A conservative media watchdog has a new top priority — defunding NPR and PBS.
The Media Research Center (MRC) is leading a push to defund both public media outlets, urging President Donald Trump, congressional leaders, and governors to strip taxpayer subsidies to these &#8220;far-left media outlets,&#8221; the group revealed exclusively to The Daily Wire.
The watchdog urged the Trump administration to include the &#8220;complete defunding&#8221; of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and its affiliates, PBS and NPR, in a rescission package that could soon be sent to Congress.
&#8220;Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize a media entity that has outlived its original purpose and refuses to operate in a transparent manner,&#8221; the MRC wrote in its letter to Trump.
The watchdog is calling on the CEOs of NPR and PBS to subject themselves to public audits and asking members of Congress to refuse to meet with their lobbyists until those audits are done.
The MRC is also calling on congressional leaders to repeal the legislation that created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Finally, the group is calling on state governors and federal agencies to halt all discretionary grants to PBS and NPR until the outlets are audited.
A coalition of critics joined the MRC in signing letters to elected officials, including Seth Dillon, owner of the Babylon Bee; Mike Gonzalez, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation; Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project; Steven Ertelt, editor at LifeNews.com; and Austin Ruse, president of the Center for Family and Human Rights.
&#8220;This action is in concert with your historic promise and rapid delivery of cutting waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government,&#8221; the coalition wrote to Trump.
The group argued that the &#8220;original justification&#8221; for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting &#8220;no longer holds.&#8221;
&#8220;In today’s media-rich environment, Americans have unlimited access to news, entertainment, and educational programming,&#8221; they wrote in their letter to Trump.
&#8220;NPR’s and PBS’s demonstrable, documented bias further erodes CPB’s credibility,&#8221; the group wrote. &#8220;NPR’s audience overwhelmingly identifies as liberal, reinforcing the reality that public broadcasting is not a neutral service but a taxpayer-funded ideological platform. Americans should not be forced to finance a network that caters to one side of the political spectrum.&#8221;
Dan Schneider, vice president of the MRC, told The Daily Wire that defunding PBS and NPR is his organization&#8217;s &#8220;top priority right now.&#8221;
The goal is to &#8220;eliminate every dime of taxpayer money that subsidizes these liberal media behemoths,&#8221; Schneider said.
&#8220;This is the most focused and aggressive takedown these outlets have ever faced. It may be the last, best chance taxpayers will ever have to unburden themselves from these leftist propaganda outlets once and for all,&#8221; he said.

In this photo illustration, National Public Radio (NPR) logo

EXCLUSIVE: Media Watchdog Goes Full Throttle On Defunding NPR, PBS With Letters To Trump, Congress

Legacy Media

Mainstream Media

Media

Media Research Center

National Public Radio (NPR)

Politics

The White House released a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/04/the-npr-pbs-grift-has-ripped-us-off-for-too-long/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> on Monday, delivering a detailed laundry list of grievances with National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and making the case for stripping the two networks of any and all taxpayer funding.
&#8220;For years, American taxpayers have been on the hook for subsidizing National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as &#8216;news,'&#8221; the report stated — and followed that with a list of examples of such &#8220;woke propaganda.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
For years, Americans have been on the hook for subsidizing NPR and PBS as they spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as “news.”
As <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> has said, funding their biased content is a waste.
🧵 Here are some examples of the trash that passes for “news” at NPR and PBS: <a href="https://t.co/7xlZOKGay1">pic.twitter.com/7xlZOKGay1</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1911929632846213532?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The list only went back a little over a decade to a 2015 segment on NPR which featured the &#8220;population of anthropomorphic animal enthusiasts known as &#8216;furries.'&#8221;
The list also highlighted two 2017 entries from PBS — a panel discussion on &#8220;white privilege&#8221; and what it &#8220;mean(s) to be woke&#8221; and a movie called &#8220;Real Boy&#8221; that followed the story of a trans-identifying teenager who &#8220;navigates adolescence and sobriety&#8221; among other challenges.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
In 2017, PBS produced an entire movie celebrating a transgender teenager’s so-called “changing gender identity.” <a href="https://t.co/RScnFANHmB">pic.twitter.com/RScnFANHmB</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1911929700961993142?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That same year, NPR ran a story titled &#8220;Cannibalism: It’s ‘Perfectly Natural.'&#8221;
Other entries included a 2020 NPR segment addressing the &#8220;racial origins of fat phobia,&#8221; a 2021 claim from NPR that &#8220;animals deserve pronouns, too,&#8221; a 2022 NPR feature titled &#8220;What ‘Queer Ducks’ can teach teenagers about sexuality in the animal kingdom,&#8221; a 2022 dig into a &#8220;whole community of genderqueer dinosaur enthusiasts,&#8221; and a 2024 Valentine&#8217;s Day special dedicated to &#8220;non-binary deer&#8221; and other &#8220;queer&#8221; members of the animal kingdom.
The complaints about PBS followed a similar pattern, and included a one-sided 2020 &#8220;Sesame Street&#8221; town hall with CNN on racism amid the George Floyd riots, a 2021 children&#8217;s special featuring a drag queen named &#8220;Lil&#8217; Miss Hot Mess,&#8221; and a 2024 documentary &#8220;making the case for reparations.&#8221;
The White House report also laid out evidence that neither NPR nor PBS showed any tolerance for viewpoints that didn&#8217;t align with the political Left — from NPR&#8217;s intentional suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story to the cover-up of former President Joe Biden&#8217;s cognitive decline, among other things. A study conducted by the Media Research Center during the 20214 presidential election revealed that PBS&#8217; coverage of the Democratic National Convention was 88% positive — and the coverage of the Republican National Convention was 72% negative.

50 years of Sesame Street – Ernie and Bert

White House Publishes List Of Grievances Trashing ‘PBS, NPR Grift’ That Has ‘Ripped Us Off’

White House Publishes List Of Grievances Trashing 'PBS, NPR Grift' That Has 'Ripped Us Off'

Donald Trump

White House

A big hearing on the Hill took place yesterday involving the heads of NPR and PBS, both of which are publicly funded.
The U.S. taxpayers spend approximately <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/03/25/nx-s1-5340686/pbs-npr-congress-hearing-marjorie-taylor-greene" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$535 million</a> annually on NPR and PBS through federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Over the last decade, taxpayers have spent about $5.35 billion on these outlets.
NPR and PBS are propagandistic outlets that have huge listenership. In 2022, NPR — which is just trash stacked atop trash — had roughly <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/public-broadcasting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">23.5 million</a> average weekly listeners for its terrestrial broadcast programming.
NPR is a Left-wing agitprop organization that puts out modulated voices with well-produced music, segments, and sounds very easy to listen to. But it turns out that it&#8217;s just Noam Chomsky propaganda.
Meanwhile, PBS NewsHour attracted about <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/public-broadcasting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">882,000 viewers</a> on average in 2022, which means that about 57 million viewers tuned into PBS content during any given month in 2022.
These are large numbers. Sixty-seven percent of all households in the United States, over 160 million people, tune into PBS member stations over the course of a year. They&#8217;re sponsored by you, and they are producing Left-wing propaganda.
The hearings were led by subcommittee Chair Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who grilled NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS President Paula Kerger, suggesting that they were both presiding over publicly-funded news organizations that hate the Right-wing, which is absolutely 100% true. 
GOP Rep. James Comer (R-KY) <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5215749-public-broadcasters-bias-allegations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, “People who listen to NPR are totally misinformed. I have a problem with that, because you get federal funding.” That, of course, is completely true.
NPR had no excuse for this and was unable to explain why they&#8217;re so biased to the Left. They couldn&#8217;t explain why they should receive taxpayer dollars if, in fact, they are only a propaganda outlet for the Democratic Party, which is also completely true.
Katherine Maher was asked about her editorial board, which involves 87 people. The number of Republicans on that editorial board? Zero. Zero.
Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) <a href="https://x.com/RepTimmons/status/1904927825682907428" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> Maher, “How does that work to give us the perception that you&#8217;re doing your job of actually delivering unbiased information?”
“Well, I would agree with you that that number is a concern if it is accurate,” Maher replied. “I do believe that we need to have journalists who represent the full breadth of American society so that we can report well for all Americans.”
The problem is, she doesn&#8217;t believe that. If she truly believed that, she would have done something about it. 87 to 0 is not exactly an even-handed examination of the news.
If you want to be an opinion journalism outlet like we are here at The Daily Wire and admit your biases openly, do it. We also receive zero taxpayer dollars.
We are not living off your taxpayer dollars. We have advertisers, subscribers, and members, but that is not the case at NPR, who does receive taxpayer dollars, which is why Maher was on the Hill being grilled.
She wound up being humiliated by Representative Brandon Gill (R-TX) in an amazing exchange.
Gill <a href="https://x.com/ltthompso/status/1904936069138706910" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grilled</a> her about her own political beliefs and openly lying about them on the floor of Congress.
<blockquote>Gill: Do you believe that America is addicted to white supremacy?
Maher: I believe that I tweeted that and as I’ve said earlier I believe much of my thinking has evolved over the last half-decade.
Gill: It has evolved. Why did you tweet that?
Maher: I don’t recall the exact context, sir, so I wouldn’t be able to say.
Gill: Ok. Do you believe that America believes in black plunder and white democracy?
Maher: I don’t believe that, sir.
Gill: You tweeted that in reference to a book you were reading at the time, apparently, “The Case For Reparations.”
Maher: I don’t think I’ve ever read that book, sir.
Gill: You tweeted about it. You said you took a day off to fully read “The Case For Reparations.” You put that on Twitter in January of 2020.
Maher: Apologies. I don’t recall that I did. I have no doubt that your tweet there is correct, but I don’t recall.
Gill: Do you believe that white people inherently feel superior to other races?
Maher: I do not.
Gill: You don’t? You tweeted something to that effect. You said, “I grew up feeling superior. Ha, how white of me.” Why did you tweet that?
Maher: I think I was probably reflecting on what it was to be to grow up in an environment where I had lots of advantages.
Gill: It sounds like you’re saying that white people feel superior.
Maher: I don’t believe that anybody feels that way, sir. I was just reflecting on my own experiences.
Gill: You think that white people should pay reparations?
Maher: I have never said that, sir.
Gill: Yes, you did. You said it in January 2020. You tweeted, “Yes, the north. Yes, all of us. Yes, America. Yes, our original collective sin and unpaid debt. Yes, reparations. Yes, on this day.”
Maher: I don’t believe that was a reference to fiscal reparations, sir.
Gill: What kind of reparations was it a reference to?
Maher: I think it was just a reference to the idea that we all owe much to the people who came before us.
Gill: That’s a bizarre way to frame what you tweeted. Ok, how much reparations have you personally paid?
Maher: Sir, I don’t believe that I’ve ever paid reparations.
Gill: Ok, just for everybody else.</blockquote>
Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN) also <a href="https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1904935282358751593" target="_blank" rel="noopener">went after</a> Maher: “Let me ask you, why did you call President Trump a fascist and a deranged racist sociopath in 2020?”
Maher responded, “Congressman, I appreciate the opportunity to address this,” she answered. “I regret those tweets. I would not tweet them again today. They represented a time where I was reflecting on something that I believe that the president had said rather than who he is. I don&#8217;t presume that anyone is a racist.” “You don&#8217;t believe anyone is a racist?” Burchett questioned. Maher clarified, “I don&#8217;t start by presuming anyone is a racist.”
That&#8217;s weird because she has made statements along those lines. This is entirely the game that NPR has been playing for actual decades. They say something that is overtly to the Left, and then when called on it, they say, “Well, I didn&#8217;t mean that,” or “You&#8217;re just missing the context.”
Why is it that every single error NPR has ever made is in one direction, including NPR&#8217;s decision not to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story in the run up to the 2020 election? NPR overtly said they would not cover that story because they did not think it was of importance.
That was insane since there was a ton of information on there that was of high importance to American voters.
Meanwhile, PBS CEO Paula Kerger <a href="https://grabien.com/story?id=520210" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a>, “There is nothing more American than PBS. … Our job at PBS is to support our stations so that local stations can serve their communities. We&#8217;ve been proudly fulfilling our mission for nearly 60 years, using the public airwaves and other technologies to help educate, engage, and inspire the American people.”
What they have also done is promote an enormous amount of Left-wing propaganda over the years.
This confrontation with PBS and NPR is a win for President Trump because all of this is now being exposed to daylight.
The fact that we are talking about getting rid of exorbitant spending in these areas is exceptionally important.

US-POLITICS-MEDIA-CONGRESS

NPR CEO Implodes

Ben Shapiro

Congress

Democrats

katherine Maher

Leftists

Opinion

U.S. House of Representatives

This Insane Hearing Is Evidence That State Media Should Be Immediately Eliminated

Federal Government

Matt Walsh

Congressional allies of DOGE grilled the leaders of NPR and PBS, arguing that federal taxpayers are being forced to fund politically biased coverage. The Senate introduced a resolution condemning the spate of attacks on Tesla as domestic terrorism. And prominent conservatives are being targeted in swatting hoaxes.
It’s Thursday, March 27, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lawmakers-probe-signal-gate-conservatives-swatted-3-27-25/id1576594336?i=1000701035481" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2>Grilling on Capitol Hill</h2>
<div id="attachment_898535" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-898535" class="wp-image-898535 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/NPR-and-PBS-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" />(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Congress continued its investigation of “Signal Gate” on Monday while the House Oversight Committee grilled NPR and PBS leaders on bias at the taxpayer-funded outlets.
The purpose of the &#8220;Anti-American Airwaves” <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/anti-american-airwaves-holding-the-heads-of-npr-and-pbs-accountable/">hearing</a> was to determine if NPR and PBS should continue to receive federal funding. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a government-funded company that <a href="https://cpb.org/pressroom/CPB-Statement-Congress-Approval-Continued-Funding-Public-Media">received</a> $535 million in taxpayer dollars this year, with millions of dollars going directly to NPR and PBS. 
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who organized the hearing, slammed PBS and NPR as &#8220;radical left-wing echo chambers&#8221; that publish biased news reports with government subsidies and LGBTQ programming intent on “grooming children.” NPR CEO Katherine Maher admitted under questioning that it was &#8220;concerning&#8221; there were no Republicans on NPR’s editorial board – all 87 are Democrats. Maher said that NPR was “mistaken in failing to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story more aggressively and sooner.” But perhaps the most revealing moment came when Texas Republican Congressman Brandon Gill grilled her about her past tweets:
<blockquote>GILL: Do you believe that America believes in black plunder and white democracy?
MAHER: I don’t believe that sir.
GILL: You tweeted that in reference to a book you were reading at the time apparently, The Case for Reparations.
MAHER: I don’t think I’ve ever read that book, sir.
GILL: You tweeted about it. You said you took a day off to fully read The Case For Reparations. You put that on twitter in January 2020… Do you believe that white people inherently feel superior to other races?
MAHER: I do not.
GILL: You don’t? You tweeted something to that effect. You said “I grew up feeling superior. Ha! How white of me. Why did you tweet that?</blockquote>
PBS CEO Paula Kerger defended her network from allegations of partisanship and bias, arguing that “there’s nothing more American than PBS&#8221; and describing it as a crucial source of accurate information and educational programming for millions of Americans. Several Republican members of the committee disputed that characterization.
“ There was an analysis done on PBS&#8217;s NewsHour from June to November of 2023,” Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) said. “Where they found that far-right was used 162 times and far-left was only used six times. “
<h2>Senators Condemn Anti-Tesla Terrorism</h2>
<div id="attachment_884341" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-884341" class="size-large wp-image-884341" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1423403824-864x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 13: U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-WV) questions Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, former head of security at Twitter, during a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on data security at Twitter, on Capitol Hill, September 13, 2022 in Washington, DC. Zatko claims that Twitter's widespread security failures pose a security risk to user's privacy and information and could potentially endanger national security." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1423403824-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1423403824-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1423403824-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/GettyImages-1423403824.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Should the attacks on Tesla cars and showrooms be condemned as “domestic terrorism”? A Senator introduces a resolution on the violence.
Amid a wave of vandalism targeting Tesla and DOGE, Republicans in the Senate are bringing a resolution to condemn what they say is an orchestrated “domestic terrorism” campaign empowered by leftist groups. 
Morning Wire spoke with Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) about the attacks.
“It is stunning that we are seeing this take place, and that Democratic leadership is not standing up and calling out these acts of domestic terrorism.” Sen. Blackburn told Morning Wire. &#8220;We have lived through four years, where every time you turned around, they were talking about domestic terrorism, they were calling parents that went to school board meetings domestic terrorists. They were calling individuals that would stand across the street from a Planned Parenthood and pray for the women and the unborn children, and they would call that ‘domestic terrorism.’&#8221; 
“And now we are going through this, where they&#8217;re actually firebombing and shooting up Tesla dealerships. They are destroying the cars of Tesla owners. They are stopping people in the middle of the streets that are driving a Tesla, and are condemning them for owning those vehicles and nothing is being said. So we think it&#8217;s appropriate that we have the resolution, and we give them the opportunity – members of the U.S. Senate from each party and the couple of independents that we have – give them the opportunity to stand up and say we condemn these attacks.”
The resolution is expected to reach the floor of the Senate on Thursday.
<h2>Swatting Surge</h2>
<div id="attachment_898533" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-898533" class="size-large wp-image-898533" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/SWATTING-1024x512.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="512" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/SWATTING-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/SWATTING-300x150.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/SWATTING-768x384.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/SWATTING-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/SWATTING-2048x1024.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />(Photo by Chris Clor via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Prominent conservatives are being “swatted” – a dangerous hoax where someone falsely reports a serious crime to law enforcement and causes them to show up at a person’s house fully armed.
Swatting has been employed as a vindictive tactic for decades and has sometimes resulted in serious injury or even death, but recently, the number of swatting cases has jumped to alarming levels. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/20/media/trump-musk-conservative-influencers-swatting/index.html">CNN</a> reported that at least a dozen Trump-supporting influencers have been swatted in the last two weeks. 
The targets have been an eclectic group: private citizens like social media star Gunther Eagleman, radio show host Joe Pagliarulo, and Infowars&#8217; Chase Geiser, as well as elected politicians like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). Matt Van Swol – a former liberal who gained a following in the past six months advocating for Hurricane Helene relief in North Carolina – was also victimized.
“Around 2:00 AM on Sunday night, we heard a loud bang on the door,” Van Swol told The Daily Wire. “We had a really big storm that night. We thought, you know, maybe someone was doing a wellness check. The power was going in and out all night. My wife ran to the door, I was getting my clothes on, and she saw a police officer with his gun drawn at the door. This could have ended horribly … it turns out that the police had gotten a phone call from someone pretending to be me saying that there had been a shooting at the house. That Erin had been shot and killed, that um, I had been shot in the leg and that there were three masked men hiding in the basement.”
Van Swol’s 3 children were at home during the incident – thankfully, no one was harmed. As of now, there have been no arrests associated with the recent swattings, but Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel have both said they were looking into the attacks. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) also <a href="https://x.com/BasedMikeLee/status/1900368280335847854">suggested</a> that those responsible should be charged with attempted murder.

View of Capitol Building

Morning Brief: Congress Grills PBS & NPR, Senators Condemn Anti-Tesla Terror Attacks, Swatting Surges

Morning Wire

Republicans

Swatting

Tesla

Republican lawmakers grilled PBS and NPR executives on Wednesday in a fiery congressional hearing, where NPR&#8217;s chief executive admitted the organization made mistakes in its coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story and faced accusations of institutional liberal bias.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who organized the hearing titled &#8220;Anti-American Airwaves,&#8221; slammed PBS and NPR as &#8220;radical left-wing echo chambers&#8221; that publish biased news reports with government subsidies and LGBTQ programming intent on “grooming children,” The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/business/media/pbs-npr-congress-hearing-republicans.html">reported</a>.
NPR chief executive Katherine Maher and PBS chief executive Paula Kerger were brought in for questioning by Greene as the chairwoman of the new Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.
Katherine Maher, who became CEO of NPR last year, backtracked on her organization&#8217;s coverup of the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 campaign prior to her tenure.
&#8220;Our current editorial leadership thinks that was a mistake, as do I,&#8221; Maher testified, facing tough questioning from Republican lawmakers.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The old tweets are coming out to haunt the NPR CEO: &quot;Why did you call President Trump a &#39;fascist&#39; and a &#39;deranged racist sociopath&#39; in 2020?&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ggcpPCSvzi">pic.twitter.com/ggcpPCSvzi</a>
&mdash; Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1904935282358751593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) revealed 2020 tweets from Maher describing President Trump as a &#8220;racist&#8221; and &#8220;sociopath,” which Maher says she now regrets.
When pressed on the tweets by Rep. Greene, Maher expressed regret, saying, &#8220;They represented a time where I was reflecting on something that the president had said rather than who he is.&#8221;
These admissions came as Rep. James Comer (R-KY) stated, &#8220;I don&#8217;t even recognize NPR anymore,&#8221; adding that while he relied on public radio for news growing up in rural Kentucky, he now likens it to &#8220;propaganda.&#8221;
Former NPR senior business editor Uri Berliner, who resigned after publishing an essay critical of the network&#8217;s leftward shift, was referenced by Republican lawmakers as further evidence of the outlet’s bias.
In a text message to The New York Times, he wrote that he believes the organization should &#8220;openly acknowledge and embrace its progressive orientation&#8221; and decline federal support, contradicting Maher’s claims of NPR’s supposed objectivity.
PBS CEO Paula Kerger defended her network, arguing that “there’s nothing more American than PBS&#8221; and describing it as a crucial source of accurate information and educational programming for millions of Americans.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a government-funded company, <a href="https://cpb.org/pressroom/CPB-Statement-Congress-Approval-Continued-Funding-Public-Media">received</a> $535 million from the government this year, with millions of dollars going directly to NPR and PBS.
Representative William Timmons (R-SC) pressed PBS&#8217;s Kerger about a digital segment titled &#8220;Drag Queen Story Hour,&#8221; which featured drag performers reading to children. Kerger responded that the segment never aired on PBS television and was removed after being &#8220;mistakenly added&#8221; to the network&#8217;s website.
Representative Greene pointed to a photograph of drag performer Lil Miss Hot Mess featured in PBS programming, calling the entertainer a &#8220;monster&#8221; and accusing the network of using &#8220;taxpayer funds to push some of the most radical left positions.&#8221;
Kerger rejected these characterizations and defended PBS programming as educational and appropriate for its audiences.

Public Media CEOs Testify To House Committee On Government Reform

‘Anti-American Airwaves’: GOP Lawmakers Grill NPR Execs Over ‘Institutional Bias’

Marjorie Taylor Greene

Media Bias

Daily Wire host Michael Knowles defended President Donald Trump on Thursday as the legacy media fumes over the president’s quotation of Napoleon Bonaparte and his social media post that appeared to refer to himself as a king.
Knowles appeared on PBS Newshour to discuss a range of political topics with host Amna Nawaz. A main issue Nawaz brought up was Trump’s social media post last week when he wrote, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” a quote attributed to Napoleon. Days later, the president <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-terminates-backwards-and-unfair-nyc-congestion-toll" target="_blank" rel="noopener">celebrated</a> his administration’s move to end New York City’s congestion prices, writing, “LONG LIVE THE KING!” The White House reposted Trump’s quote alongside an image of Trump wearing a crown.
“Does that worry you, that kind of language?” asked Nawaz. “Do you want to see a king-like president?” 

“It doesn’t worry me at all,” Knowles replied. “To make a comparison with Napoleon, I think there’s a little wink and a nod here from Trump. He makes plenty of jokes.”
The Daily Wire host added, “But this line from Napoleon, which is a re-articulation of Cicero and John Locke — two very important thinkers for the founders and framers — this just gets to a basic point about the country, that in times of great national crisis and distress, extraordinary measures can be taken. You saw this with Abraham Lincoln, you saw this with Franklin Roosevelt, you’ve seen this with plenty of American presidents.”
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I’m disappointed that PBS cut my answer, in which I quoted Cicero’s De Legibus in Latin, but otherwise honored to have been invited on the show! <a href="https://t.co/BkMgjwZGmn">https://t.co/BkMgjwZGmn</a>
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1892915108063691209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Later in the interview, the PBS Newshour host asked Knowles if he’s worried about the future of the GOP, saying that Trump appears to “push out anyone who disagrees” with him.
“Trump is the unifying figure right now, there’s no question about it,” Knowles said.
“To say that people are kicked out of the party when they disagree with Trump makes it sound like the party is shrinking,” he added. “But what we saw in 2024 is actually the party is growing. It’s just taking in new people and it’s losing some of the figures who have been members in the past like Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger, those kinds of figures.”
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Knowles said that Trump “is the singular figure” of the GOP. Asked if the Republican Party can hold without him, Knowles acknowledged, “That remains to be seen.”
“I don’t think there’s really any going back to Bushism, and if anyone can pick up the standard of Trumpism afterwards, we’ll have to wait and see,” he said. “But the Republican Party is a different and stronger thing now because of Donald Trump.”
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Donald Trump/Napoleon

Michael Knowles Defends Trump As Legacy Media Rages Over Napoleon Quote, ‘Long Live The King’ Post

Michael Knowles

Daily Wire host Michael Knowles sat down with PBS Newshour on Thursday as conservatives gathered in Washington, D.C., for the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). 
During the interview on the taxpayer-funded network, host Amna Nawaz asked Knowles questions on a range of issues before taking exception to some of his comments on transgenderism. Nawaz brought up a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-knowles-doubles-down-on-trans-cpac-comments-that-set-internet-ablaze">remark Knowles made</a> at CPAC in 2023 about “eradicating” the ideology of transgenderism. 
The PBS Newshour host asked Knowles to explain his belief further, saying, “I’ll confess, I don’t know what the difference is” between “eradicating” transgender ideology and “eradicating” transgender people.
“If I say that I want to eradicate poverty, I’m not saying that I want to eradicate all the poor people,” Knowles replied. “Quite the opposite. I would like to help the poor people by eradicating poverty.&#8221;
“For the good of society and especially for the good of the poor people who have fallen prey to this confusion, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely, the whole preposterous ideology at every level,” he added. 
Knowles pointed out that “men can’t really become women,” arguing that it’s unhelpful to “lie” to people who are “confused about their sex.” 
Nawaz contended with Knowles over his statements about biological reality. 
“This is a belief system that you hold. Transgenderism is something that has been acknowledged by medical professionals,” Nawaz said. 
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“And rejected by medical professionals,” Knowles shot back. 
“By a few. There’s an entire body of scientific and medical knowledge that back this up, and that’s what gender-affirming care has been based on in recent years,” Nawaz said. 
The PBS Newshour host then reverted to asking Knowles about his use of the word “eradicate,” saying, “Do you worry that puts a target on peoples’ backs?”
“Certainly not,” Knowles responded. “In fact, the only targets that I’ve had on my own back are when I question these kinds of ideologies that have been so terrible for people. The only times I’ve ever been attacked in public — in one case, someone is in federal prison for trying to blow me up at a speech in Pittsburgh — is because I dared to question the trans ideology.”
“People are being introduced to this ideology at younger and younger ages,” Knowles continued. “It can lead to horrific outcomes, especially for younger people put on puberty blockers, which often cannot be reversed. It leads to castration, bone problems, and early death. These are not the sort of things that we should wish for people if we wish for their own good.” 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Commentator Michael Knowles on Trump&#039;s power and the conservative movement" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6tnuLCK-sR4?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>

Michael Knowles speaks at CPAC 2024

‘Not The Sort Of Things We Should Wish For People’: Knowles Debates PBS Host On Transgenderism

CPAC

Transgender

Transgenders

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) confirmed it has closed its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DEI</a>) office following President Donald Trump’s executive order to remove DEI from the federal government. 
In a statement from a PBS spokesperson to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/pbs-closes-dei-office-trump-executive-order-1236132553/">The </a><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/pbs-closes-dei-office-trump-executive-order-1236132553/">Hollywood Reporte</a><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/pbs-closes-dei-office-trump-executive-order-1236132553/">r</a>, the publicly funded nonprofit organization’s rep said, “In order to best ensure we are in compliance with the President’s executive order around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion we have closed our DEI office.”
“The staff members who served in that office are leaving PBS,” it added. “We will continue to adhere to our mission and values. PBS will continue to reflect all of America and remain a welcoming place for everyone.”
In a DEI report in Feb. 2023, the broadcast network said it had opened a DEI office in 2022 and staffed it, led by DEI head Cecilia Loving and DEI director Gina Leow. In the report, it said the company had reached a workforce of 44 percent BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color.)
Last month, Trump signed the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/">executive order</a> “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEl Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” placing all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officials on paid leave, as previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-to-put-all-federal-dei-officials-on-leave-by-end-of-day-tomorrow">reported</a>.
“The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military,” the order said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
SCOOP: PBS quietly shut down its DEI office and let go of its two top DEI executives—just hours after our Free Press reporter started asking questions. What happened? <a href="https://t.co/Arb98f15su">https://t.co/Arb98f15su</a>
— The Free Press (@TheFP) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheFP/status/1889309215866454448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
In a separate executive order, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-ends-equity-in-federal-hiring-promises-to-only-focus-on-merit">said</a> that the government would no longer consider goals like “equity” when hiring but prioritize based on skills, experience, and patriotism.
“Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of ‘equity,’ or one’s commitment to the invented concept of ‘gender identity’ over sex,” the order added.  “Inserting such factors into the hiring process subverts the will of the People, puts critical government functions at risk, and risks losing the best-qualified candidates.”
“President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit-based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://x.com/yamiche/status/1881897181189214714?s=46&amp;t=o-U3qwC25WnWaylJ0oeG7Q">said</a> at the time. “This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds. Promises made, promises kept,” she added about Trump’s EO to end DEI.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this piece.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nfl-to-remove-end-racism-message-in-super-bowl-end-zones-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NFL To Remove ‘End Racism’ Message In Super Bowl End Zones: Report</a>

In this photo illustration the Public Broadcasting Service (

PBS Confirms The Closure Of Its DEI Office

Celebrities

Disney

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Entertainment

Hollywood

Target

Walmart

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pbs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PBS News</a> reporter Judy Woodruff issued a retraction on Wednesday after she falsely reported at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was trying to sabotage a hostage deal between Hamas and Israel because it would help Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
&#8220;I want to clarify my remarks on the PBS News special on Monday night about the ongoing cease fire talks in the Middle East,&#8221; she said in a <a href="https://x.com/JudyWoodruff/status/1826330987359273176">post</a> on X. &#8220;As I said, this was not based on my original reporting; I was referring to reports I had read, in Axios and Reuters, about former President Trump having spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister.&#8221;
&#8220;In the live TV moment, I repeated the story because I hadn&#8217;t seen later reporting that both sides denied it,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;This was a mistake and I apologize for it.&#8221;
Woodruff said on Monday night: &#8220;The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the Prime Minister of Israel, urging him not to cut a deal right now, because that it&#8217;s believed that would help the Harris campaign.&#8221;
&#8220;So I don&#8217;t know where, where that&#8211;, I don&#8217;t know, who knows whether that will come about or not, but I have to think that the Harris campaign would like for President Biden to do what presidents do, which is work on that one,&#8221; she added.
<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=1723831707612000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0pyrv88A5nsmWM2F2Wr9As">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a>
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NEWS
PBS’ Judy Woodruff has issued a clarification and an apology for her remarks in this clip which went viral.
“I want to clarify my remarks on the PBS News special on Monday night about the ongoing cease fire talks in the Middle East.
As I said, this was not based on my… <a href="https://t.co/4nIhczmpj5">pic.twitter.com/4nIhczmpj5</a>
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1826334770063950326?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2024</a></blockquote>
Woodruff&#8217;s statement came after Trump campaign surrogate Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) demanded that she retract what she said on air, calling it &#8220;false&#8221; and &#8220;ridiculous.&#8221;
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&#8217;s office <a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-815675" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to Woodruff&#8217;s claim by saying that it was a &#8220;complete lie.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump campaign surrogate <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelgwaltz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@michaelgwaltz</a> calls on <a href="https://twitter.com/JudyWoodruff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JudyWoodruff</a> of PBS to RETRACT her report that Trump is urging Netanyahu to reject a hostage deal
“That is false. It’s ridiculous.” <a href="https://t.co/16ZCRiXICK">pic.twitter.com/16ZCRiXICK</a>
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentScher/status/1826281303098196476?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2024</a></blockquote>

The 2016 Democratic National Convention

PBS News Reporter Retracts False Claim That Trump Tried To Sabotage Israel Hostage Deal

Israel

President Joe Biden prompted a string of mocking replies when he engaged in a discussion about mental health and emotional well-being with the &#8220;Sesame Street&#8221; muppet character Elmo.
Elmo started the exchange by &#8220;checking in&#8221; on X, asking how everyone was doing — and then followed up with a promise to do so again in the future: &#8220;Wow! Elmo is glad he asked! Elmo learned that it is important to ask a friend how they are doing. Elmo will check in again soon, friends! Elmo loves you.&#8221;
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Wow! Elmo is glad he asked! Elmo learned that it is important to ask a friend how they are doing. Elmo will check in again soon, friends! Elmo loves you.❤️ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EmotionalWellBeing?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EmotionalWellBeing</a> <a href="https://t.co/jhn2LNKfHf">pic.twitter.com/jhn2LNKfHf</a>
&mdash; Elmo (@elmo) <a href="https://twitter.com/elmo/status/1752378693446508842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Biden responded, littering his reply with &#8220;Sesame Street&#8221; references and reminding his followers to check in with their friends as well.
&#8220;I know how hard it is some days to sweep the clouds away and get to sunnier days,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Our friend Elmo is right: We have to be there for each other, offer our help to a neighbor in need, and above all else, ask for help when we need it. Even though it&#8217;s hard, you&#8217;re never alone.&#8221;
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I know how hard it is some days to sweep the clouds away and get to sunnier days.
Our friend Elmo is right: We have to be there for each other, offer our help to a neighbor in need, and above all else, ask for help when we need it.
Even though it&#39;s hard, you&#39;re never alone. <a href="https://t.co/ffMJekbowo">https://t.co/ffMJekbowo</a>
&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1752518567239536821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Several responded to the post by pointing out the fact that three American service members had just died in an attack perpetrated by Iranian proxies — and that in that context, Biden&#8217;s post had missed the mark.
&#8220;Biden still hasn’t punished Iran for killing three American soldiers. Instead he’s tweeting about Elmo,&#8221; one said.
https://twitter.com/SonofHas/status/1752524941671502265
&#8220;Bro we lost three service members in a terrorist attack and the president is tweeting about sesame street,&#8221; another replied.
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Bro we lost three service members in a terrorist attack and the president is tweeting about sesame street <a href="https://t.co/01DSWOxEXn">https://t.co/01DSWOxEXn</a>
&mdash; Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) <a href="https://twitter.com/ComfortablySmug/status/1752532386804289606?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Country wrapped in another foreign broader conflict with Iran, who backed proxies murdering US troops. Current President — &#8216;What the puppet said,'&#8221; Stephen Miller said.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1706813616678000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3cSk2947NCSD6M3f86lFiY">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Country wrapped in another foreign broader conflict with Iran, who backed proxies murdering US troops. 
Current President &#8211; &quot;What the puppet said.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ETLhnBvm9A">https://t.co/ETLhnBvm9A</a>
&mdash; Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) <a href="https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1752521996166975731?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;This is worse than anything Donald Trump ever tweeted,&#8221; Miller added.
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This is worse than anything Donald Trump ever tweeted. <a href="https://t.co/ETLhnBvm9A">https://t.co/ETLhnBvm9A</a>
&mdash; Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) <a href="https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1752521381839827409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Not a parody account. Really,&#8221; Joe Concha observed.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Not a parody account. Really. <a href="https://t.co/z49NimN4PI">https://t.co/z49NimN4PI</a>
&mdash; Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeConchaTV/status/1752653568320868654?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I feel so much better now,&#8221; added The Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I feel so much better now. <a href="https://t.co/BkdkQExMuP">https://t.co/BkdkQExMuP</a>
&mdash; Andrew Klavan (@andrewklavan) <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewklavan/status/1752638839003242563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;

President Biden Departs White House For Florida

Biden Mocked For Bizarre Exchange About Mental Health … With Elmo

Joe Biden

Mental Health

Sesame Street

Television

“Star Trek” actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">LeVar Burton</a> was shocked to discover that one of his ancestors was a white <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/confederacy">Confederate</a> soldier.
The 66-year-old TV star was told the surprising fact about his lineage during an episode of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pbs">PBS</a> series “Finding Your Roots.” The former &#8220;Reading Rainbow&#8221; star told show host Henry Louis Gates Jr. that he didn’t know much about his family tree as he was estranged from his father, Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, since he was 11. Burton also mentioned that his mother, Erma Gene Christian, wasn’t forthcoming about the family’s background, <a href="https://people.com/finding-your-roots-recap-levar-burton-journey-made-him-feel-closer-to-father-he-hadnt-seen-8430586">according</a> to People.
“You grow up with just blanks, right? No information, no clue and no real way to overcome that blind spot,&#8221; Burton said of his family history, per the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2024-01-17/levar-burton-descendant-confederate-soldier-white-america-finding-your-roots">Los Angeles Times</a>. &#8220;This information is stuff that we need in order to feel whole.&#8221;
Gates told Burton that the team used a combination of a genealogist and DNA experts to come up with their findings about the actor’s past.
The “Star Trek: The Next Generation” alum had no idea one of his ancestors was a white man. Gates <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/levar-burton-discovers-hes-descended-024715272.html">told</a> Burton that his great-grandmother on his mother&#8217;s side, Mary Sills, was not related to the man she listed as her father on a Social Security application in 1940.
Her biological father was, in fact, a man named James Henry Dixon, a white farmer who was married with several children. &#8220;So Granny was half-white,&#8221; Burton said in surprise, per <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/levar-burton-white-confederate-ancestor-finding-your-roots-rcna133422">Today</a>.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1705604838822000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2_j2KMpwVRLCzwAoGaYKL5">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
What’s more, Dixon, who was living in North Carolina, joined the Confederate Army after he turned 17, serving in the junior reserves.
“Are you kidding me? Oh my God, oh my God. I did not see this coming,” Burton said upon hearing the news. While Gates said it was likely that Sills never went into battle, the fact remained that he was aligned with the pro-slavery side of the Civil War. He later had a child with a woman born into <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/slavery">slavery</a>.
“I often wonder about white men of the period and how they justify to themselves their relations with black women, especially those in an unbalanced power dynamic. There has to be a powerful disconnect created emotionally and mentally,” Burton replied.
&#8220;The two major commercial DNA tests almost never have tested an African American who was 100% sub-Saharan African,&#8221; Gates told Burton. &#8220;We all have white ancestors.&#8221;
&#8220;There&#8217;s some conflict roiling inside of me right now,&#8221; Burton continued, per Today. &#8220;But oddly enough, I feel a pathway opening up. &#8230;Knowing what I know about the history of this nation, I&#8217;ve wanted, especially in this current time frame, I believe that as Americans we need to have this conversation about who we are and how we got here.&#8221;

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