In a recent Netflix documentary about Vietnam, Dan Rather makes a rather ironic observation considering the source as well as the shameful state of the mainstream media of which he was a part. “A free and independent, truly independent, media is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy.”
The messenger, however, does not necessarily negate the message. But what happens when the watchdogs of the State act as their lapdogs because their political and social interests are so aligned as to be indistinguishable?
Anyone with functioning senses could tell that from the beginning of his 2020 campaign, Joe Biden was not fully in command of his mental faculties. And it only got worse. And yet, when he announced his plans to run for a second term, those in the legacy media were more than willing to do their parts to ensure this incapacitated man should be the commander-in-chief of our armed forces and keeper of the nuclear codes for another four years.
That was until it all finally blew up on the debate stage in June 2024.
<div id="attachment_756743" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-756743" class="size-large wp-image-756743" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Biden6-1024x576.jpg" alt="US President Joe Biden looks on as he participates in the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections with former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at CNN's studios in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024." width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Biden6-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Biden6-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Biden6-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Biden6-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/06/Biden6-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images</div>
With Biden’s decay “settled science”, the media are now claiming in faux self-reflection that they “missed the story.” What was there to miss? It would be easier to “miss” a full solar eclipse. I even recall driving in my car with my daughter who heard one of Biden’s slurring, disjointed ramblings on an otherwise very Biden-friendly NPR broadcast. She observed matter-of-factly, “He sounds like Grandpa.” (Her grandfather was sadly suffering from severe cognitive decline as well as Parkinson’s by then.)
And yet, those who worked with Biden on a daily basis claimed that “behind the scenes” this bedazzled, vacuous man was, in reality, a whirlwind who was so energetic and on top of things it was an effort just to keep up with him. And the media willingly went along with the lies to hide that whoever was running the White House, it was not Joe Biden. And now they are paying the price in a collapse in confidence. According to Gallup, only 7% of respondents trust the media “a great deal” and just 24% a “fair amount.”
As pathetic as their attempts at gaslighting the public about their chosen president were at the time, what is even more pitiful now is their desperate attempt to cover up their own coverups, or gaslight us again…this time about themselves.
<div id="attachment_915929" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-915929" class="size-large wp-image-915929" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-1244586063-384x576.jpg" alt="MEET THE PRESS -- Pictured: Moderator Chuck Todd appears on Meet the Press at Studio 1A in New York, NY Sunday, November 6, 2022. -- (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-1244586063-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-1244586063-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-1244586063.jpg 683w" sizes="(max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images</div>
Consider Chuck Todd, former host of NBC’s Meet The Press, actually trying to pass the buck.
“This is not a media failure,” he insists. “This is a failure of the Democratic Party. And…the virtue signaling that some people have done to try to say that the media missed this story, they didn’t miss this story.” His defensive rant concludes: “This is an attempt by some to virtue signal, and it’s this horrible sort of pitting different news organizations against each other, when ultimately, the people at fault are Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Jill Biden, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, every elected member of Congress!”
What is fascinating about Todd’s deflecting the blame is not just the shameless denial on display, but more importantly, what it reveals about the ethos of the mainstream media today. He claims this was a “failure of the Democratic Party.” In other words, what Todd is saying here is that the Democrats are to blame because the narrative they fed him, to then feed to us, was bogus. But it is not the job of the press to blindly accept and pass on what they are told by those in power. It is the media’s job to challenge the State narrative by investigating the truth outside the White House Press Secretary’s prepared remarks. Especially when the lies were so blatant regarding the mental decline of the President of the United States.
In his effort to defend the media, Todd has, in fact, indicted it for the crime of being nothing more than a reliable conduit for State propaganda. He is right in that the legacy media did not “miss” this story. They were fully aware of Biden’s crumbling brain. (Unless they are the worst reporters since Ron Burgundy). They just deliberately chose to ignore, downplay, bury and gaslight it. The media, which has at least ten times the number of Democrats as Republicans in their ranks, ran cover for their favored party and benefactors in DC. 

Todd’s unconvincing line of defense is not even as shameful as some media pundits who are today trying to cash in on the very scandal in which they were themselves active participants. CNN’s Jake Tapper, who now has the nerve to co-author a book about the Biden mental health cover-up, even though for years he carried tanker loads of water for this same man, berated Laura Trump in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8o87LhyysU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2020</a> for questioning Biden’s cognitive abilities:
<blockquote>Jake Tapper: How do you think it makes little kids with stutters feel when they see you make a comment like that?
Laura Trump: First and foremost, I had no idea that Joe Biden ever suffered from a stutter. I think what we see on stage with Joe Biden, Jake, is very clearly a cognitive decline. That’s what I’m referring to. It makes me uncomfortable—
Jake Tapper: (with a dismissive smirk speaking over Trump): You have no, absolutely, you have no idea. It’s so amazing to me that, that…A cognitive decline?
Laura Trump: When you’re trying to tell me what I was suggesting was a stutter—
Jake Tapper: I think you were mocking his stutter. And I think you have absolutely no standing to diagnose somebody’s cognitive decline. I would think somebody in the Trump family would be more sensitive. People who do not have medical licenses diagnosing politicians from afar.</blockquote>
If you would like to see more evidence that being a Democrat means never having to say you’re sorry, feel free to read Jake’s new book, &#8220;Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.&#8221; I wonder if he touches upon his own role in the scandal as witnessed above in his tell-all? Any bets? I hear he is now working on a book about selective amnesia.
<div id="attachment_915931" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-915931" class="size-large wp-image-915931" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2173191180-864x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 19: Jake Tapper speaks on stage during &quot;The Long Road to Freedom for C.J. Rice&quot; panel for The Atlantic Festival 2024 on September 19, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for The Atlantic)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2173191180-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2173191180-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2173191180-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2173191180.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Jemal Countess/Getty Images for The Atlantic</div>
Tapper’s 2020 line of questioning also reveals another tactic the media used to aggressively run cover for the Biden brain melt. That was to deploy the “you’re not a neurologist” argument from authority fallacy. Because, you see, those knowledgeable in the field were quite satisfied with Biden’s mental acuity and dismissive of his advanced years.
According to The Hill, for example, Biden was, in fact, a “superager.” As late as January 2024 they wrote, “He has a family history of dementia-free longevity and there was no evidence of cognitive decline in his personal medical records…his medical records <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Health-Summary-2.16.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published</a> in his years since taking office so far indicate no significant change in physical or mental health status has occurred.”
In 2020, Forbes even saw Biden’s “stutter” as a beacon of hope for others with this affliction…and that’s all it was. “President or not, it is Joe Biden’s resilience that positions him as a hope for young Americans with disabilities.”
Okay. I’m not a doctor or a shrink. But like many Americans, including I have no doubt more than a few reading this, I have sadly seen what cognitive decline of an elderly loved one looks like up close and personal. Also, my father, who was exceptionally bright, had an actual stutter (for years I thought the state next to us was pronounced “I…I…Indiana”). So I know the difference between the two, thank you very much.
What the Democrat Party and mainstream/legacy media (but I repeat myself) tried to pull on the American people is nothing short of disgraceful. It took an old man’s very pathetic mental collapse in front of the world for the media to finally accept that the game was up. Up until the debate, for four years, day after day, week after week the press that Dan Rather calls democracy’s “red beating heart” never seriously challenged those DNC operatives who went before the cameras and declared him to be the “best Joe Biden ever” who was “sharp as a tack.” All to protect the interests of their own party, and thus their power
The media’s role in the Biden scandal reveals the true level of contempt with which the overly-educated, overly-credentialed, cloistered coastal elites who are now the prime drivers in the DNC-Media Complex hold the average American. That they thought they could literally go before us and tell us not to believe our own lyin’ eyes is both an expression of astounding intellectual hubris as well as a demonstration of how insular they have become.
And they paid for this hubris at the polls in November. Despite their best efforts at using deception to protect their political party’s hold on power, the red-capped, flannel-wearing, beer-swilling, fast-food eating, knuckle-dragging Joe Punchclock rubes saw through the psyop. As such, their people are now in charge of the White House, the Senate, the House, hold a 6-3 majority in the Supreme Court and control the majority of governors mansions and state legislatures, while the Democrat Party polls in the mid-twenty percent and trust in their legacy media bagmen is at an all-time low. And that is no lie.
* * *
Brad Schaeffer is a commodities fund manager, author, and columnist whose articles have appeared on the pages of The Daily Wire, The Wall Street Journal, NY Post, NY Daily News, National Review, The Hill, The Federalist, Zerohedge, and other outlets. He is the author of three <a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD?ccs_id=55112527-86f6-4c89-b82e-a96d6869abed" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07MQJBJSD?ccs_id%3D55112527-86f6-4c89-b82e-a96d6869abed&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1736518135479000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3K_WhJtiUZw7LF1PwSIHtH">books</a>. Follow him on <a href="https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bradschaeffer.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1736518135479000&amp;usg=AOvVaw02hy-lB4UuAlHo7FfD_FIQ">Substack</a> and <a href="https://x.com/bschaeffer123" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/bschaeffer123&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1736518135479000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0P6pRoAqcBhUQ1W0qwN5rH">X/Twitter</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-05-May-2025-10-02-AM-7242

All The President’s Gaslighters

All The President's Gaslighters

Biden Administration

Chuck Todd

Jake Tapper

Joe Biden

Legacy Media

Opinion

President Donald Trump reproached NBC&#8217;s Kristen Welker multiple times over the way she framed questions during an interview marking the first 100 days of his second term.
Welker faced blowback from Trump when the &#8220;Meet The Press&#8221; moderator pressed him about the trade war with China.
&#8220;Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa,&#8221; Trump said as Welker contended that prices were already going up on goods ranging from tires to strollers.
&#8220;This is such a dishonest interview already,&#8221; Trump said before he asserted that prices are down for groceries and energy as well as mortgage rates.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Meet the Fake Press: &#8220;Prices are already going up&#8230;&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;This is such a dishonest interview already. Prices are down on groceries. Prices are down for oil. Prices are down for all energy. Prices are down at tremendous numbers for gasoline.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/gy5dxQb39Q">pic.twitter.com/gy5dxQb39Q</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919045057820168238?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Another exchange centered on small businesses.
&#8220;Small businesses say they are being hurt by the Chinese tariffs and some could be forced to shut down &#8230;&#8221; Welker said.
&#8220;And many businesses are being helped!&#8221; Trump interjected.
They both spoke over each other for a few moments before Trump called out Welker.
&#8220;Why do you always mention — you know — you pick [out] a couple of little businesses. What about the car business? They&#8217;re going to make a fortune because of the tariffs,&#8221; Trump said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> calls out Fake News NBC: &#8220;You pick [out] a couple of little businesses. What about the car business? They&#8217;re going to make a fortune because of the tariffs&#8230; the head of the union who was no fan of mine&#8230; now he&#8217;s saying&#8230; &#8216;We&#8217;ve been waiting 40 years for somebody to… <a href="https://t.co/iVSAr0w9UZ">pic.twitter.com/iVSAr0w9UZ</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919023203856286203?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump discussed how United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain was &#8220;no fan&#8221; of his, but has come around and voiced <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/04/07/nx-s1-5352409/trump-auto-tariffs-uaw-shawn-fain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">support</a> for the auto tariffs.
&#8220;So why don&#8217;t you mention the big car industry instead of mentioning somebody that&#8217;s doing strollers?&#8221; Trump said.
&#8220;Well, I&#8217;m just asking you about small businesses. Are there any discussions about giving any relief to small businesses?&#8221; Welker said.
&#8220;They&#8217;re not going to need it,&#8221; Trump replied. &#8220;They&#8217;re going to make so much money if you build your product here. Remember: there are no tariffs if you build your product here. It&#8217;s very easy. It&#8217;s very simple.&#8221;
Trump also confronted Welker when the journalist asked about authoritarianism.
&#8220;Let me ask you — big picture. People who have lived in countries like the Philippines, Hungary, Russia, they look at some of your actions — going after civil service, going after universities, law firms, the media — they say it&#8217;s out of an authoritarian playbook. What do you say to those who believe you are taking the country down an authoritarian path?&#8221; Welker asked.
&#8220;Well, there you go again,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Why don&#8217;t you ask it a different way? Many people want to come into our country. Many people love Trump. I won the election. They didn&#8217;t win the election. I got a lot more votes than they did. I won the popular vote. I won all seven swing states by a lot. A lot of people were surprised. They said, &#8216;I think he could win four, maybe five.&#8217; No, I won all seven, and I won by a lot. And I won. Actually, I think there was a lot of hanky panky going on but it was too big to rig. That&#8217;s the good news. It&#8217;s too big to rig. But let me just say, so when you make these statements about, &#8216;People say this –,&#8217; well, they had their chance at the election and they lost big. So you should ask the question differently.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
NBC: What do you say to those who believe you are taking the country down an authoritarian path?<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;There you go again. Why don&#8217;t you ask in a different way? Many people want to come into our country. Many people love Trump&#8230; I won the popular vote&#8230; they had their… <a href="https://t.co/XFx4X21jfF">pic.twitter.com/XFx4X21jfF</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919024153950134384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Before Welker could pose another question, Trump kept going.
&#8220;You should say, &#8216;What about the people that want to be in this country? What about the people that love this country?'&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Okay. But what do you say to — I&#8217;m asking it on behalf of those people to give you a chance to respond to them. What do you say to those people, sir?&#8221; Welker asked.
&#8220;Those people are going to be very happy,&#8221; Trump replied. &#8220;They&#8217;re going to have to see some results. And I think we had a great 100 days. There are a lot of people that say it was unprecedented. It was an absolutely unprecedented 100 days. And I hope that they&#8217;re going to be right.&#8221;

President Donald Trump

‘There You Go Again’: Trump Fires Back At Slanted Question From NBC Host

Donald Trump

Economy

Kristen Welker

Media

Politics

Tariffs

Trade War

U.S.

President Donald Trump ripped into &#8220;Meet the Press&#8221; anchor Kristen Welker — and her home network, NBC News — in a Sunday evening post on his Truth Social platform panning their coverage of his administration and saying that they were focusing on all the wrong things.
Trump, who spoke with Welker himself by phone on Sunday, said that she had &#8220;wasted my administration&#8217;s time&#8221; by focusing on stories that were less important and failing to address the serious issues facing the country.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://t.co/EfyMuL1VJx">pic.twitter.com/EfyMuL1VJx</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1906491191505399820?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Kristen Welker’s entire first half hour of the Lowly Rated Meet the Fake Press this morning, was devoted to the boring Signal Witch Hunt,&#8221; Trump began. He went on to note that Welker, like the anchors and many of the guests on the other networks&#8217; Sunday talk shows, had spent a fair amount of time on the Signal chat group that had included a number of top Trump administration officials — and, accidentally, Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg — in a discussion about a recent attack on Houthi terrorists.
&#8220;She doesn’t want to talk in detail about anything that matters like how well we are doing against the Houthis, substantive Peace Talks with Russia and Ukraine or, Iran, Iran, Iran,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;She wastes my Administration’s time by talking to them about &#8216;NOTHING.'&#8221;
&#8220;Why can’t NBC, one of the Worst Broadcasters on Television, hire people that are honest and credible?&#8221; Trump asked, before pivoting to blame leadership at the network. &#8220;The reason they don’t is because their Chairman, Brian Roberts, is a pathetic Loser, who is petrified of the Left, and always will be. Comcast’s MSNBC and NBC have fought me for years, spending almost all of their waking hours making up Fake Stories — and look, I’m PRESIDENT, with really high Poll Numbers and Great Accomplishments. Good job Brian!&#8221;

White House Set To Announce Contractor For Next-Gen Fighter Jet

Trump Trashes Kristen Welker And NBC After Sunday Appearance: ‘She Wastes My Administration’s Time’

Trump Trashes Kristen Welker And NBC After Sunday Appearance: 'She Wastes My Administration's Time'

Meet the Press

NBC News

President Donald Trump turned a 47-year-old song into a dance craze. Even NFL stars couldn’t resist doing Trump’s “YMCA” dance in their end-zone celebrations.
What a difference one White House term makes.
Trump’s first four years in office found all of Hollywood turned against him, from late-night TV to shows and movies.
Now, pop culture is veering in MAGA’s direction, a moment the Right never expected. And it’s possible thanks to the democratization of the media, from YouTube to podcasting.
It helps that the public’s trust in legacy media outlets, Trump’s entrenched enemy, has never been lower. More people are willing to give the unusual politician a look through a pop culture filter.
Right-leaning artists like Tom MacDonald can crush the iTunes charts without a major label behind him. The rapper’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kGpohEpuTE">Facts</a>,” featuring Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro, crashed the music charts without the press’ help (number one on the Billboard Rap chart). The same happened when MacDonald gave canceled comic Roseanne Barr <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/roseanne-barr-drops-daddys-home-rap-video-with-tom-macdonald" target="_blank" rel="noopener">her rap closeup with “Daddy’s Home”</a> a tribute to President 45/47.
<div id="attachment_891745" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-891745" class="size-large wp-image-891745" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/MixCollage-14-Mar-2025-10-16-AM-4499-1024x576.jpg" alt="Screenshot: YouTube/Tom MacDonald &quot;Facts&quot; feat. Ben Shapiro" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/MixCollage-14-Mar-2025-10-16-AM-4499-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/MixCollage-14-Mar-2025-10-16-AM-4499-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/MixCollage-14-Mar-2025-10-16-AM-4499-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/MixCollage-14-Mar-2025-10-16-AM-4499-1536x865.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/MixCollage-14-Mar-2025-10-16-AM-4499-2048x1153.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Screenshot: YouTube/Tom MacDonald &#8220;Facts&#8221; feat. Ben Shapiro</div>
Those aren’t aberrations.
“Justice for All,” credited to Trump himself, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2023/03/21/donald-trump-lands-his-first-no-1-hit-on-a-billboard-chart/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">debuted at no. 1</a> on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart in 2023.
Trump has been very good to Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” The late-night showcase routinely outdraws its broadcast competitors, although it airs an hour-plus earlier in the evening. The show’s ratings hit their zenith when Trump appeared on the show’s avuncular panel.
The president’s episode gave host Greg Gutfeld <a href="https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/donald-trump-gutfeld-ratings-5-million-viewers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his highest numbers to date</a> – 4.9 million viewers. Most nights, the show’s willingness to praise Trump’s policies while mocking the Democrats’ responses have kept the show’s ratings strong.
Trump’s own reality series “The Apprentice” made a sudden return to streaming this month. Prime Video is releasing the first seven episodes of the Mark Burnett-produced show, and season one instantly hit the platform’s Top 10 chart.
<div id="attachment_891725" style="width: 894px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-891725" class="size-large wp-image-891725" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-138441695-884x576.jpg" alt="SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- Episode 16 -- Air Date 04/03/2004 -- Pictured: (l-r) George Ross, Donald Trump, Carolyn Kepcher during &quot;The Apprentice&quot; skit on April 3, 2004 (Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)" width="884" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-138441695-884x576.jpg 884w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-138441695-300x195.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-138441695-768x500.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-138441695.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 884px) 100vw, 884px" />Mary Ellen Matthews/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images</div>
The show played a critical part in Trump’s branding principles while introducing the country to his now-grown children Ivanka, Eric and Donald Trump, Jr. Now, millions want to rewatch that evolution from the beginning. 
The legacy press told Americans that Tony Hinchcliffe’s raw routine at October’s Madison Square Garden Trump rally marked the end of his presidential hopes. We were told that Hinchcliffe’s “racist” joke about Puerto Rico’s garbage problem would ensure GOP Latino voters stayed home.
Journalists covered the story at great length, making it a key media narrative in the days before Nov. 5.
Except Latino voters, by and large, didn’t care.
And what happened to Hinchcliffe? He just snagged a major Netflix deal to bring his signature “Kill Tony” podcast <a href="https://x.com/NetflixIsAJoke/status/1899113010997661879" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to the streaming giant</a>.
<div id="attachment_891771" style="width: 820px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-891771" class="size-large wp-image-891771" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2180711933-810x576.jpg" alt="US comedian Tony Hinchcliffe speaks during a campaign rally for former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27, 2024. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)" width="810" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2180711933-810x576.jpg 810w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2180711933-300x213.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2180711933-768x546.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2180711933.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px" />ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images</div>
The pro-Trump label isn’t foolproof. Dinesh D’Souza’s “Vindicating Trump” earned $1.3 million at the US box office late last year, below most of his previous films. It’s still a solid amount for a documentary – most nonfiction films fail to crack the $1 million mark in theaters.
So what changed? How did pro-Trump content gain so much ground?
Independent media kept maturing after Trump’s first term, outpacing mainstream platforms in many regards. New media artists can create content and do it at a much smaller price point.
And, more importantly, a Right-leaning ecosystem of podcasts, YouTubers, and social media types can now spread the word more effectively. Credit Elon Musk’s X takeover for keeping more conservative voices on the platform.
Meanwhile, legacy outlets continue to shrink both in size and cultural clout. And the downsizing continues as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/amy-robach-cries-tj-holmes-podcast-abc-layoffs-2042630" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more media layoffs</a> rock the industry.
Anti-Trump art is having a similarly tough time.
While far-Left late-night shows have mostly maintained their audience shares, the same isn’t true at the local movie house.
Last year’s anti-Trump drama “The Apprentice,” released at the peak of election season, seemed primed to draw the anti-MAGA faithful in record numbers. The film’s cartoonish look at an ‘80s era Trump (Sebastian Stan), under the alleged tutelage of fixer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), was catnip to the president’s detractors.
If only they lined up to watch it.
<div id="attachment_891733" style="width: 838px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-891733" class="size-large wp-image-891733" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2177860859-828x576.jpg" alt="LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 15: Sebastian Stan attends the Headline Gala screening of &quot;The Apprentice&quot; during the 68th BFI London Film Festival at The Royal Festival Hall on October 15, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett/WireImage)" width="828" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2177860859-828x576.jpg 828w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2177860859-300x209.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2177860859-768x534.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2177860859.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 828px) 100vw, 828px" />Dave Benett/WireImage</div>
The critically hailed film flopped with a $4 million haul stateside. That’s despite endless, fawning media coverage. Few films generated more free press, however, than “The Apprentice.”
More recently, another anti-Trump film is struggling to cover its exorbitant budget. Director Bong Joon-ho says his sci-fi thriller “Mickey 17” <a href="https://ew.com/bong-joon-ho-donald-trump-inspired-mark-ruffalo-mickey-17-villain-11688849" target="_blank" rel="noopener">isn’t a direct attack on Trump</a>. Many disagree, noting co-star Mark Ruffalo’s politician character has Trumpian traits and his followers wear red hats.
Subtle.
The film made $19 million domestically during its opening frame. That’s a solid number for some projects, but not one carrying a $118 million budget. Some suggest the film could cost Warner Bros. <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/wb-mickey-17-cut-tested-151954129.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$100 million</a> by the end of its theatrical run.
The most surprising moment of Trump 2.0 from a pop culture perspective? The recent Oscars telecast didn’t feature his name, and host Conan O’Brien indirectly referenced the 47th president once, and via a late-in-the-show quip.
All of the above opens up new opportunities for Right-leaning artists. Their voices are harder to ignore, and the tools at their disposal have never been greater.
Two potential red flags to consider.
If President Trump fails to fulfill his pre-election promises the country may have less appetite for MAGA-aligned content. Hollywood progressives may rise up anew, smelling blood in the political waters.
And if creators think a pro-Trump veneer will make audiences swallow sub-par content, think again.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-POLITICS-CPAC-TRUMP

Riding On Trump’s Pop Culture Coattails

Riding On Trump's Pop Culture Coattails

Amazon Prime

Conservatives

Entertainment

Hollywood

Podcast

President Trump

Social Media

The Apprentice

Tom MacDonald

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon slammed Megyn Kelly who said she wouldn’t be crying any tears for MSNBC’s anchor Joy Reid losing her MSNBC show “The ReidOut” — and her subsequent exit from the network.
Speaking out on his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lscf4ARflpg">YouTube</a> show, Lemon went on a rant against Kelly, saying first that he “usually doesn’t like to talk about her,” and labeling her “a troll” and “a racist.”
“I usually don’t like to talk about her because she’s one of those people, she thrives on it,” Lemon said. “She has built the second part of her career on being a troll.” 
“Let me just say to Megyn Kelly, in my 30 some years as a journalist, and my 50 some years as a person of color, go f*** yourself,” he added, after playing a clip of Kelly saying something similar on her show about Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski and their visit to Mar-a-lago following President Donald Trump’s victory.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A message for Megyn Kelly <a href="https://t.co/y1VOY3AAzK">pic.twitter.com/y1VOY3AAzK</a>
— Don Lemon (@Donlemonbsky) <a href="https://twitter.com/Donlemonbsky/status/1894113478341779775?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, also said that “the worst person from television was fired from NBC and the &#8216;Today&#8217; show a few years ago, and that’s Megyn Kelly.”
The former CNN host’s rant came after Kelly posted on <a href="https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1893692907665686539">X</a>, “good riddance,” in reference to Reid.
“Remember when Joy Reid laughingly mocked ‘White women tears’ as pathetic and offensive to her? Who’s crying now, Joy?” Kelly wrote. “Good riddance to the absolute worst person on television, and shame on NBC for letting it go on this long.”
“Joy Reid has viciously mocked the tears of every white person she’s helped cancel over the years for some imaginary racial slight,” she <a href="https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1894120519063998544">added</a>. “She’s had zero empathy for anyone. Now she wants us to feel sorry for her. WE DON’T.”
Later on “The Megyn Kelly Show” podcast, the host played <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dqlgUvgLaP0">clips</a> of Reid’s “most racist moments” and said, “I’m thrilled she’s gone. She literally was the most racist person on television … But we won’t have her to kick around anymore, there’s a little sadness in that.”
“Single tear, White woman tears happening right here, Joy,” she <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8smx_6kwZac">added</a>. “She was officially fired over the weekend because she’s a racist, horrible news anchor with no ratings.”
At one point, Kelly pointed out that Reid could try independent media, like Don Lemon, who got fired from CNN and later announced his plans to start his own YouTube show. “Don Lemon’s podcast, abject failure,&#8221; Kelly said.
On Tuesday, Kelly <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DGguJtPRfXS/">addressed</a> Lemon’s rant against her and said “Don Lemon has no viewers. He has no listeners whatsoever. He has not been able to make it in the cable news world where he was repeatedly demoted. And then fired.”
“He was fired two minutes after getting hired by Elon [Musk], which should have been a lifeline to him, but he was too stupid to actually take advantage of it,” she added. “And now he’s too stupid to actually make it in the digital lane. So, he did the one thing he could think of to do which is get into the press by attacking me.”
“And now he’s gotten more ink than he’s gotten in the past four years,” Kelly continued. “But he’s a sad, pathetic little man who actually cannot make it in business on his own. And really at this point, thoughts and prayers, Don.”

Megyn Kelly_Don Lemon

Don Lemon Slams Megyn Kelly After She Celebrates Joy Reid’s Termination

Celebrities

Don Lemon

Joy Reid

Megyn Kelly

MSNBC

NBC News chief political analyst and former moderator of “Meet The Press” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chuck-todd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chuck Todd</a> has announced that he’s leaving the network after nearly two decades.
&#8220;Today is my last day… at NBC,&#8221; Todd told his audience on Friday on his “Chuck Toddcast” <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/chuck-todd-out-nbc-news?intcmp=tw_fnc">podcast</a>. “I am leaving a bit earlier than we had all originally planned, but there is a reason for it.”
“I’m pretty excited by a few new projects that are on the cusp,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/chuck-todd-out-nbc-news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added,</a> but gave no details. &#8220;The podcast is coming with me, and it’s not going away.&#8221;
The former NBC News host said there would be a “little hiatus” for his podcast, until he finds a new home for it.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Chuck Todd tells colleagues he’s leaving NBC News — taking his ‘Chuck Toddcast’ with him <a href="https://t.co/2gjUNd6aoM">https://t.co/2gjUNd6aoM</a> <a href="https://t.co/4LLKSGoW9c">pic.twitter.com/4LLKSGoW9c</a>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1885359818761785346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
Todd sent a letter to his colleagues before his announcement on the podcast that his last day at NBC News was Friday, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nbc-todd-exit-trump-welker-746b58bbd6b7eb03f6be0cbeabf84004">Associated Press</a> reported.
&#8220;The reason why I am ready to move, I think the media has a lot of work to do to win back the trust and I think, frankly, national media isn’t the place that’s going to be able to do it,&#8221; Todd said.
“People trust local media more than they trust national media. And I’m convinced the best place to start is from the bottom up,” he added. “National media can’t win trust back without having a robust partner locally, and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report.”
“People are craving community and that’s something national media or the major social media companies can’t do as well as local media,” Todd continued, noting that reporting is how you win back support. “If you do this job seeking popularity, or to simply be an activist, you are doing this job incorrectly.”
In a statement to <a href="https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/chuck-todd-exit-nbc-news-1236273148/">Variety</a> about Todd’s departure, NBC News said “We’re grateful for Chuck’s many contributions to our political coverage during his nearly two-decade career at NBC News and for his deep commitment to ‘Meet the Press’ and its enduring legacy. We wish him all the best in his next endeavors.”
Todd joined the network in 2007 as a political director and took over as moderator of “Meet the Press” from 2014-2023 from David Gregory, who was picked to run the popular show following the sudden death in June 2008 of the hugely successful “MTP” moderator Tim Russert. The current &#8220;MTP&#8221; moderator is Kristen Welker.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chuck-todd-rips-the-bidens-they-put-the-entire-democratic-party-in-the-position-its-in-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chuck Todd Rips The Bidens: They ‘Put The Entire Democratic Party…In The Position It’s In Now’</a>

Meet the Press – Season 75

Chuck Todd Leaving NBC News After Nearly Two Decades

Many viewers were not laughing at the Weekend Update bit on the most recent episode of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/saturday-night-live">Saturday Night Live</a>” as it made jokes about the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/crime">murder</a> of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Saturday night&#8217;s episode of the sketch comedy show included hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che making a few jokes about the circumstances surrounding Thompson&#8217;s death on December 4, including the NYPD&#8217;s search for the shooter and reactions to the exec’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/assassination">assassination</a>.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Weekend Update: Manhunt for CEO Assassin, President Biden Pardons Son Hunter - SNL" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dyZxIUsnuJk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;This week, New York City officials sent a tough message on crime,&#8221; Jost said, mocking law enforcement for not having a suspect in custody yet. &#8220;&#8216;If you shoot somebody in the middle of the street, you better get on your bike, hop on a bus, and get the heck out of here, mister.'&#8221;
&#8220;The manhunt continues for the assassin who gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare on Wednesday,&#8221; Jost went on. &#8220;And it really says something about America that a guy was murdered in cold blood and the two main reactions were, &#8216;Yeah, well, healthcare stinks!&#8217; And also, &#8216;Girl, that shooter hot.'&#8221;
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/gift-guide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE</a>
Jost also mentioned the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, which happened the same day Thompson was murdered. &#8220;It&#8217;s also so crazy that the shooting happened three blocks from here in broad daylight, and the guy just bicycled away. Probably because they have every cop in the city guarding our Christmas tree,” he said.
&#8220;The NYPD now believes the suspect left the city on a bus from Port Authority. Thanks, but a Port Authority passenger who looks like a murderer actually widens the search,&#8221; Jost went on.
&#8220;New York City police say that they were able to get the smiling picture of the suspect after the man apparently was caught on camera at a local hostel, flirting with a female employee, whose name has been reported as ‘Lucky S. Bechalive,'&#8221; Che said.
Reactions to the bit have been mixed, with many saying the bit was in poor taste as Thompson was a husband and father to two young sons.
&#8220;Long time viewer of SNL. I don&#8217;t consider myself particularly [sensitive] to any topic, but in today&#8217;s Weekend Update edition they made jokes about the United Health CEO gunned down in NYC. That was really distasteful and disrespectful. SNL, you need to do better,&#8221; one X user <a href="https://x.com/JCarrilloH/status/1865631926880494014">wrote</a>.
“Disgusting. I couldn’t watch this segment. The victim’s family and friends are very much grieving right now,” one commenter wrote in response to a YouTube clip of the segment. 
“Agreed,” said another. “I don’t usually watch SNL, and I can see by the segment and comments supporting it, that I will no longer be watching it. Joking about someone’s murder like that is absolutely disgusting… a family is grieving right now.”
Thompson was gunned down last Wednesday morning by a masked assassin. Some people on social media openly celebrated the CEO’s death as they insisted it was retribution for corruption and greed in the healthcare industry.
On Monday, police <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/09/nyregion/unitedhealthcare-ceo-shooting-news">arrested</a> Luigi Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald&#8217;s on firearms charges. Law enforcement described him as &#8220;a strong person of interest&#8221; in connection with the murder.
&nbsp;

Saturday Night Live – Season 50

‘SNL’ Slammed For Making Jokes About Murder Of UnitedHealthcare CEO

'SNL' Slammed For Making Jokes About Murder Of UnitedHealthcare CEO

assassination

Comedy

New York City

Saturday Night Live

Television

Former President Donald Trump aired a minute-long <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-releases-special-message-ahead-of-election-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener">special message</a> on NBC airwaves during the NFL&#8217;s coverage of Sunday Night Football, likely reaching far more viewers than Vice President Kamala Harris, who made a last-minute appearance on NBC&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fcc-commissioner-kamalas-snl-appearance-a-blatant-effort-to-evade-equal-time-rule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Saturday Night Live</a>, the previous day.
Per the Federal Communications Commission&#8217;s Equal Time rule, NBC was not allowed to host Harris in this way while excluding Trump. In fact, as highlighted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fcc-commissioner-kamalas-snl-appearance-a-blatant-effort-to-evade-equal-time-rule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a>, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr blasted both NBC and Harris for the “clear and blatant” move to evade rules designed to stop networks from tilting the political scales ahead of an election.
Following the SNL stunt, Trump&#8217;s team was allowed time on NBC, per the Equal Time rule. &#8220;NBC has told the FCC that VP Harris appeared on Saturday Night Live for one minute and 30 seconds &#8216;without charge,&#8217; triggering an opportunity for other campaigns to request time,&#8221; Alex Weprin <a href="https://x.com/alexweprin/status/1853226833967239433">reported</a>. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NBC has filed a notice with the FCC, disclosing that Kamala Harris appeared on SNL for under two minutes without charge.
Under federal law, if Donald Trump requests equal time, NBC would be required to provide it before the election. <a href="https://t.co/aMvHJjpwC2">pic.twitter.com/aMvHJjpwC2</a>
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1853241153342312624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2024</a></blockquote>
In a major backfire, Trump was likely able to reach far more viewers than Harris since his message played toward the end of the NBC broadcast of NASCAR&#8217;s Xfinity 500 and the network&#8217;s coverage of the Minnesota Vikings-Indianapolis Colts NFL game.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
Sunday Night Football routinely garners more than <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/sunday-night-football-has-six-straight-games-with-more-than-20-million-viewers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20 million viewers</a>. SNL, by contrast, typically gets a fraction of that, with the show&#8217;s <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/snl-season-50-premiere-ratings-1236018384/">four-year-high</a> ratings sitting at just 5 million viewers.
“The worst economic numbers in generations were just announced two days ago,” Trump said in his video message, referring to the latest <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disaster-final-jobs-report-before-election-shows-just-12000-jobs-added-in-october" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismal jobs report</a>. “We’re losing jobs. We’re losing everything, including viability. We’re going to end up in a depression based on what’s been happening.”
“We’ve never seen anything like it, at least for the last 40 years,” the former president continued. “We have to straighten out our country, we have to close our borders, we have to lower our taxes, we have to get rid of inflation, and we’re going to do it.”
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
A Special Message from President Donald J. Trump <a href="https://t.co/B9Lcxaucud">pic.twitter.com/B9Lcxaucud</a>
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamTrump/status/1853216936223498536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fcc-commissioner-kamalas-snl-appearance-a-blatant-effort-to-evade-equal-time-rule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FCC Commissioner: Kamala’s SNL Appearance A ‘Blatant Effort To Evade’ Equal Time Rule</a>

Donald Trump Hosts Hispanic Roundtable In Nevada

How SNL’s Pro-Kamala Stunt Just Backfired Bigly

2024 Election

Elections

Kamala Harris

A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) official is calling out both NBC and Vice President Kamala Harris for her last-minute appearance on Saturday Night Live, saying it was a &#8220;clear and blatant&#8221; to evade rules designed to stop networks from tilting the political scales ahead of an election.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the appearance on the network&#8217;s flagship sketch comedy show was a &#8220;clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC&#8217;s Equal Time rule.&#8221;
Carr made his point in a post on X, noting that the timing and Harris&#8217; appearance — not announced until the day it was happening and took place just three days prior to the November 5 general election — effectively eliminated any possibility for her competitor, former President Donald Trump, to receive the federally-mandated &#8220;equal time.&#8221;
&#8220;This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC&#8217;s Equal Time rule. The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct — a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election. Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns,&#8221; Carr <a href="https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1852901803693600776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pointed out</a>.
He went on to note that the issue had arisen in 2016 when Trump appeared on the same show, and that former President Barack Obama&#8217;s FCC chair had stated that the &#8220;Equal Time&#8221; provision would be enforced.
&#8220;In the 2016 cycle, President Obama’s FCC Chair made clear that the agency would enforce the Equal Time rule when candidate Trump went on SNL. NBC stations publicly filed Equal Opportunity notices to ensure that all other qualifying candidates could obtain Equal Time if they sought it. Stations did the same thing when Clinton appeared on SNL,&#8221; he explained.
Carr then explained that, with only three days — and zero &#8220;SNL&#8221; broadcasts remaining — before the election, NBC had &#8220;effectively structured&#8221; Harris&#8217; appearance to make it impossible for the network to offer Trump anything even remotely comparable.
&#8220;What comparable time and placement can they offer all other qualifying candidates?&#8221; he asked.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Just weeks ago, SNL’s Lorne Michaels said that they *would not* be bringing any of the candidates on due to election and equal time laws:
“‘You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions,’ Michaels said.” <a href="https://t.co/xtfnNFXdfr">pic.twitter.com/xtfnNFXdfr</a>
&mdash; Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1853063123395035532?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In fact, just weeks earlier, &#8220;SNL&#8221; producer Lorne Michaels announced that he had no intention of putting either Harris or Trump on the show — and he cited the FCC&#8217;s &#8220;equal time&#8221; provisions as the reason behind that decision.
&#8220;You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions. You can’t have the main candidates without having all the candidates, and there are lots of minor candidates that are only on the ballot in, like, three states and that becomes really complicated,&#8221; Michaels told <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/snl-interview-trump-jokes-2024-election-lorne-michaels-future-1236005680/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hollywood Reporter</a> in mid-September.
According to Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, NBC did not reach out to the Trump campaign to offer a similar appearance prior to Saturday&#8217;s show.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Trump campaign senior advisor tells FOX that SNL did not extend an invitation to President Trump
Also worth noting that SNL’s executive producer said last month he had no plans to invite either candidate, because of this very law: 
“You can’t have the main candidates without… <a href="https://t.co/C0GsYlAYjG">https://t.co/C0GsYlAYjG</a>
&mdash; Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) <a href="https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/1853069509432578458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Democratic Presidential Nominee Vice President Kamala Harris Appears On NBC’s Saturday Night Live

FCC Commissioner: Kamala’s SNL Appearance A ‘Blatant Effort To Evade’ Equal Time Rule

FCC Commissioner: Kamala's SNL Appearance A 'Blatant Effort To Evade The FCC's Equal Time Rule'

We are now less than two weeks out from Election Day. The state of the race is that Donald Trump appears to be ahead going into the homestretch.
In fact, poll analyst reporter Mark Halperin <a href="https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1848747784410951918">said</a> as much yesterday, claiming that if the early voting numbers hold up the way they are right now, and if the date of voting goes the way that it did in 2020, Trump will have wrapped up this election before the Election Day even begins — because Democrats basically need to win it in the pregame or they&#8217;re going to lose it day of. 
Halperin explained, saying:
<blockquote>Let&#8217;s lead with the lead, as they say in journalism. If the early vote numbers stay the way they are, and that&#8217;s a big if, we’ll almost certainly know before Election Day who&#8217;s going to win the election. We&#8217;re going to talk a lot about that: the reasons why Democrats might be underperforming, the prospect that they&#8217;ll recover. But again, make no mistake, if these numbers hold up in the states where we can understand even partially what the data is like, we&#8217;ll know that Donald Trump&#8217;s going to be president on Election Day. </blockquote>
Halperin&#8217;s not the only one saying this. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/22/early-voting-republicans-democrats-trump-harris/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on this yesterday as well:
<blockquote>Dozens of states have opened in-person early-voting locations, and turnout has been robust. In Georgia, more than 1.6 million people had cast in-person ballots by midmorning Tuesday — nearly one-third of the total vote from four years ago. North Carolina hit 1.4 million Tuesday, the sixth day of early voting. And in Nevada, Republicans voting in person have outnumbered Democrats — a reversal from four years ago. Nationwide, more than 18 million Americans have cast ballots in person or by mail.</blockquote>
Republican participation is radically up from where it was in 2020, after Trump encouraged people not to vote early. Now, tons of Republicans are voting early, and that means in states like Nevada, there are serious danger signs for Democrats. 
Attorney Jon Ralston, an excellent reporter at the Nevada Independent, <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/10/22/serious-danger-emerges-for-kamala-harris-as-republicans-open-early-voting-in-nevada-with-lead-over-democrats/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has noted</a> that since the rise of the political machine that late former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid built for Democrats, this has never happened. The Republican turn out amounts are unprecedented in modern times, leading early voting in Nevada. Harris is running really, really weak in the early voting thus far.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2071-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Again, it could be that that&#8217;s cannibalizing the day of voting. It&#8217;s possible the people who are voting right now are people who would have normally voted on Election Day, or it&#8217;s possible that Republicans have actually gotten smart and many of the people who weren&#8217;t going to show up on Election Day are now voting early just to get it done.
By the way, if you are voting early, that is good because the party for which you are voting can see that you have voted. They don&#8217;t have to waste campaign resources door knocking if they already know that you voted. A senior official working on Harris&#8217;s campaign is already sounding the alarm about the Veep&#8217;s narrowing electoral path.
According to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/democrats-brace-crack-blue-wall-signs-north-carolina-slipping-rcna176046" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC News</a>, three sources with knowledge of the campaign strategy say the campaign is worried the blue wall could at least, in part, go red this November. One senior campaign official told NBC there&#8217;s been a thought that Michigan or Wisconsin may fall off and North Carolina may no longer be in reach. If the Democrats lose North Carolina and Michigan or Wisconsin, it is difficult to see how they will win the election because, at that point, they would have to peel off Georgia. 
<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/10/22/kamala-harris-reassure-voters-liberal-00184879" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politico</a> is reporting the same, pointing out that time is ticking off the clock for Harris: 
<blockquote>Vice President Kamala Harris and former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney descended on the crucial Milwaukee suburbs Monday night and, sitting side by side, delivered compelling political sermons.
The problem was they were preaching to the converted. 
 
The event was explicitly aimed at those moderates and onetime Republicans who remain up for grabs, and may decide the election, but the rhetoric seemed better suited for those in the audience wearing “The Lincoln Project” and “,LA” t-shirts.</blockquote>
They&#8217;ve got a problem on their hands, and so it is now time to pull out all the stops, which could be that Harris could run a better campaign. That, of course, is highly unlikely. She&#8217;s not going to run a better campaign because she&#8217;s not a good candidate.
Hilariously, there was an op-ed in The Hill two days ago wondering if perhaps Joe Biden was, after all, a better candidate than Kamala Harris, which of course, is what Joe Biden has been saying all along, despite being dead. 
 
Kamala Harris, for her part, can&#8217;t even answer simple questions as to whether Biden is sentient and alive. She will not answer questions on the decline of the person she shoved off the back of the train and stole the nomination of.
In <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/transcript-president-kamala-harris-interview-nbc-news-hallie-jackson-rcna176330" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an interview</a> with NBC News, Harris attempted to explain Joe Biden&#8217;s mental state when pointblank asked about him: 
<blockquote>JACKSON: You have made it clear that you believe this is a binary choice between you and Donald Trump. That’s — those are candidates that are on the ballot, of course.
HARRIS: There’s only two choices…yes. 
JACKSON: Of course, yes, but, and I know that Joe Biden is not on the ballot, I understand that, but the reason that you are at the top of the ticket is because he dropped out of this race. And so I want to ask you, and it was largely because of that debate performance back in June. You defended him in the days before and in the days after, as you were campaigning for another four years for President Biden. Can you say that you were honest with the American people about what you saw in those moments with President Biden, as you were with him again and again, repeatedly in that time? 
HARRIS: Of course. Joe Biden is an — extremely accomplished, experienced and capable in every way that anyone would want of their president. Absolutely.
JACKSON: And you never saw anything like what happened at the debate night behind closed doors with him? 
HARRIS: It was a bad debate. People have bad debates. That — he is absolutely…
JACKSON: But that’s the reason why you’re here, and he’s not running for the top of the ticket. 
HARRIS: Well, you’d have to ask him if that’s the only reason why. 
JACKSON: What do you think?
HARRIS: I am running for President of the United States. Joe Biden is not, and my presidency will be about bringing a new generation of leadership to America that is focused on the work that we need to do, to invest in the ambitions and aspirations of the American people. </blockquote>
This lady has absolutely nothing. The reason that she has lost all steam is because she has nothing. She cannot even answer the simple question, “Why are you in that chair and Joe Biden isn&#8217;t in that chair?” — when everyone in America knows the answer to that question, including, of course, Kamala Harris. 
Harris has basically been relegated to throwing out bribes to various constituency groups. Just a couple of weeks ago, she pledged to hand out $20,000 to black people in forgivable loans. She is now doing the same for Latinos because she&#8217;s been losing Latino votes. 
In a statement yesterday, she <a href="https://x.com/KamalaHarris/status/1848713701848658388" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote:</a>
<blockquote>Donald Trump has disrespected and insulted Latino men in communities. As president, I will invest in them.” What does that mean? It means that she will “help Latino men and others start and grow small businesses with no interest loans or deferred loan repayments, and fully forgivable loans up to $20k.</blockquote>
Bribery. We are now in the realm of open bribery. By the way, you are not allowed to give out government grants by race. That is illegal in the United States.
This is her campaign and it&#8217;s failing.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28</a></h3>
Now the time has come for October surprises. The Democrats have a problem when it comes to surprises with Trump. This has been true for years because Trump is a monster made out of mud. When you throw more mud at a monster made out of mud, it turns out he just looks like a monster made out of mud. Trump is the black socks of presidential candidates. Black socks never get dirty. The longer you wear them, the blacker they get.
That is who Donald Trump is. The more you throw at him, the more he just looks like Donald Trump because he is the most well-established political figure in the American mind in my lifetime — and my parents lifetime as well.
There is no one in America who does not have an opinion about Trump right now. The question for undecided voters is not what they think about Trump. The question is what they think about Harris.
Trump&#8217;s numbers have been incredibly steady for the entirety of this election cycle. In polling, Trump&#8217;s national average polling has been between 46% and 48% of the entirety of this race. Meanwhile, there is much more variability for Harris.
So, the Democrats are getting desperate.

Donald Trump Campaigns For President In Georgia Ahead Of November Election

October Surprise! Media Launch Ugliest Anti-Trump Smears Yet

Ben Shapiro

Propaganda

The Atlantic

Tim Walz

U.S. Politics

On October 7, 2023, the world didn’t just witness an attack; it saw the stark divide between good and pure evil. As the extent of the horrors unfolded, most people quickly united behind Israel, repulsed by the real-time videos that Hamas was posting of their own depravity. Some, however, including many in the legacy media and the despotic United Nations, would not budge from their decades-long anti-Israel bias.
These reprobates refused to acknowledge that the atrocities were committed by stateless, Iran-backed terrorists who were, and continue to be, determined to wipe Israel off the map. Some in the press went so far as to suggest parallels between Israel and Hamas, even blaming the former for the tragedy it had just suffered.
The <a href="https://mrcfreespeechamerica.org/">Media Research Center</a> has identified 195 times the media have spewed anti-Israel and anti-Semitic screeds since the Hamas attacks. Topping the list as the worst offender is CNN with 35 articles with anti-Israel bias. The Washington Post is next in line with 23 articles, but it should be noted that it won the top prize for the most number of writers with anti-Israel bias, employing ten who couldn’t resist exposing their troublesome hatred.
The next is especially offensive since it uses taxpayer dollars to propagandize its views. NPR published no fewer than 19 biased articles against Israel.
The remainder of the dozen worst outlets includes: ABC (15 articles), Reuters (14 articles), The Guardian (13 articles), The New York Times (11 articles ), BBC (11 articles ), CBS News (9 articles ), NBC News (8 articles), MSNBC (8 articles) and The Associated Press (7 articles).
We also call out, with revulsion, the BBC, the AP and The Post for their refusal to acknowledge that Hamas is a terrorist organization, despite this designation by the U.S. State Department and most of the modern world. Instead, they refer to the sociopaths who committed these horrific acts as militants, fighters or even just gunmen.
Unbelievably, the AP, Reuters, The Times and CNN even embedded photographers with the Hamas terrorists as they stormed across the border into Israel. The images created by these media outlets were indistinguishable from the pictures and videos created by Hamas for their propaganda purposes, begging the question whether they actually aided and abetted terrorism.
The AP, like many other outlets, also minimized the barbaric attack, repeatedly referring to it as “the latest Gaza War.” It still prohibits their reporters from referring to Hamas as a terrorist organization, just like The Post characterizes Hamas as a militant group. George Achi of the Canadian Broadcast Company, instructed staff to avoid the term “terrorist” due to its “politicization,” showcasing a shocking moral cowardice.
The distinction matters because terrorists are defined by their acts – those using unlawful violence targeted at civilians to kill, kidnap and intimidate. This isn’t just semantics; it’s a deliberate misrepresentation that undermines the very definition of terrorism and enables agenda-driven propaganda.
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria provided an unchallenged platform for imprisoned murderer Mustafa Barghouti to justify genocide and blame Israel for Hamas’s brutal attack. Ali Velshi at MSNBC spun tales of collective punishment, crafting an alternate reality where Israel’s defense becomes a crime.
Ostensibly, these media outlets want to maintain a patina of neutrality. But that neutrality evaporates as soon as they find a way to accuse Israel of war crimes, jumping to conclusions based on specious, and later rebutted, accounts from Al Jazeera, Hamas and the ever-inaccurate Gaza Ministry of Health.
Recall the Oct. 11, 2023 bombing of a hospital in Gaza when the media breathlessly accused Israel of killing 500 innocent people, only to discover that an errant missile from within Gaza was the actual culprit.
While a solid 80% of Americans stand with Israel, elements of the media are hijacking this narrative to push a Left-wing agenda. Tony Dokoupil of CBS Mornings faced ridicule for merely attempting a balanced discussion with a Palestinian advocate, revealing the media’s intolerance for objectivity.
The media must rise above this tide of deception. The world deserves not just reports, but the truth. The atrocities committed by Hamas demand not just coverage but condemnation. It’s time for responsible journalism to reclaim its integrity, to tell the story of innocent lives shattered, not for political gain, but for the sake of history and humanity.
* * *
Dan Schneider is the vice president of Media Research Center&#8217;s Free Speech America. 
Denise Cohen is an attorney and the founder of Bridge Post Communications, a member of the MRC-led Free Speech Alliance.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Clashes between Palestinian factions and Israeli forces

October 7: The Day The Media Chose Sides

Anti-Semitism

Associated Press

Hamas

Israel

Leftists

Media Bias

New York Times

Terrorists

Washinton Post

Democrats were &#8220;panicked&#8221; by how likable Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jd-vance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JD Vance</a> (R-OH) came off during the vice presidential <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/debates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">debate</a>, an NBC journalist revealed on Wednesday.
&#8220;Meet The Press&#8221; moderator Kristen Welker said on the &#8220;Today&#8221; show that she received text messages from members of the party who expressed surprise at how well Vance was conducting himself against Minnesota Democratic Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tim-walz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tim Walz</a> after months of trying to paint the Republican as <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/videos/news/politics/elections/2024/08/07/jd-vance-says-democrats-calling-him-trump-weird-is-badge-of-honor-kamala-harris-tim-walz/74709614007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;weird&#8221;</a> and a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/26/trump-vance-weird-00171470" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;threat&#8221;</a> to democracy.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NBC&#39;s Kristen Welker says she &quot;was getting texts from Democrats PANICKED&quot; last night over <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JDVance</a>&#39;s beatdown of Tampon Tim Walz on the debate stage <a href="https://t.co/qwyTelOafB">pic.twitter.com/qwyTelOafB</a>
&mdash; Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1841478553067495628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Vance knew his challenge was to deal with the likability factor,&#8221; <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/10/02/nbcs-welker-dems-were-panicked-about-vances-likability-during-debate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Welker said</a>. &#8220;The fact that in our poll, he’s the second-most disliked running mate in history. And so I was getting texts from Democrats — panicked, quite frankly — who were saying, &#8216;Wow, he’s really moderating himself on a lot of these issues. He’s the most likable he’s ever been.'&#8221;
Welker also said Democrats will try to make Vance saying he wanted to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vp-debate-vance-argues-censorship-is-threat-to-democracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">focus on the future</a> rather than dwell on issues related to the 2020 election into a &#8220;flash point&#8221; by turning it into an ad. She added, &#8220;They believe that is going to be a way to really try to appeal to that very small sliver that is still undecided, but moderate, independent suburban voters.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726313279401000&amp;usg=AOvVaw115_qPFFEePDP86-Fvo-Vd">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a>
Early <a href="https://x.com/CurtisHouck/status/1841329314064658701" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surveys</a> indicated Vance edged out Walz on Tuesday, though it remains to be seen how their performances could impact the 2024 election. Polls showed a <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/national/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">close</a> race leading up to the VP debate. Vance is former President Donald Trump&#8217;s VP pick and Walz is Vice President Kamala Harris&#8217; running mate. As of press time, it appears there will be <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/too-far-down-the-line-trump-again-rebuffs-kamalas-push-for-another-debate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">no more debates</a> in the presidential contest.
&#8220;Today&#8221; co-anchor Savannah Guthrie noted that Walz&#8217;s effort in the debate &#8220;wasn&#8217;t a disaster, but it certainly wasn&#8217;t a tour-de-force,&#8221; and asked what people are saying about how he did against Vance.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walz-falls-flat-in-debate-and-dems-pivot-from-consequential-vp-kamala-to-vps-control-nothing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Walz Falls Flat In Debate, And Dems Pivot From ‘Consequential’ VP Kamala To ‘VPs CONTROL NOTHING’</a>
NBC News senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson, who appeared on the show along with Welker, said she thinks Democrats &#8220;are frustrated that he wasn’t a little bit more the Tim Walz that Kamala Harris picked to be his vice presidential nominee because he is great on television in the eyes of the campaign,&#8221; but they saw promise in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/02/us/politics/vance-jan-6-debate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;moment&#8221; he retorted</a> against Vance over January 6.

Sen. JD Vance

Dems ‘Panicked’ About Vance Being So Likable In VP Debate, NBC’s Welker Says

Debates

JD Vance

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NBC