If you thought America’s love of Japan was only about Hibachi restaurants, Anime teens, and The Karate Kid reboots, you haven’t spent enough time on X. Last weekend, the admiration entered a new phase as the social media platform boosted an AI-enabled translation tool, making exchanging and sharing posts easier between Japanese and American users.
What resulted was a pleasant and outright wholesome font of positive vibes that seemed out of place in the notoriously cynical virtual world of hot takes, hate bots, and culture wars. The website Pirate Wires noticed and published an <a href="https://www.piratewires.com/p/japan-is-americas-greatest-ally-and">essay</a> doubling down on the niche community, heaping praise on the newfound old love between Japan and America. In it, the authors point to President Trump’s bromance with the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, love of American BBQ, and shared technological and military goals, all of which are true and good, but that’s only part of the story.
While it appears the Japanese people are living their best lives cosplaying Americana at <a href="https://tasteofcountry.com/authentic-honky-tonk-bar-tokyo-japan/">Honky Tonk bars</a> and showing off their <a href="https://www.topspeed.com/japans-love-affair-with-american-muscle-cars/">classic cruisers</a>, the Pirate Wires take is a little deceiving. What’s missing is the 1980s working-class anxiety and animosity toward our now Eastern besties — a sentiment not felt since the Greatest Generation came back from raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi and refused to buy Toyotas.
Japan’s rapid post-WWII industrialization and investment in technology paid off economically and sparked a transpacific rivalry, trade war, and manufacturing insecurity on par with a Rocky-versus-Drago fight of the century, if not a little less…violent. The Cold War rightly absorbs much of the attention when recalling the era, but as the Soviet Union was showing signs of losing its grip, Japan was becoming a real threat to the United States’ industrial domination — and the repercussions were being felt in homes, boardrooms, and factories across the country. Toyota and Honda exploded onto the automotive scene, helping usher in Detroit’s demise. Japanese technology, such as portable radios, video games, and televisions, was grabbing more market share from American companies like RCA. Even America’s trophy landmarks were being taken over. In 1989, Mitsubishi Estate took control of Rockefeller Center, a capstone acquisition following the Japanese corporation&#8217;s acquisitions of Firestone Tire &amp; Rubber and Columbia Pictures.
This tension was reflected in pop culture entertainment — think Ron Howard’s 1986 film Gung Ho, where Michael Keaton plays a foreman at an American auto manufacturing plant taken over by a Japanese corporation. The film is a comedy, but it mirrors the zeitgeist of the time. There was also Rising Sun, Kinjite, and imagined futures that look strikingly Japanese, such as Blade Runner and Robocop 3; Die Hard takes place in Nakatomi Plaza. Tom Clancy even explores this theme in his novel &#8220;Debt of Honor,&#8221; in which the protagonist, Jack Ryan, fights a &#8220;secret cabal of Japanese industrialists.&#8221;
But enough with nuance. The biggest takeaway from the situation is the display of understated power and the magnitude of influence and reach American culture has had from the mid-20th century forward. And even though there have been some notable outside foreign influences permeating these liberty-laden shores, it’s far from an even exchange.
We gave the world jazz and rock and roll, fast food and blue jeans, baseball and John Wayne Westerns. Sure, we got the British Invasion and Crocodile Dundee, but what would France do without Jerry Lewis and Germany without David Hasselhoff? I’m only half-kidding. American cultural influence was instrumental in winning the Cold War — there was even an underground pipeline of Chuck Norris <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2442080/">films</a> to undermine the communists — and who could deny Roger Goodell’s not-so-secret <a href="https://media.nfl.com/news-and-releases/international/nfl-s-global-markets-program-expands-in-2026-with-addition-of-it">plan</a> for the NFL to take over the world?
So while our “special” relationship with Japan is great, it’s not exactly novel. America’s cultural influence is a force for good in the world, and it’s a shame the mainstream media has ignored it in favor of authoritarian worship, evidenced by the rise of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/25/asia/chinamaxxing-americans-soft-power-intl-hnk-dst">stories</a> about “Chinamaxxing.”
Good for Pirate Wires to report a feel-good story that most of the media ignored, even if it wasn&#8217;t a complete picture. It’s important to remember that for all the reports of America’s demise, we’re still going strong — and in unexpected corners of the world and in unexpected ways. Far from the evil empire that snobby Europeans or elitist media personalities would have you believe, we just want to spread some good old-fashioned American fun. Because in the long run, that makes better friends than enemies.

Patriotic cowboy boots

Hate Us Or Love Us, Everyone Still Wants To Be American

America

American History

Japan

Social Media

World

With all of the seriousness that envelopes most of the day-to-day operations within the government, sometimes it&#8217;s good to let down the hair, loosen the neckties, and think up a good prank for the social media team to run with for April Fools&#8217; Day.
The Department of Health and Human Services led the charge with a post showing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — notorious for his strict diet and opposition to fake dyes and additives in food — at a grocery store buying items that would definitely be considered contraband.
&#8220;BREAKING NEWS: SECRETARY KENNEDY CAUGHT PURCHASING ARTIFICIALLY-DYED CANDIES IN BULK,&#8221; the headline read.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://t.co/oOBv1uuT0g">pic.twitter.com/oOBv1uuT0g</a>
— HHS Rapid Response (@HHSResponse) <a href="https://twitter.com/HHSResponse/status/2039330926191165716?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Kennedy followed with a post of his own admitting that it was a joke.
The Department of Homeland Security shared a poster advertising free flights to the moon for illegal aliens. &#8220;FLY TO THE MOON FOR FREE!&#8221; the poster read, along with a caption that said, &#8220;This April 1st, we kindly ask all aliens to GO HOME.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This April 1st, we kindly ask all aliens to GO HOME. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ArtemisII?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ArtemisII</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheyAreGoingBack?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheyAreGoingBack</a> <a href="https://t.co/RJ2Z5yH33E">pic.twitter.com/RJ2Z5yH33E</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/2039409788908371996?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The National Archives got in on the joke with screenshots of a &#8220;group chat&#8221; between the Founding Fathers as they prepared to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Jefferson kicked off the conversation: &#8220;Ok, patriots, the final draft is ready.&#8221;
&#8220;Wait, do I sign with my real signature or my cool one?&#8221; John Hancock wanted to know.
&#8220;Make it BIG, John,&#8221; Benjamin Franklin advised. &#8220;Go viral or go home.&#8221;
Another frame showed the men arguing about how long the process was taking and who had brought the snacks.
&#8220;Can someone please proofread before I sign?&#8221; George Washington asked — and Jefferson replied, &#8220;Too late. I already tweeted it.&#8221;
The last line showed King George III of England being added to the chat, and he responded with just an emoji: wide eyes.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Breaking news: The National Archives has released the Founding Fathers group chat for the signing of the Declaration of Independence.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AprilFoolsDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AprilFoolsDay</a> <a href="https://t.co/2YHku5K4VI">pic.twitter.com/2YHku5K4VI</a>
— U.S. National Archives (@USNatArchives) <a href="https://twitter.com/USNatArchives/status/2039352671392485401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The U.S. Department of the Interior went for the two-fer in a post outlining proposed changes to the national animal ahead of the United States celebrating its 250th birthday in 2026.
&#8220;As part of preparations for America’s 250th anniversary, Interior is reviewing wildlife nomenclature to better reflect the nation’s history and character. Following this review, the raccoon (Procyon lotor) will be renamed the Liberty Bandit, effective April 1, 2026,&#8221; the first post read.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Known for its resourcefulness and ability to operate under cover of night, the Liberty Bandit reflects a distinctly American spirit of independence.
Additional updates will be announced in phases, including renaming the skunk (Mephitis mephitis) the Freedom Fogger. 😉 <a href="https://t.co/TzKJIAQ5Dj">pic.twitter.com/TzKJIAQ5Dj</a>
— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) <a href="https://twitter.com/Interior/status/2039334053334200641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
An immediate follow up added that in addition to giving the raccoon a place of prominence as the &#8220;Liberty Bandit,&#8221; they also planned to rename the skunk the &#8220;Freedom Fogger.&#8221;
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service promised immediate compliance with the new nomenclature, saying, &#8220;We&#8217;ll get this updated on our website ASAP.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We&#8217;ll get this updated on our website ASAP. <a href="https://t.co/FoHyeLuS3n">https://t.co/FoHyeLuS3n</a>
— U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (@USFWS) <a href="https://twitter.com/USFWS/status/2039391809579692339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command (ACIC) stole the show with new guidance detailing the proper headgear for soldiers with Top Secret security clearances.
&#8220;The new Frequency Obstructing Interception Layer (FOIL) covers are designed to mitigate unauthorized SIGINT collection and ensure your thoughts remain on a &#8216;need to know&#8217; basis,&#8221; the description read — and the accompanying illustration showed eight different types of military headgear redone as tinfoil hats.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
ACIC releases headwear guidance for Soldiers with Top Secret clearances.
The new Frequency Obstructing Interception Layer (FOIL) covers are designed to mitigate unauthorized SIGINT collection and ensure your thoughts remain on a &#8220;need to know&#8221; basis.
(Graphic made with AI) <a href="https://t.co/KJFdVLIlu1">pic.twitter.com/KJFdVLIlu1</a>
— Army Counterintelligence Command (ACIC) (@Real_ArmyCI) <a href="https://twitter.com/Real_ArmyCI/status/2039315175677849932?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Screenshot/HHS

Even The Government Is Getting In On The Joke Today

Media

Military

Politics

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
I’m a Catholic convert. We <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-catholic-convert-boom-is-real-but-a-troubling-pattern-is-emerging">hear about that</a> a lot lately. Some of the most prominent podcasters, online influencers, and elected officials are announcing their conversions. Rosaries are becoming more prominent, and the Latin Mass is back in vogue.  
Conversion is good, and these conversions align with a positive trend in the Catholic Church. After a 20-year decline in conversions, the Catholic Church has experienced a surge in new members since 2020. Converts in 2025 more than <a href="https://www.osvnews.com/trending-a-young-revival-in-the-faith/">doubled</a> those in 2020. Even Los Angeles <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/news/easter-2025-new-catholics-by-the-numbers?utm_source=chatgpt.com">experienced a 44% year-over-year growth in 2025</a>. The word “Gospel” comes from the Greek “euangelion,” which means “good news.” This is the good news.
But it comes with some tension. Some of the largest converts leverage their massive online followings and media audiences to proclaim their conversions to the world. Algorithms reward visibility, announcement, and identity signaling. This actually fits perfectly into conversion, which is declarative, shareable, and witnessed by an audience.
But this contrasts sharply with Holy Week, which is quiet, uncomfortable, and non-performative in its nature. This week is about ensuring we don’t skip the part of our faith that actually defines it. Today’s culture emphasizes performance, but Holy Week emphasizes discernment. Rather than partaking in passive activities such as sitting and scrolling, Catholics are taught to participate in Holy Week. Mass attendees take part in the full reading of the Passion on Palm Sunday, and we fast, abstain, and worship on Good Friday.
So, I’m urging my fellow Catholics — and specifically, my fellow converts — not to squander this week but to embrace the elements of our faith that actually define it. To bridge the gap between “becoming a Catholic” and what the faith actually asks of you.
I’ll never forget my first Holy Week. I was confused about what could be “good” about the Friday on which Christ was crucified, not knowing that good means “holy” and this was the day his suffering delivered redemption and his death gave us life. In my early years of conversion, Holy Week was something I observed, but over time, it has become something I live.
Easter aligns with cultural preferences for joy, victory, and public celebrations. This fits into our modern instincts of resolution, progress, and clean endings. While social media favors identity over transformation and announcement over discipline, there are very few hashtags for silence, repentance, and interior change. You can “like” Easter. You can post Easter.
But Easter without Good Friday is incomplete. Good Friday requires a specific tone that would be punished in any online algorithm. Two days before the culmination of Lent, we emphasize silence and a reflective slowness. There is no spectacle or performative payoff. You spend a day sitting with the heavy responsibility of carrying the faith forward. For me, my first Good Friday was quite dark. The kids were off from school, but this was no vacation. Good Friday is a day to log spiritual hours.
My fellow Catholic and friend Arthur Brooks has made a career out of proving that <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/arthur-brooks-why-your-perfect-life-feels-so-empty">“meaning” is a key ingredient to a happy life.</a> Holy Week gives meaning to our Catholic faith, and we should use this week to help accelerate the positive conversion trends in our church. It’s good that people are coming in, but it can’t stop at one’s announcement. Interest must lead to commitment. The internet can celebrate conversion, but only real life can sustain it. Jesus Christ’s faith doesn’t fit neatly into our algorithms today. If that’s where your faith is performing best, you may have skipped the part that actually changes you.
Pope John Paul II often discussed the divided life. He cautioned against separating spiritual values from one’s daily actions and promoted a unified life fixed in God’s eternal love. This is a message I hope my fellow converts will heed — especially those who lead <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/im-a-social-media-influencer-but-my-real-audience-isnt-the-internet">very public lives</a>, reaching audiences far larger than any single congregation or diocese. I pray they are participating in all of the activities of Holy Week, not just outwardly, but internally. Like prayer, Holy Week is an external sign of inward grace. And our culture is craving grace right now.
I’ll let Jesus in Matthew 16:24-25 have the last word: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it.”
***
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast We The People with Gates Garcia. Follow him on X and Instagram @GatesGarciaFL.

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More Americans Are Finding Faith, But Social Media Is Changing What That Looks Like

Catholic Church

Christianity

Faith

Upstream

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Earlier this month, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber announced she was stepping down to make way for a &#8220;seasoned operator focused on scaling and execution.&#8221; For years, parts of the press and the online intelligentsia treated Bluesky as the future of public discourse. Outside those circles, most people barely noticed it existed. That gap between seeming central and being socially marginal is the real legacy of Bluesky.
More than a story about one platform’s limits, it is a window into a larger dynamic of online life, where tightly connected minorities can make their conversations look like the voice of the public.
Bluesky has around 42 million total users, a fraction of the hundreds of millions claimed by X and Threads. But more importantly, as Jesse Singal <a href="https://www.blockedandreported.org/p/episode-299-the-politics-of-misery" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.blockedandreported.org/p/episode-299-the-politics-of-misery&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774405728025000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2ucyMWHrEofUsVT7fLpz2A">pointed out</a> to Blocked and Reported cohost Katie Herzog, “There&#8217;s a little more than a million people who like a post at least once a day.” Herzog responded, “That&#8217;s so small,” to which Singal added, “It punches so far above its weight because the people who are on there are disproportionately in media or academia, just people with strong sort of professional opinions.” Bluesky feels like a major public square to parts of the commentariat because the people most likely to shape media narratives are overrepresented among its active users.
That observation has a name. Academics call it the majority illusion. It’s when a small but densely connected group behaves a certain way in public, and its behavior looks far more widespread than it really is. A controversy can look national even though it doesn’t extend beyond a narrow slice of highly online participants. A view can feel ubiquitous without being common. Understanding the majority illusion is key. It might also explain why the waves of cancellation have rolled back since Musk took over X.
There are two parts to the majority illusion: a production phenomenon and a perception bias.
The production side is straightforward. Online content is not created evenly. A very small number of highly active users produce a wildly disproportionate share of what everyone else sees. On Reddit, for example, the top 1 percent of users <a href="https://archive.ph/o/dz14o/https:/www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/6dftf1/from_jan_2015_to_feb_2017_the_most_prolific_001/?st=J35SZ0I4&amp;sh=6da96e5b" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.ph/o/dz14o/https:/www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/6dftf1/from_jan_2015_to_feb_2017_the_most_prolific_001/?st%3DJ35SZ0I4%26sh%3D6da96e5b&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774405728025000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1kYmgaHrGBB3JCI87MiNgq">write 40%</a> of the comments. Wikipedia, too, is <a href="https://archive.ph/o/dz14o/https:/www.vice.com/en/article/7x47bb/wikipedia-editors-elite-diversity-foundation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largely the product of a small minority</a>, as 77% of entries are written by 1% of users. Most people lurk, scroll, and occasionally react. A small minority posts constantly, argues constantly, and in doing so sets the apparent tone of the space.
The perception side is where the distortion takes hold. Observers infer from this uneven stream of content that they are seeing society as it is. Naturally, they then overestimate the popularity, intensity, and even moral legitimacy of certain beliefs simply because they are expressed more often. Critically, however, visibility is not the same as representativeness.
<a href="https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/12/pgaf310/8377954" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/12/pgaf310/8377954&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774405728025000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2OLXlW_pwSepmsZBZVB_nU">A recent paper</a> confirmed the scale of the distortion. The American public believes that &#8220;43% of all Reddit users have posted severely toxic comments and that 47% of all Facebook users have shared false news online.&#8221; Platform-level estimates put the true figures between 3 and 7%. Importantly, the authors found the majority illusion can contribute to a feeling of moral decline. If people repeatedly encounter extreme or antisocial behavior online, they can come to believe it is normal, widespread, and reflective of the culture at large, even when it is produced by a small and unrepresentative minority.
These distortions extend well beyond platform behavior. Americans <a href="https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/41556-americans-misestimate-small-subgroups-population" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/41556-americans-misestimate-small-subgroups-population&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774405728025000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2LXctPPB5GCVTLNppFocFr">routinely overestimate</a> the size of minority groups, the prevalence of fringe beliefs, and the popularity of radical social attitudes. Online life trains people to mistake frequency of exposure for frequency in the population.
The majority illusion also helps to explain all the episodes of overstated virality. A few years back, several outlets reported that young TikTok users were sharing Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” as though it were sweeping the platform. But when John Herrman <a href="https://archive.ph/o/dz14o/https:/nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/11/did-bin-laden-really-go-viral-on-tiktok.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.ph/o/dz14o/https:/nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/11/did-bin-laden-really-go-viral-on-tiktok.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774405728025000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0OoR1yPOAMbmVjGJMjg-L6">looked into the supposed trend</a>, he found only “a few dozen results” tied to the manifesto. The same trend could be found in the NyQuil chicken panic the year before. A tiny pocket of attention was converted into a national morality tale.
I suspect this framework also helps explain why the cancellation machine has weakened since Elon Musk acquired Twitter. Cancellation depended on a particular network structure. Old Twitter contained a highly concentrated cluster of journalists, academics, activists, and professional scolds who were interconnected and visible to institutional decision-makers. Because these users often moved in lockstep, outrage could appear much larger and more representative than it really was. When they converged on a target, the resulting pile-on looked to outside observers like a broad moral consensus. Institutions, uncertain of their footing and often terrified of reputational risk, treated that signal as authoritative.
Musk’s takeover disrupted this dynamic. First, it changed the composition of the network itself. Right-leaning users, anti-cancellation voices, and previously suppressed participants became more visible. There was no longer a relatively uniform moral culture, and outrage could no longer pass as consensus.
Second, the migration of many activists, journalists, and academics to Bluesky effectively narrowed the reach of the cluster most committed to cancellation logic. On Bluesky, users still try to cancel people, and they are able to generate a powerful sense of unanimity among themselves. But the agreement is within a smaller, more socially insulated network that no longer includes employers, publishers, universities, nonprofits, and media organizations. By moving to Bluesky, these users lost the institutional pathways that once turned online outrage into real-world punishment.
The result is that the cancellation mechanism weakened at both ends. That does not mean cancellation disappeared, or that outrage no longer matters. Rather, it showed that the old machine relied on very specific conditions. It needed a platform where a relatively small but highly connected elite could agree with itself, amplify itself, and then be seen by institutions as speaking for everyone else.
Bluesky’s real lesson is not that one app failed to become the new town square. It is that the modern internet is remarkably good at manufacturing false majorities. A small, hyperactive, tightly networked class can make its preferences feel universal, its outrage feel democratic, and its obsessions feel unavoidable. But volume is not consensus, visibility is not legitimacy, and a feed is not the public. The sooner we all embrace that distinction, the less power we will give to niche online worlds to define social reality for everyone else.
***
Will Rinehart is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on the political economy of technology and innovation.

GettyImages-2209306262

How A Niche Online World Made Its Outrage Look National

Cancel Culture

There&#8217;s a thought experiment I want you to sit with for a moment.
God forbid Barack Obama passed away — shot in front of thousands of people, the moment captured on every phone in the crowd and splashed across every screen in the country within minutes — and Michelle Obama was left to pick up the pieces, preserve his legacy, and carry the torch in the only way she knew how. Do you think you would see ultra-famous white comedians painting themselves in blackface and mocking the way she grieves? Without consequence? Without wall-to-wall outrage? No. Of course not. Because that would be racist, and it would be cruel, and everyone would say so loudly and immediately.
When the shoe is on the other foot, no one seems to care.
Druski — born Drew Desbordes — has become one of the most commercially ubiquitous comedic presences in America. The COVID-era social media comedian turned pop culture fixture hosts a satirical dating show, joined the 2026 season of The Voice, and has assembled a brand portfolio that reads like a Fortune 500 roll call: T-Mobile, Amazon, the NFL, Nike, Happy Dad Hard Seltzer, PrizePicks, Meta, NBC/Peacock, Dunkin&#8217;, and Google Pixel. He has over 20 million followers. He is everywhere.
And this week, he decided to use that platform to mock a grieving widow.
In a now-viral video, Druski appears in full whiteface — skin painted white, blonde wig, blue contacts, all-white pantsuit — complete with fireworks and dramatic stage lighting. He mocks Erika Kirk, the recently widowed CEO of Turning Point USA, for continuing to make public appearances in the wake of her husband&#8217;s assassination. He ridicules the Trump administration&#8217;s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt for offering prayers and honoring American symbols during press conferences. He depicts a blonde conservative in pink, riding with a white lap dog, singing Katy Perry&#8217;s &#8220;California Girls&#8221; on the way to a drive-through. And he lampoons Erika&#8217;s composure during a recent interview with Bari Weiss, turning grief into punchline fodder.
I&#8217;ll be honest: I barely knew who Druski was before this week. Unfortunately, I know who he is now.
Here&#8217;s what I&#8217;ll give him: conservative women are not humorless. We can laugh at ourselves and take a punch. The Leavitt bit? Cheap, but fine. The drive-through? Inaccurate — the last time I heard Katy Perry sing, she was in space. But there is a line between political satire and using a widowed mother as a punchline for 80 million viewers, and Druski crossed it without flinching.
Charlie Kirk was assassinated last year in front of thousands of people, while doing the thing he loved most — talking to young people and making the case for his country. We watched it on our phones. We were horrified. Then heartbroken. Then — naively, perhaps — hopeful that the brutality of it might draw some line we could all agree not to cross. Political violence is bad. Killing people for their beliefs is wrong. Surely that much was universal.
We thought wrong. Too many on the left laughed, celebrated, and mocked the tragedy. They worked to tarnish his name before he was even buried. Jimmy Kimmel told blatant lies masquerading as jokes and was suspended for it. And now, six months later, a comedian with a nine-figure brand portfolio is degrading Charlie&#8217;s widow for daring to honor his memory — for refusing to disappear.
That&#8217;s not a comedy bit. That&#8217;s cruelty in makeup.
Druski is not some fringe provocateur. He is corporate America&#8217;s darling — the face you see when you open an app, watch a game, or scroll through your feed. So, at what point does the ubiquitous ad avatar become a liability?
This isn&#8217;t his first controversy. In September 2025, he enraged fans with a whiteface skit at a NASCAR race, portraying a caricatured &#8220;proud American&#8221; redneck. Then came the NFL Honors, where he mispronounced wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba&#8217;s name in a way that left Buckeye fans — myself included — vexed. Each time, the brands shrugged.
The Daily Wire reached out to Druski’s active brand partnerships, T-Mobile, Happy Dad, and NBC/Peacock, asking whether they intend to retain Desbordes as a brand partner in light of this content. All but T-Mobile failed to respond, offering this: &#8220;The content in question is not in any way affiliated with T-Mobile, nor is it a reflection of our brand and values.&#8221; A statement of distance — but not of severance. Druski remains their Chief Swagger Officer. NBC said nothing. He remains on The Voice.
So the answer to the question in the headline appears to be: yes, you can.
At least for now.
Grief is not a costume. A widow is not a prop. And a woman who lost her husband to a political assassination — who chooses to stay in the fight and keep his work alive — deserves more than a whiteface parody from a man who hawks hard seltzer and phone plans for a living.
Conservatives don&#8217;t expect special treatment. We just expect consistency. If mockery of grief is off-limits for certain races and certain parties, it must be off-limits for all. Until corporations decide that values actually mean something more than virality and quarterly earnings, they will keep propping up figures like Druski — who demeans the bereaved and cashes seven-figure checks for the privilege.
The brands have spoken. Or rather, they haven&#8217;t. And that silence says it all.

The Voice – Season 29

T-Mobile Distances Itself From ‘Chief Switching Officer’ Druski After Sketch Mocking Erika Kirk

Celebrities

Corporate America

Entertainment

Erika Kirk

Media Bias

Racism

Values

Gen Z gets to have its Lucky Strike moment, living amidst a social behavior so widely accepted that we hardly notice its near-complete ubiquitousness and carry on a seemingly innocuous yet encompassing habit without a second thought.
Today&#8217;s addictive product isn’t rolled in paper and sold at gas stations. It lives in our back pockets. And this week, for the first time, a jury suggested it might be just as dangerous — and just as liable.
Cigarettes were everywhere in America in the 1950s through the 1980s, and they were cool. You saw them in every movie and TV show and on every billboard. More than 40 percent of adults smoked. It was normalized, glamorous, and quietly killing people.  
 
Then came the lawsuits. States sued Big Tobacco for hiding what they knew about addiction. Internal documents proved companies had engineered dependence and targeted children. The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement forced the four biggest tobacco companies to pay states more than $206 billion, ban cartoon ads, and fund anti-smoking campaigns. The once romanticized and ubiquitous habit fell out of favor: Between 1998 and 2018, overall cigarette consumption fell more than 50 percent, and youth smoking dropped from 36 to 6 percent. 
 
Fast forward to the present, and a now-20-year-old woman named Kaley — identified in court papers as K.G.M. — filed a lawsuit against the corporate behemoths of our time, Meta and Google, when she was 17. She began using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9, sometimes scrolling for 16 hours a day. She argues that the apps&#8217; design, with endless scrolling, Pavlovian notifications, and calculated recommendation algorithms, prompted endless scrolling, causing her serious depression, anxiety, body image issues, and suicidal thoughts. 
 
Her lawyers&#8217; arguments echoed those against the big cigarette companies decades earlier. They argued product liability: the apps are defectively designed, the companies knew it, and they launched them anyway. The jury agreed, finding both Meta and Google negligent in how they designed their platforms and in failing to warn users. Kaley was awarded $6 million. One day earlier, a separate New Mexico jury hit Meta with a $375 million verdict for similar conduct.
These are the first jury verdicts to hold that social media’s business model itself can constitute a defective product. This is a watershed moment — not just for Kaley, but for the 2,400 similar lawsuits waiting in federal court and hundreds more in California. And New Mexico&#8217;s case has a second phase in May that could compel Meta to actually change its apps nationwide: stronger age verification, safer algorithms, meaningful oversight.
Meta knew what it was doing. Its own internal 2020 “Project Mercury” study found that deactivating Instagram reduced depression and anxiety in users. The company buried the findings and shut down the study.
But parents should resist the urge to treat this verdict as someone else finishing the job for them. 
 
Fifty-one percent of parents say they regularly check their children’s social media accounts. Many don’t know which apps their kids are using and abusing at all. Meanwhile, 60% of young people self-report feeling addicted to social media. 45% say they spend “too much time” on it, and 48% of teens say it has a mostly negative effect on people their age. These kids know something is wrong. They cannot fix it alone — the apps are engineered to make quitting feel impossible — and a courtroom in California cannot reach into a bedroom at midnight and take the phone off the nightstand. Parents have to do that. 

There are more lessons from the tobacco lawsuits to be heeded. The 1998 settlement was historic on paper, but it only changed behavior because prices rose, culture shifted, and parents got involved. States spend most of the settlement money on things other than prevention. Tobacco companies pivoted overseas and kept selling. A legal victory is only as durable as what follows it. 
Congress isn’t helping. The Kids Online Safety Act passed the Senate in 2024, stalled again in 2025, and remains stuck in the House. COPPA 2.0 passed the Senate unanimously — twice —and died both times. This is the fourth major legislative attempt since 2022. At some point, passing a law that bans social media for those under 19 has to be easier than explaining to constituents why you didn’t. 
 
There is also a real tension at play: the same companies now being sued are also building AI tools with genuine potential — in medicine, education, and mental health. Heavy-handed regulation designed to punish Meta could inadvertently slow innovation that actually helps kids. Any serious legislative solution has to thread that needle: protect children online without strangling the technology that may one day serve them. 
 
These verdicts are a genuine first step. The jury got it right: these products were defectively designed, and the companies that built them knew the harm they were causing. But the work doesn’t end in a courtroom. It continues at home, in the living room, when a parent decides to actually look at what their kid is doing online. It continues in Congress when lawmakers stop treating children’s mental health as a bargaining chip. The jury started something this week. Now everyone else has to finish it — we can all start by touching some grass.

Zuckerberg leaves Los Angeles courthouse after social media addiction trial defense

Is This The Beginning Of The End Of Big Social Media?

Congress

Culture

Mental Health

social media addiction

There is a not-so-secret war being waged for control of your kid&#8217;s mind.
Who owns your child&#8217;s mind? Social media companies? The government?
Or is it you?
A landmark lawsuit that just sent a gigantic shockwave through Silicon Valley. Meta (Facebook) and YouTube (Google) were found negligent in facilitating social media addiction.
Let’s break down the case that could upend Big Tech, reshape AI regulation, and force a national reckoning over parenting power and responsibility.
The legal case found both companies were negligent in facilitating social media addiction. According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/technology/social-media-trial-verdict.html">The New York Times</a>:
<blockquote>The bellwether case, which was brought by a now 20-year-old woman identified as K.G.M., had accused social media companies of creating products as addictive as cigarettes or digital casinos. Citing features like infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations, K.G.M. sued Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, and Google’s YouTube, claiming they led to anxiety and depression. &#8230; 
K.G.M., whose first name is Kaley, filed her lawsuit in 2023 against Meta, Snap, YouTube and TikTok. Kaley, who lives in Chico, Calif., said she had begun using social media at age 6 and claimed the sites caused personal injury, including body dysmorphia and thoughts of self harm. </blockquote>
Variety said that the verdict was rooted in an argument around cigarette addiction. Back in the 1990s, there were settlements with the big tobacco companies where it was found that the tobacco companies fraudulently marketed products they knew were addictive as non-addictive, and that drew millions of people into serious health risks like lung cancer.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2396-sub?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
That doesn&#8217;t seem like a crazy take. We were told originally that social media would be a gigantic benefit for all of us. It would open “new vistas.” We&#8217;d all experience “new worlds.” We&#8217;d have “so many friends.” (Yeah, they&#8217;d be Facebook friends, but they were still friends.) We&#8217;d never have to go outside again. We&#8217;d all live in the metaverse, etc.
All of that was untrue. All of these social media companies are clickbait machines. That is what they are designed to do, in Pavlovian style.
Stanford psychiatrist Anna Lembke, who wrote a book called “Dopamine Nation,” speaks about this. She writes:
<blockquote>We&#8217;re wired to connect. It&#8217;s kept us alive for millions of years in a world of scarcity and ever-present danger. Moving in tribes safeguards against predators optimizes scarce resources and facilitates pair bonding.
Our brains release dopamine when we make human connections, and that incentivizes us to do it again. Social connection has now become drugified by social media apps, making us vulnerable to compulsive overconsumption. These apps can cause the release of large amounts of dopamine into our brains’ reward pathway all at once, like heroin. meth or alcohol. They do that by amplifying the feel-good properties that attract humans to each other in the first place.</blockquote>
It&#8217;s not just the social connection. It&#8217;s also because when you scroll on X, it&#8217;s literally designed to provide a brief dopamine rush. That&#8217;s why there&#8217;s that little sound effect. It&#8217;s almost a literal Pavlovian response. A Pavlovian response was established when you rang a bell in front of a dog and fed it a piece of meat at the same time. Eventually, when you rang the bell, the dog would start to salivate even if the meat wasn&#8217;t there because the brain had now been trained: Bell means meat, so bell causes salivation.
Social media companies do that too. This is why when you scroll, there&#8217;s a little sound effect. You&#8217;re going to get a dopamine hit, even if nothing new appears, just because you hear that little sound effect. 
Social media companies are arguing that they&#8217;re not the ones who are actually causing the addiction to really serious stuff. They say, “Sure, our algorithms are designed to make you click, but it&#8217;s the videos themselves that are responsible for the harm, not the design of the product.” 
In other words, if you were watching lots of cooking videos on social media and it fed you an infinite loop of cooking videos and not skinny influencers, you&#8217;d be totally fine. You&#8217;re the one who decides whether you are clicking on skinny influencers or whether you&#8217;re clicking on cooking videos. And what&#8217;s more, it turns out, these social media companies aren&#8217;t the ones who are actually making the content. The social media companies say, &#8220;We&#8217;re a platform, like a phone line.&#8221;
Yes, they make money by featuring viral content, but the consumer picks which content to actually watch. The person posting the content is actually responsible for the content, unless it&#8217;s an AI or a bot these days.
Until now, social media companies have been avoiding legal culpability by citing Section 230. Section 230 says that if you&#8217;re a platform and your website has a comment section, you&#8217;re not responsible for what&#8217;s in the comments.
If you&#8217;re YouTube, you&#8217;re not responsible for the content of the videos that are on YouTube because you&#8217;re just providing the platform on which others can post.
Section 230 says that all of these platforms ought not be held liable for content produced by others.
But that&#8217;s not on point.
The actual argument here is that these social media sites are, by their very nature, addictive, and that almost no matter what the content is, the medium is damaging to kids.
This raises a broader question for parents. Are you responsible for your children and their social media use?
The answer here should be yes.
My kids aren&#8217;t on social media because they are banned from using social media. Kids who are addicted to TV also don&#8217;t have great lives, but we don&#8217;t actually hold TV companies responsible for that fact. Nobody&#8217;s suing Apple because your kid is watching Apple TV all day.
That&#8217;s a point made yesterday by Meta&#8217;s president, Dina Powell McCormick, who said, “You know, as a mom, this is really important to me and very personal. I see firsthand just how hard the company is trying to ensure that there&#8217;s not harmful content, to ensure that we are empowering parents to the best of our ability. And it&#8217;s something that I watch being focused on every single day. We respectfully disagree with that decision, and we&#8217;re appealing.”
She&#8217;s not totally wrong here. The fact is that as a parent of four kids, going on five, I&#8217;m all over what my kids are consuming. I decide what movies they watch. I decide what TV shows they watch. They&#8217;re not allowed on social media. They do not have interactive capability on social media, anything like that.
This issue is kind of a sticky wicket, as social media companies are responsible for part of the problem because of the dopamine response. And yes, parents are also responsible for the problem.
Here&#8217;s the actual solution: not gigantic lawsuits. The answer is governmental legislation banning social media for kids under 18. Period.
That is what we should be doing. It&#8217;s what a lot of countries are doing right now — and they are correct to do so.
Users should have to register as over 18. Companies that don&#8217;t do it should be held legally accountable.
If we&#8217;re going to actually carry this analogy all the way through, if we&#8217;re going to treat social media like tobacco or alcohol, then the answer historically wasn&#8217;t to sue tobacco companies for kids smoking, it was to ban kids from smoking. The same is true for alcohol.
The reason I&#8217;m a little bit averse to lawsuits like these is because I think it will be extended to adults. I think what&#8217;s going to happen is that this will be used as a broader argument, not just against social media, where I’m relatively indifferent, but to actual useful technologies like AI, because this is a big societal question: Should we blame technology for our own failures as adults?
Kids are a different story. The reason that this particular lawsuit is emotionally appealing is because it&#8217;s about a kid who got addicted. And kids do get addicted. And honestly, I blame the parents as the primary source.
I don&#8217;t let my kids get addicted to things. It&#8217;s my job to prevent that. I don&#8217;t give my kids candy bars even though they want candy bars every single day, all the time. And if I decide to feed that to them, and they get Type 2 diabetes. I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s on the candy company. I think it&#8217;s on me.
My biggest problem here is that we start blaming technologies for our failures as adults.
We have to look to ourselves to solve some of these problems.

Meta And Youtube Found Liable In Social Media Addiction Lawsuit

Did Social Media Destroy The Kids?

Big Tech

Facebook

Lawsuit

Opinion

Teenagers

YouTube

A Los Angeles County jury found that Meta and YouTube have contributed to growing mental health problems stemming from social media use.
The social media giants must now pay $3 million in damages over personal injury caused by its platforms. The verdict is expected to influence similar suits throughout the country filed against social media companies.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bellwether-social-media-addiction-trial-puts-instagram-youtube-and-tiktok-in-the-crosshairs">case</a> in the California Superior Court centered on a 19-year-old woman, referred to as K.G.M., who argued that social media platforms have knowingly designed their platforms to get children and young users addicted. The California jury found Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, 70% responsible for the harm to K.G.M. and YouTube 30% responsible, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/verdict-reached-landmark-social-media-addiction-trial-rcna263421">reported</a>.
The verdict comes after a New Mexico jury handed Meta a $375m bill in civil penalties after it found the company misled consumers about the safety of its platforms. Like the landmark case in Los Angeles, the New Mexico verdict is historic on its own as the first jury trial to find Meta liable for acts committed on its platform. Like the Los Angeles Court Verdict, Meta has said it will appeal the ruling.
“We respectfully disagree with the verdict and will appeal. We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content,” said a Meta spokesperson. “We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”
In a statement to The Daily Wire in January, YouTube said the allegations it faces in social media addiction suits “are simply not true.”
“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work,” said YouTube spokesman José Castañeda. “In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls. The allegations in these complaints are simply not true.”
K.G.M.&#8217;s social media addiction, which started when she was a minor, resulted in crippling depression, body dysmorphia, and suicidal thoughts, according to the lawsuit. The suit was also filed against Snapchat and TikTok, but those platforms settled with K.G.M. before the trial started. K.G.M.’s case is just the first of many that are expected to trial this year, targeting Snapchat, Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, which is owned by Google.
Social media platforms, including Meta and YouTube, have touted online safety features in recent years, such as Instagram&#8217;s &#8220;Teen Accounts&#8221; and YouTube &#8220;Kids,&#8221; which are meant to create safer and more controlled experiences for children. Yet even with these additional features, social media use for children remains a hotly debated issue.

Social Media Platforms –  Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, X, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, Threads

Verdict Reached In Landmark Social Media Addiction Trial

Instagram

A conservative social media personality known for his outspoken support of President Donald Trump has landed a new role in the administration.
Nick Adams, an Australian-American commentator who frequently describes himself online as Trump’s “favorite author,” announced Tuesday that he has been appointed as “special presidential envoy for American tourism, exceptionalism, and values.”
The role comes after Adams’ reported nomination to serve as U.S. ambassador to Malaysia fell apart in recent months. “President Trump has appointed Nick Adams to the position of Special Presidential Envoy for American Tourism, Exceptionalism, and Values,” Adams wrote on <a href="https://x.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/2036397725785178306">X</a>. “In this role, Mr. Adams will play a vital role in revitalizing America’s diplomatic position as a beacon of free speech, the freedom to worship, and a land of unlimited opportunity.”
Adams said he is “beyond honored” to serve, adding that he looks forward to acting as “America’s brand Ambassador” on the global stage.
“With America 250, the FIFA World Cup, and the Olympics coming up, the world needs to be reminded of all we have to offer,” he wrote. “I will be a tireless spokesman for American greatness, at home and abroad.”
In a video posted to social media, Adams expanded on that message, calling the appointment “the honor of a lifetime” and pledging to “reignite a love for America at home and relight the sacred beacon atop the shining city on a hill for the entire world to see.”
“The United States is a nation that, since its inception, was destined for greatness,” Adams said, adding that his role would be to ensure “the story of American greatness” is told around the world. He concluded, “Mr. President, I look forward to serving you in this vital role &#8230; I am now a deputy whose job it is to spread the message of American greatness and all it represents. Thank you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It will be my honor to serve this country as Special Presidential Envoy for American Tourism, Exceptionalism, and Values.
I am deeply grateful for President Trump’s continued friendship and confidence in me to serve in this critical role.
I will thrust forward into this role… <a href="https://t.co/OYVwZjTxwv">pic.twitter.com/OYVwZjTxwv</a>
— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/2036405164081553442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In a statement to The Daily Wire, Adams emphasized the administration’s focus on upcoming international events. “The President wants me to let the world know we are ready to welcome them to celebrate with us,” Adams said. “No one can put on a better show than this President. As the world knows, America does everything bigger and better.”
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said Adams is “an America First patriot who will represent our country well as we celebrate our Nation’s 250th anniversary of independence,” adding that the administration looks forward to working with him to “showcase and advance America’s excellence across the world stage.”
Adams rose to national prominence in conservative circles through his prolific social media presence, where he has built a following with a loudly pro-Trump persona and frequent commentary on American culture and politics.
His appointment to a newly-created envoy role highlights the administration’s continued focus on promoting American identity and influence abroad ahead of a series of major international events, including the country’s 250th anniversary, the FIFA World Cup, and the Olympic Games, where the United States is expected to take center stage.

Nick Adams

Trump Picks ‘Alpha Male’ Nick Adams To Be America’s New Brand Ambassador

Australia

Executive

Trump Administration

President Donald Trump took no time taking shots at Robert Mueller, who died at the age of 81, his family announced on Saturday.
“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away last night. His family asks that their privacy be respected,” the family said in a statement. Mueller had reportedly been suffering from Parkinson’s disease, though an official cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
But within minutes of the announcement, attention shifted from Mueller to President Trump’s reaction.
In a blunt post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
<iframe loading="lazy" class="truthsocial-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0;" src="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/116268334535345382/embed" width="600" height="200" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">﻿</iframe><script src="https://truthsocial.com/embed.js" async="async"></script>
The post immediately ignited outrage across media and political circles, with critics seizing on the tone and substance of the statement.
MSNBC commentator David Corn framed Mueller as a principled figure undermined by Trump-era politics, “Robert Mueller was an honorable public servant,” Corn said. “He just never understood what he was up against with the Russia investigation: Trump&#8217;s virulent, unprincipled, and unrelenting disinformation campaign. RIP.”
<blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:mtr3pwmbnirvyp3robuicd57/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhlkgxenuk2r" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreibl6p52k3muogxszfbzmigegut2ra3dq2grb2yf3hiyf2yjknvxxq" data-bluesky-embed-color-mode="system">
Robert Mueller was an honorable public servant. He just never understood what he was up against with the Russia investigation: Trump&#8217;s virulent, unprincipled, and unrelenting disinformation campaign. RIP
— David Corn (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:mtr3pwmbnirvyp3robuicd57?ref_src=embed">@davidcorn.bsky.social</a>) <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:mtr3pwmbnirvyp3robuicd57/post/3mhlkgxenuk2r?ref_src=embed">March 21, 2026 at 1:26 PM</a></blockquote>
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Former cable host Keith Olbermann responded even more aggressively. “Predictable really. Trump is the worst person in the history of the United States of America. Period,” Olbermann <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/olbermann.bsky.social/post/3mhll7rwpns2v">wrote</a>, before adding in a <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/olbermann.bsky.social/post/3mhllgqnm7c2v">follow-up post</a> that Trump’s reaction suggested “even Trump knows Mueller DID NOT clear him.”
“Trump is always classy,” <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/timobrien.bsky.social/post/3mhllsjlqic2p">said</a> Tim O&#8217;Brien, senior editor of opinion for Bloomberg, adding, “Mueller was right and I still have a bromance with Putin.”
Before rising through the ranks of federal law enforcement, Mueller served as a Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War, where he was awarded both a Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart after being wounded in combat.
He later built a reputation as a steady institutional figure, ultimately being tapped by George W. Bush to lead the FBI just days before the September 11 attacks. Over a 12-year tenure, Mueller reshaped the bureau’s priorities toward counterterrorism and intelligence gathering in the wake of 9/11, serving under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Mueller returned to public life as special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election—an inquiry that would define his public legacy and fuel years of political division.
His 448-page report, released in April 2019, detailed numerous contacts between individuals tied to the Trump campaign and Russian actors, but did not allege a criminal conspiracy.
At the same time, the report outlined episodes in which Trump sought to influence or curtail the investigation, including efforts to assert control over it. Mueller ultimately declined to make a prosecutorial judgment on obstruction of justice, citing longstanding Department of Justice guidance against indicting a sitting president. Trump has maintained that the investigation fully exonerated him, a claim that remained a point of contention long after the report’s release.
Mueller’s death, and the immediate reaction to it, underscored the extent to which his legacy remains deeply polarizing. For many Trump allies, he remains tied to an investigation they view as politically motivated and unfairly damaging. Trump’s response ensured that, even in death, Mueller’s name remains at the center of one of the most contentious chapters in modern American politics.

US-politics-investigation-Russia

Trump Reacts To Death Of Robert Mueller, Sparks Media Firestorm

Donald Trump

Robert Mueller

We&#8217;re living in the middle of a gigantic online op.
It is an op designed to suck young men dry and leave them broken and stupid. It makes their lives actively worse. That op is called the manosphere, and it&#8217;s time to wake up to their matrix of evil.
Men without proper guideposts and durable moral institutions are being ushered into a world of stupidity and immorality by grifters and liars who traffic in lies, spiritual emptiness, and outright grift, who tell them they can be rich, famous, and have hot women hanging on their every word, lavishing their attention on you, demanding nothing from you in return.
All you have to do to get all of this is give the manosphere your money, your brain, and your soul.
All these folks are running the same scheme. Here&#8217;s how it works.
First, they tell young men that they are failing at life. Second, they tell the young men the reason they are failing at life is not because of anything they&#8217;re doing, per se, but because of the matrix, a system of power that&#8217;s out to get them. That system is what is depriving them of women, of money, of social mobility.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2391-sub?elementPosition=4&amp;row=6&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Third, these men act transgressively and provocatively. They violate all social stigmas and then magically seem to achieve all of the things the matrix has placed off limits to young men. Fourth, they inform these young men that they, too, can have all of these wonderful things: the hot women and the nice cars and the big houses — if only they join a fake university or some B.S. stock trading app, or donate money to the Kick stream.
Finally, they tell young men that anyone who says differently is part of the matrix.
If any of this sounds familiar, that&#8217;s because it&#8217;s basically cult recruitment tactics, just made viral online. Cults typically target people who are suffering from a life crisis. They target the vulnerable, and then they love bomb those people, saying, “You&#8217;re with us. We understand you.”
They offer the most obvious critiques of the world: the unfairness of life, the impossibility of overcoming challenges. And then they say, “You know, the way out of that is the cult.”
Cults encourage recruits to cut out all contrary information, and cults tell these people that people who oppose the cults are actually members of some nefarious outside force. They contend that if you join the cult, you are saved or enlightened or awake, and everyone else is a suppressive evildoer.
This stuff is seductive — and dangerous, because it also tells young men things that are not true, such as “women are disgusting and perverse,” but also simultaneously that women are “shamelessly available and completely pliant” if you just crack the code.
It says you can achieve wealth and fame, not over time by building a business, but instantaneously, this moment, simply by seeing through the matrix and eschewing the 9-to-5 hard job in favor of a get-rich-quick scam.
And, if you fail, it&#8217;s because of the matrix. You just need to give them more money.
That matrix, by the way, is just code for the Jews. Tapping into the antisemitism allows them to seem both transgressive and also illuminating. Which is why we have tons of clips of these “manosphere” influencers singing Ye&#8217;s “Heil Hitler” just a couple of months ago.
None of this is new.
You want to know what women want? I speak as a man who&#8217;s been married for nearly 20 years and has four children with a fifth on the way.
Women want men who actually love and protect and cherish and defend them.
It&#8217;s not all that difficult, by the way. That is the definition of manhood. The definition of true manhood is to love, protect, cherish, defend, and provide for your wife and for your family.
That definition of what a man should be is also a great definition of how to be a happy human being.
You know what women don&#8217;t want?
Scumbags who tell them to clean up their rooms while maintaining a harem.
That&#8217;s intellectual pornography for morons.

Two men are shaking hands at the outdoor gym, brotherhood and respect concept

Intellectual Pornography For Morons

Ben Shapiro

Cult

Documentaries

male

Marriage

Netflix

TikTok

This week, Meta announced it was shutting down Horizon Worlds, the company&#8217;s virtual reality social network, on June 15. Going forward, the platform will only be available as a mobile app and will no longer support VR headsets.
&#8220;We are separating the two platforms so each can grow with greater focus, and the Horizon Worlds platform will become a mobile-only experience,&#8221; the company said in the announcement.
Skepticism greeted Mark Zuckerberg&#8217;s vision from the start. When he declared in 2021 that Facebook would transform into the Metaverse — an online world where avatars would live, work, and play — even enthusiastic early adopters had doubts.
Zuckerberg formally announced the concept that year and renamed his company Meta to match, calling it &#8220;the next frontier&#8221; of tech.
&#8220;Our hope is that within the next decade, the metaverse will reach a billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers,&#8221; Zuckerberg <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/10/founders-letter/">said</a> in 2021.
Critics, meanwhile, called it unsettling and strange. Now, with the platform hemorrhaging billions and parts of it shutting down, those critics appear to have been right.
Horizon Worlds was once positioned as the centerpiece of Meta&#8217;s VR ambitions. The retreat comes just weeks after the company laid off more than 1,000 employees from Reality Labs, the division responsible for developing its metaverse products.
After news of the shutdown spread, Meta appeared to walk back its announcement, clarifying that it would continue to support some existing VR apps within Horizon Worlds, but would not be adding any new ones.
A February <a href="https://developers.meta.com/horizon/blog/2026-vr-state-of-the-union-horizon-mobile-focus/">blog post</a> insisted that the company &#8220;remains the biggest investor in the VR industry&#8221; and had &#8220;a robust roadmap of future VR headsets in the works.&#8221;
According to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/18/meta-horizon-worlds-metaverse-vr.html">CNBC</a>, Reality Labs has reported billions in losses each quarter since its launch, with the most recent figure — $6.02 billion — reported for Q4 in January.
The outlet also noted that Meta has shifted its focus from VR worlds to artificial intelligence. According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/technology/mark-zuckerbergs-metaverse-vr-horizon-worlds.html">The New York Times</a>, Zuckerberg mentioned AI 23 times at a recent developer conference, and brought up the metaverse only twice.

Metaverse

If You Were Excited About Facebook’s Big Tech Upgrade — There’s A New Reality

Economy

Mark Zuckerberg

Virtual Reality

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