 
“Even though no quote is fabricated, the interviews are documented, and the allegation of falsification can be refuted, we will no longer work with the author in the future because transparency and our strict editorial standards are paramount to us,” the statement concluded.
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The outlet has since removed the interview from its website. 
Sereda defended her actions in a statement to <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/is-clint-eastwood-interview-real-old-quotes-1236417323/">Variety</a>, again claiming it was enough that only real quotes were used.
“Quotes from Mr. Eastwood cited in the story are culled from several of those 14 press conferences I attended and covered,” Sereda told the outlet.
The original birthday tribute, which appeared on Kurier, got the most attention for being critical of remakes and franchises. 
“I long for the good old days when screenwriters wrote movies like ‘Casablanca’ in small bungalows on the studio lot. When everyone had a new idea,” Eastwood is quoted as saying. “We live in an era of remakes and franchises. I’ve shot sequels three times, but I haven’t been interested in that for a long while. My philosophy is: do something new or stay at home.”
Variety noted that this particular quote might have come from the mid-1980s. 
Eastwood is also quoted as saying he didn’t plan on retiring “for a long time,” despite being five years shy of triple digits.
Eastwood has established a reputation in Hollywood as a conservative and supporter of GOP politicians, including presidential candidates Mitt Romney and the late John McCain. In 2012, he made an appearance at the Republican National Convention, where he made headlines for addressing an empty chair that represented then-President Barack Obama.

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood Calls Out ‘Entirely Phony’ Article About Him; Writer Responds

Clint Eastwood Calls Out 'Entirely Phony' Article About Him; Writer Responds

Germany

An AI-generated list of recommended reading for the summer, published by the Chicago Sun-Times, included several books that don’t exist.
Per <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/05/20/nx-s1-5405022/fake-summer-reading-list-ai">NPR</a>, at least one edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer used the same flawed list, titled “Summer reading list for 2025.&#8221; Suggested titles included “Tidewater Dreams,” purportedly authored by Chilean American novelist Isabel Allende, which was described as her &#8220;first climate fiction novel.&#8221; Allende is a real person, but the suggested novel is not a book she or anyone else published.
Another suggestion was “The Rainmakers,” which is described as a story set in a &#8220;near-future American West where artificially induced rain has become a luxury commodity.” This faux novel was said to be written by 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner Percival Everett.
The outlet noted that only five of the 15 books suggested were real titles. 
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The Chicago Sun-Times printed a &quot;summer reading list&quot; featuring real authors but mostly made up books, generated by a freelancer using AI.
This comes two months after the newspaper cut 20% of its staff. <a href="https://t.co/TLMbDxuey0">pic.twitter.com/TLMbDxuey0</a>
&mdash; Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) <a href="https://twitter.com/nick_kapur/status/1924999492824399991?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;We are looking into how this made it into print as we speak,&#8221; Victor Lim, marketing director for the Chicago Sun-Times&#8217; parent company, Chicago Public Media, said in a statement. He also noted that the content did not come directly from the newspaper’s staffers. 
&#8220;This is licensed content that was not created by, or approved by, the Sun-Times newsroom, but it is unacceptable for any content we provide to our readers to be inaccurate. We value our readers&#8217; trust in our reporting and take this very seriously. More info will be provided soon as we investigate.&#8221;
The article&#8217;s author, Marco Buscaglia, addressed the error, writing in an email to NPR, &#8220;Huge mistake on my part and has nothing to do with the Sun-Times. They trust that the content they purchase is accurate and I betrayed that trust. It&#8217;s on me 100 percent.&#8221;
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The paper also <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/press-room/2025/05/20/chicago-sun-times-response-to-may-18-special-section">issued a response</a> to subscribers, noting that the person responsible for the error had been terminated and promising the mistake would not happen again. They said subscribers would not be charged for the premium edition and said more care would be put into checking for AI-generated content in the future.
“We are in a moment of great transformation in journalism and technology, and at the same time our industry continues to be besieged by business challenges. This should be a learning moment for all journalism organizations: Our work is valued — and valuable — because of the humanity behind it,” the statement said.
“At Chicago Public Media, we are proud of our credible, independent journalism, created for and by people. And part of the journalistic process is a commitment to acknowledging mistakes. It is unacceptable that this content was inaccurate, and it is equally unacceptable that we did not make it clear to readers that the section was produced outside the Sun-Times newsroom.”

Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Sun-Times Published A.I.-Generated Summer Reading List With Books That Don’t Exist

Chicago Sun-Times Published A.I.-Generated Summer Reading List With Books That Don't Exist

Artificial Intelligence

Books

Chicago

Newspaper

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A Pulitzer Prize administrator mocked a conservative journalist and member of its nominating jury for questioning why the group gave an award to an anti-Israel journalist who downplayed Hamas&#8217;s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon, was invited this year to serve on the five-member jury for the Pulitzer Prize&#8217;s National Reporting award. But after the Pulitzer&#8217;s Commentary award went to Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha — who objected to the media describing an Israeli victim of  the October 7 massacre as a hostage — Johnson <a href="https://freebeacon.com/media/occasionally-we-misjudge/">had questions.</a>
As she wrote in the Free Beacon this week, Johnson asked Pulitzer Prize administrator Marjorie Miller several questions about the prize, most notably, whether or not &#8220;members of the Pulitzer board themselves aware of Abu Toha’s public statements?&#8221;
The statements in question had to do with Emily Damari, who was taken hostage at Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7 and held by Hamas for 471 days.
“How on earth is this girl called a hostage? (And this is the case of most ‘hostages’),” Abu Toha wrote just before the Pulitzer deliberations began. “This is Emily Damari, a 28 [year-old] UK-Israeli soldier that Hamas detailed [sic] on 10/7… So this girl is called a ‘hostage?’ This soldier who was close to the border with a city that she and her country have been occupying is called a ‘hostage.’”
“Imagine for a moment a Pulitzer going to an extremist Israeli settler poet who had minimized and mocked the suffering of civilians in Gaza; who put ‘Palestinian’ or ‘innocent civilian’ in quotation marks the way Abu Toha does ‘hostages,’&#8221; Johnson wrote. &#8220;You can’t, because it would never happen.”
In response to Johnson&#8217;s query, Miller — whose social media accounts are littered with pro-Kamala Harris and anti-Trump posts — delivered what Johnson called a &#8220;non-response response about the board’s commitment to recognizing &#8216;excellence in reporting.'&#8221;
Johnson then began querying other members of the Pulitzer committee, prompting Miller to allege that Johnson’s emails violated the confidentiality agreement she had signed upon joining the jury.
Miller ended her email by noting that, while jurors are selected “for their character, expertise and integrity…Unfortunately, we occasionally misjudge.”
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<div>
“She and her colleagues have misjudged, starting with the minor issue of what the confidentiality agreement actually says,” Johnson noted.
“As part of providing my services to the Pulitzers, I agreed not to discuss deliberations over the National Reporting category, nor to reveal the finalists before the winner was announced,&#8221; Johnson wrote. &#8220;I did not agree to refrain from reporting on a separate category in which I had no role.
&#8220;The Pulitzer board’s position that any reporter who participates on one of its many juries is prohibited from doing any reporting about the organization itself—even when one of its awards has become an international news story—is preposterous.”
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<div>
Other jurors on the board with Johnson included Zeba Khan, the founder of Muslims for Obama; Jon Allsop, who has accused the Israel Defense Forces of deliberately targeting journalists; and Julia Preston, who has stated that President Donald Trump is “an existential threat to our democracy.”
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Damari slammed the Pulitzer board, saying they had rewarded a voice that denies truth, erases victims, and desecrates the memory of the murdered.
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<div>
&#8220;How to use language is precisely a journalist’s job—and a poet’s, too,&#8221; Johnson noted. &#8220;It’s not outlandish, then, to believe that Abu Toha meant exactly what he said and said exactly what he meant: No mercy for the men, women, and babies Hamas kidnapped on Oct. 7.&#8221;
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MixCollage-16-May-2025-11-56-AM-55

Pulitzer Prize Official Mocked Juror For Questioning An Anti-Israel Writer’s Award

Hamas

Israel

October 7

Palestinian

Pulitzer Prize

Washington Free Beacon

Daily Wire investigative reporter Spencer Lindquist took home a 2025 Media Research Center Bulldog Award for excellence in conservative media.
The Media Research Center (MRC) presents the <a href="https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nb-staff/2025/05/06/mrc-announces-fourth-annual-bulldog-award-winners-sowell-musk-kelly" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bulldog Awards</a> to conservative journalists, columnists, and podcast hosts each year as an alternative to the left-leaning Pulitzer Prize. Lindquist received the MRC Bulldog Award for Outstanding Blogger for his reporting on Colony Ridge, a housing development in Texas that advertises to illegal immigrants and has become a hotbed of illegal alien crime.
Lindquist has “documented rising crime in the greater Colony Ridge area, including a child abduction, drug overdoses, drug trafficking, drunk driving, murders, and hideouts for criminal illegal immigrants,” the MRC announced this week.
“Despite that, Lindquist reported that developers view mass immigration as a business opportunity, including the systematic targeting of illegal immigrants by allowing them to purchase land without a Social Security number.”
The MRC further notes that “thanks to Lindquist’s reporting, Colony Ridge has been put squarely in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, including immigration operations that have nabbed over 100 illegal aliens and MS-13 gang members.”
Other Bulldog Award recipients this year include the economist Thomas Sowell, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award; Elon Musk, who was named Outstanding Social Media Personality; the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel, Outstanding Columnist; and CNN contributor Scott Jennings, who was honored for Outstanding Achievement Behind Enemy Lines.
Beyond Colony Ridge, Lindquist has reported on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/baltimore-judge-gets-in-the-way-of-another-trump-gang-member-deportation?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=10&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Baltimore+Judge+Gets+In+The+Way+Of+Another+Trump+Gang+Member+Deportation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">judicial efforts</a> to stymie the Trump administration’s immigration policies and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-nearly-freed-a-twice-deported-illegal-alien-drunk-driver-now-newsom-is-backtracking?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=12&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=California+Nearly+Freed+A+Twice-Deported+Illegal+Alien+Drunk+Driver+%E2%80%94+Now+Newsom+Is+Backtracking" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cataloged</a> instances of illegal immigrant crime. Just this week, he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-trump-dhs-partners-with-100s-of-police-departments-to-supercharge-deportation-campaign?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Trump+Makes+Move+To+Super-Charge+Deportations+Using+Local+Cops" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broke the news</a> that the Trump administration was deputizing local law enforcement agencies to carry out certain ICE duties, including deportations.
Outside of immigration, Lindquist has also reported extensively on the transgender lobby and left-wing environmental policies, among other issues.
“As trust in left-wing media continues to collapse, independent news sources featuring fearless truth-tellers are on the rise,” MRC Vice President for Research and Publications Brent Baker said. “This year’s MRC Bulldog winners are replacing discredited leftists who claim to report the news, yet failed the American people when it came to stories like the Russiagate scandal and Joe Biden’s cognitive decline.&#8221;
Lindquist joins a number of his Daily Wire colleagues in the ranks of MRC Bulldog Award winners. Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro and host Matt Walsh have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-daily-wires-ben-shapiro-and-kassy-akiva-win-conservative-media-awards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">each received</a> the Outstanding Podcast Award. Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olohan and video journalist Kassy Akiva have previously been named Outstanding Blogger. And Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak was the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wires-luke-rosiak-wins-award-for-outstanding-investigative-journalist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first-ever recipient</a> of the MRC’s Bulldog Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalist.

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Daily Wire Investigative Reporter Spencer Lindquist Honored For Colony Ridge Reporting

Awards

Colony Ridge

Daily Wire

Washington Post immigration reporter Maria Sacchetti earned herself a wave of backlash when she attempted to use Saturday&#8217;s Kentucky Derby winner — Sovereignty, ridden by Venezuelan immigrant Junior Alvarado — as a cudgel with which to dishonestly attack President Donald Trump and his administration&#8217;s policies on illegal immigration and mass deportation.
Sacchetti, like so many others in broadcast and print media, conflated Alvarado — a legal immigrant from Venezuela — with the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States, suggesting that it Trump was allowed to continue deporting criminal illegals, Alvarado and others like him would be among them.
&#8220;Trump officials, who have sought to expel hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, are celebrating the victory of Sovereignty at the Kentucky Derby. Sovereignty’s jockey, Junior Alvarado, is an immigrant from Venezuela,&#8221; Sacchetti posted via X.
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Trump officials, who have sought to expel hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, are celebrating the victory of Sovereignty at the Kentucky Derby.
Sovereignty’s jockey, Junior Alvarado, is an immigrant from Venezuela. <a href="https://t.co/vbGAGh7GS3">pic.twitter.com/vbGAGh7GS3</a>
— Maria Sacchetti (@mariasacchetti) <a href="https://twitter.com/mariasacchetti/status/1918846076922007915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Critics quickly pointed out the fact that Alvarado was in the United States legally — and Trump&#8217;s deportation policies were aimed primarily at those who were not only in the country illegally but had also committed additional crimes since their arrival.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon posted, &#8220;In America, legal immigrants are awesome and many serve in the Trump administration. I am one. Junior Alvarado is leading in sports. Many like Elon change the world. Stop conflating law-abiding citizens with criminal gangbangers, drug dealers, and human traffickers. We see you.&#8221;
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In America, legal immigrants are awesome and many serve in the Trump administration. I am one. Junior Alvarado is leading in sports. Many like Elon change the world. Stop conflating law-abiding citizens with criminal gangbangers, drug dealers, and human traffickers. We see you. <a href="https://t.co/LX32GXPQwO">https://t.co/LX32GXPQwO</a>
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@HarmeetKDhillon) <a href="https://twitter.com/HarmeetKDhillon/status/1919047378327257130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Great story, Maria. So the entire (dishonest) implication of your premise is that he entered the country illegally and Alvarado is now at risk of being deported. Except he came here legally,&#8221; Joe Concha added. &#8220;The &#8216;hundreds of thousands&#8217; of Venezuelans Trump is seeking to expel entered illegally.&#8221;
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Great story, Maria. So the entire (dishonest) implication of your premise is that he entered the country illegally and Alvarado is now at risk of being deported.
Except he came here legally. The “hundreds of thousands” of Venezuelans Trump is seeking to expel entered illegally. <a href="https://t.co/0lJPgGMOPn">https://t.co/0lJPgGMOPn</a>
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeConchaTV/status/1919063938328572353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;This article, shared by a Washington Post reporter, conflates illegal immigrants, foreigners with legal guest visas, and Latinos as a whole to pretend that cracking down on illegal immigration would exclude jockeys. An immigration attorney quoted in the article confirms there’s been no problem obtaining visas for foreign jockeys. I think these people actually believe their own propaganda,&#8221; Laura Powell said.
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This article, shared by a Washington Post reporter, conflates illegal immigrants, foreigners with legal guest visas, and Latinos as a whole to pretend that cracking down on illegal immigration would exclude jockeys.
An immigration attorney quoted in the article confirms there’s… <a href="https://t.co/JGL9otuuUA">https://t.co/JGL9otuuUA</a> <a href="https://t.co/r8z2tC2BTu">pic.twitter.com/r8z2tC2BTu</a>
— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) <a href="https://twitter.com/LauraPowellEsq/status/1919089927884882373?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;This woman is allegedly an immigration &#8216;reporter&#8217; for the Washington Post and does not understand the difference between LEGAL immigrants and ILLEGAL immigrants,&#8221; Abigail Jackson posted.
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This woman is allegedly an immigration “reporter” for the Washington Post and does not understand the difference between LEGAL immigrants and ILLEGAL immigrants. <a href="https://t.co/RfT6AWoMbN">https://t.co/RfT6AWoMbN</a>
— Abigail Jackson 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) <a href="https://twitter.com/abigailmarone/status/1919058565370704032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I wonder if she understands that her assertion demonstrates that Trump supporters don’t hate people because of their ethnicity but instead want illegal aliens gone regardless,&#8221; Kurt Schlicter added.
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I wonder if she understands that her assertion demonstrates that Trump supporters don’t hate people because of their ethnicity but instead want illegal aliens gone regardless <a href="https://t.co/dcpNlC7BAM">https://t.co/dcpNlC7BAM</a>
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) <a href="https://twitter.com/KurtSchlichter/status/1919030326883430472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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