This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" 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.
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You’ve seen George Washington bravely crossing the Delaware, posing for a portrait as he stretches out his arm to welcome the future, and staring solemnly on the $1 bill. But one common — and contested — motif finds him doing something totally different: kneeling on the ground in prayer.
Arnold Friberg painted one such <a href="https://www.museumofthebible.org/prayer-valley-forge-fiftieth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">image</a>, “The Prayer at Valley Forge,” for America’s bicentennial celebration in 1976. Now at America’s 250th, it’s making critics furious.
“A scene inspired by the winter at Valley Forge has become more prominent in the Trump era, along with claims that the United States was founded as a Christian nation,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/arts/design/george-washington-praying-trump-right-wing.html?searchResultPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> the New York Times last month.
Thanks to President Donald Trump, a culture writer for the paper suggests, “the image of Washington at prayer, some scholars say, has gone from being a patriotic commonplace to a politically charged statement.”
“Conservative Christians love this painting of George Washington,” NPR <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/05/27/nx-s1-5747094/church-and-state-george-washington" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sneered</a> less than two weeks later. “The event it depicts may not have happened.”
There is no shortage of iconic paintings that depict historical moments merely imagined by the artist, though the idea that Washington might visibly pray for his army at a low point in the revolution is not so ridiculous.
Historian Thomas A. Tweed is <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2025/07/01/did-washington-kneel-in-prayer-at-valley-forge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubtful</a>, though he concedes that this particular mythos does match the man Washington was.
“Parson Weems, Washington’s early biographer, concocted that story — as well as the yarn about George and the cherry tree — to establish the moral character and personal piety of the first president and, thereby, advance a particular view of national belonging and church-state relations,” Tweed wrote. “There is some truth in the claim, and in the images. Washington did pray, though perhaps not the way Weems described, and he did attend church services, though not on Communion Sunday. Washington was not a conventional Christian, but he also wasn’t a church-hating atheist.”
Notably, NPR’s report repeated the first half of that quote, but not the second.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” —George Washington, 1789 <a href="https://t.co/i4i9HLJvfk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/i4i9HLJvfk</a>
— U.S. Department of Labor (@USDOL) <a href="https://x.com/USDOL/status/2005005413805162993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">December 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js"></script>
Casting doubt on the validity of the image of Washington in prayer has become something of an elite pastime. In this context, a new play at the Museum of the Bible becomes even more powerful.
Running through Friday, the one-man play “A General’s Prayer” finds George Washington alone at camp in Valley Forge, poring over a package of letters and keepsakes from his wife, Martha, and debating how to implore Congress for more funds for his sick and half-clothed troops. Played by James Denton of “Desperate Housewives” fame, Washington is verbally processing his legacy in this war, his responsibility to his troops, and his relationship to the divine — all while speaking directly to the audience, whom he calls “my anonymous confessors.”
The 70-minute play is punctuated by Washington’s self-deprecating humor; “I do wonder if history might mostly paint me as a man who stands upright in boats,” he muses. This Washington is not the legend of history books. He’s vulnerable, approachable, a man who stands amid a snowy encampment mourning his comrades and recalling his near-death experience in battle as he asks, “For what had I been saved?”
The name of the play may set off Christian nationalism alarm bells for those who always hope to hear them, but the play’s primary focus is not so much the general’s faith as it is his struggle to wrangle his passions, guide his troops, and be seen as a man who, though he didn’t feel so himself, was stoic in the face of tragedy.
<div id="attachment_1117863" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1117863" class="size-medium wp-image-1117863" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/James-Denton_A-Generals-Prayer-1-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/James-Denton_A-Generals-Prayer-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/James-Denton_A-Generals-Prayer-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/James-Denton_A-Generals-Prayer-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/James-Denton_A-Generals-Prayer-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/James-Denton_A-Generals-Prayer-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/James-Denton_A-Generals-Prayer-1-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/James-Denton_A-Generals-Prayer-1-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Museum of the Bible</div>
Near the end of the play, Washington pauses stage right for a silent prayer, posing as he appears in the much-maligned paintings. When he returns, he says a prayer for the nation and appeals to the audience to remember and protect our founding ideals.
In a discussion at the end of opening night, playwright Dean Batali told the audience that the owners of Friberg’s painting, First Freedom Art Company, commissioned him to create a play about it.
“I just didn&#8217;t want to do, necessarily, a flag-waving, simple play,” he said. “And I certainly didn&#8217;t want to do a whole play about a guy just praying. So I tried to make it about the struggle that maybe is relatable to all of us, and what it takes to bring us to our knees.”
His goal, he added, was “also to talk about the country in a way that wasn&#8217;t just making us proud of ourselves just for the sake of being proud,” but suggesting that “maybe we have something to live up to.”
This used to be the kind of thing we could all support. The image of George Washington kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge may not be literally accurate, but the legend is true in spirit, an interpretation legacy media outlets would also like to debunk if they could. The idea that our Founding Fathers looked to a higher power for guidance, and that we would serve our country well by doing the same today, may not seem like a radical one. But to today&#8217;s critics, “A General’s Prayer” may be more transgressive than anything running on Broadway.

GettyImages-563942839

Why Critics Can’t Stand The Idea Of George Washington Praying

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History

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Upstream

A planned production of “Dreamgirls” will have to be canceled after the owners pulled the rights because too many white actors were cast in the show.
According to <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/culture/theatre-dance/article/urlschool-dreamgirls-show-banned-tfnfvqldv">The Times of London</a>, Gillian Banks Theatre School in Yorkshire was granted permission to stage &#8220;Dreamgirls&#8221; by the agency that manages the show&#8217;s rights. But that permission was revoked after it was discovered that only one black actor would be participating.
The musical was written by Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger in 1981 and opened that same year at the Imperial Theater on Broadway. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and won six. It became even more popular following the release of the 2006 film adaptation starring Beyoncé. 
The storyline follows a fictional group of black female singers, the Dreamettes, on their path to superstardom beginning in the 1960s.
The theater school responded to the controversy, defending their casting by saying they were open to a “diverse” cast but did not have enough black actors audition.
“We are just a little dance school in one of the most deprived areas of Rotherham trying to give experiences to our students on a very small scale,” it said, per The Times.
The school reportedly only has around 200 students and said there was “never any intention to ‘whitewash’ this production.” Gillian Banks Theatre School had already started selling tickets when the permission to perform was revoked.
Concord wrote in a letter to the school, “Dreamgirls is a show about a time in black American music history when rhythm and blues blended with other styles of popular music, creating a new American sound.”
“It tells the story of the Dreamettes and celebrates their rise to fame, echoing similar trajectories of iconic black girl and boy groups of the time like the Supremes, the Marvelettes, the Temptations and the Shirelles. Your production should be appropriately cast to represent and reflect these artists and their history.”
This update comes as the topic of race-swapping traditionally white characters continues to make headlines. The upcoming Christopher Nolan epic, “The Odyssey,” has drawn criticism for the casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, among other stylistic choices. 
It was also just announced that actress Quinta Brunson will star as Betty Boop in an upcoming film adaptation. Disney’s big flop “Snow White” included Colombian actress Rachel Zegler in the titular role despite her not physically resembling the character’s description in literature.

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Agency Yanks ‘Dreamgirls’ Over School’s Mostly White Cast

School Casts Too Many White Kids In 'Dreamgirls,' Agency Yanks Rights To The Show

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A man accused of murder is now the subject of a musical and the crowds can’t wait.
“Luigi: The Musical,” will debut in New York City this June, just blocks from the scene of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder. The show, first staged in San Francisco, transforms suspected assassin Luigi Mangione into a comic antihero. The New York premiere has sold out. Late-night audiences have cheered at the mention of his name.
Not long ago, political violence — even fictionalized — sparked bipartisan outrage. Today, it sells tickets. And the speed of that shift says more about us than it does about one off-Broadway production.
<div id="attachment_1055155" style="width: 471px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1055155" class="size-large wp-image-1055155" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Luigi-NYC-461x576.jpg" alt="Source: thegreenroom42/Instagram" width="461" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Luigi-NYC-461x576.jpg 461w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Luigi-NYC-240x300.jpg 240w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Luigi-NYC-768x960.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Luigi-NYC.jpg 1080w" sizes=" (max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" />Source: thegreenroom42/Instagram</div>
Pop culture has a way of giving us an eerie snapshot into America’s moral decline.
We could point to Bad Bunny’s over-sexualized Super Bowl halftime show, new media attempts to trans the kids, or Brittany’s new DUI. But also consider the outrage over the 2006 film “Death of a President,” the faux documentary featuring President George W. Bush’s assassination. The film released just as far-Left protesters labeled the president “Hitler” over his War on Terror tactics. The project even drew bipartisan fury from former First Lady Hillary Clinton, who dubbed the film “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061023003633/http:/www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20060916%2FUPDATE%2F609160394">despicable</a>.”
More than a decade later, the culture recoiled over an image of comedian Kathy Griffin holding the bloody head of President Donald Trump. Griffin’s comedy career collapsed overnight, and only in recent years has she returned to the quasi-mainstream. Griffin apologized, but quickly reversed course. Today, no such apology would be required.
Those moments, however, seem almost quaint compared to “Luigi: The Musical.”
The comedy enjoyed brisk sales during its short San Francisco debut last year. The show features Mangione sharing a jail cell with Sean “Diddy” Combs and crypto crook Sam Bankman-Fried.
<div id="attachment_1055173" style="width: 816px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1055173" class="size-large wp-image-1055173" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Luigi-stage-806x576.jpg" alt="Source: Playbillhttps://playbill.com/article/luigi-mangioni-musical-to-get-nyc-reading" width="806" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Luigi-stage-806x576.jpg 806w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Luigi-stage-300x214.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Luigi-stage-768x549.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Luigi-stage.jpg 970w" sizes=" (max-width: 806px) 100vw, 806px" />Source: Playbill</div>
The production will hit New York City’s Green Room 42 on June 15, 2026. That’s a short subway ride from the scene of Thompson’s cold-blooded murder.
Media reports have depicted “Luigi” in conflicting fashion. Some suggest the show doesn’t glamorize the alleged murderer. Others hint at the opposite, while crowds have been cheering his presence at various shows, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/03/02/us-news/luigi-mangione-musical-set-to-premiere-on-nyc-stage/">according to The New York Post.</a>
Is it merely dark humor rushing to the surface? Or something more sinister squeezing into our conversations?
The minds behind the musical insist <a href="https://playbill.com/article/luigi-mangioni-musical-to-get-nyc-reading">they’re not advocating violence</a>.
&#8220;Luigi: the Musical uses comedy to bring deeper questions to the surface. Why did this case garner the reaction that it did? And what happens when people stop trusting their institutions?&#8221; Luigi director Nova Bradford said in a statement.
Yet even this kind of cringe theater shouldn’t come as a shock. Nor should the fact that the show <a href="https://www.nysun.com/article/luigi-mangione-musical-sells-out-its-new-york-performance-and-adds-extra-dates">swiftly sold out</a> and added additional dates for its Big Apple debut.
Shortly after the murder, the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” shared how some of his young female staffers had developed a crush on the alleged murderer and his washboard abs. Kimmel flashed screenshots of his <a href="https://www.tvinsider.com/1166115/jimmy-kimmel-luigi-mangione-hot-kiiller-monologue-video/">employees fan-girling over the suspect,</a> 
<blockquote>“People are saying a NY jury has the power to find him innocent, bc we all love him,”
“I’m not mad at him.”</blockquote>
Kimmel and the audience chortled over the revelations, although the host wisely blocked the names of the staffers in question. It still speaks volumes about the show and its fan base.
<div id="attachment_978781" style="width: 858px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-978781" class="size-large wp-image-978781" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Jimmy-Kimmel-4-848x576.jpg" alt="Jimmy Kimmel" width="848" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Jimmy-Kimmel-4-848x576.jpg 848w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Jimmy-Kimmel-4-300x204.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Jimmy-Kimmel-4-768x522.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Jimmy-Kimmel-4.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 848px) 100vw, 848px" />Randy Holmes via Getty Images</div>
This wasn’t a “Gutfeld!” audience.
And it wasn’t the only comedy showcase lining up on Mangione’s side. “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart informed his far-Left audience that the alleged killer had been collared by the cops.
The response? The “boos” <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/the-daily-show-unitedhealthcare-shooter-boos-jon-stewart/">rained down</a> on a clearly baffled Stewart. “Look, I’m sorry, guys,” Stewart stammered.
A similarly strange moment came courtesy of “Saturday Night Live.” The NBC show’s ‘Weekend Update’ segment found co-faux anchor Colin Jost dropping Mangione’s name. The comic had to pause the bit to be heard. His audience began clapping and shouting with excitement.
Jost, as stunned as Stewart, blurted out, “Yeah, definitely ‘woo … You’re ‘wooing’ for justice, right?&#8221;
Not even close. And it’s not an accident, either.
<div id="attachment_1055183" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1055183" class="size-large wp-image-1055183" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2219109716-864x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 07: Jon Stewart attends Comedy Central's &quot;The Daily Show&quot; FYC Event at Linwood Dunn Theater on June 07, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Comedy Central)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2219109716-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2219109716-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2219109716-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2219109716.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Comedy Central</div>
Late-night comedians have leaned into anger and violence for some time now, fueling our culture’s decay. Hosts like Seth Meyers and John Oliver <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/john-oliver-media-portland-violence/">downplayed</a> the violence raging in Portland, Oregon, during the George Floyd riots of 2020. Stephen Colbert uttered a sexually coarse <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaHwlSTqA7s">gag aimed</a> at President Donald Trump during the Russian collusion hoax, but he never suffered for the outburst.
More recently, late-night comics chuckled over progressive activists attacking Tesla dealerships to protest owner Elon Musk’s White House maneuvers vis-à-vis DOGE.
Kimmel sarcastically told his crowd to stop the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/03/19/opinion/democrats-silence-is-damning-as-leftist-violence-explodes/">Tesla-based</a> attacks.
<div id="attachment_1055185" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1055185" class="size-large wp-image-1055185" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/The-Luigi-actor-384x576.jpg" alt="Source: https://luigithemusical.info" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/The-Luigi-actor-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/The-Luigi-actor-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/The-Luigi-actor-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/The-Luigi-actor-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/The-Luigi-actor.jpg 1280w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Source: https://luigithemusical.info</div>
Comedy remains subjective. Even the darkest subjects can make us howl or defang hate or bigotry. Just ask Mel “Springtime for Hitler” Brooks.
Consider “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7eoZt-bUSI&amp;t=152s">Too Soon: Comedy After 9/11</a>,” a sobering documentary about stand-ups who told jokes tied to the terrorist attack mere days after it happened. Comedy can help us process pain and adjust to startling new realities, or it can showcase just how far we’ve fallen as a society.
Context is everything. And it helps to remember an old saw: “Comedy is tragedy plus time.”
Mangione has yet to face a jury of his peers.
Watching patrons gleefully cheer on an alleged murderer is something radically different and frightening. The New York City debut of “Luigi: The Musical” will <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/luigi-mangione-musical-new-york-city-summer/">capture the zeitgeist, no doubt</a>.
Mangione’s real-life New York state trial is slated to begin on June 8, 2026, while his federal trial will have to wait until September.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Luigi II

Brace Yourselves: ‘Luigi: The Musical’

Brace Yourselves: 'Luigi: The Musical'

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Murder

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Breaking into the arts is difficult under any circumstances. Doing so as an openly conservative theater producer? Well, that’s nearly impossible. Robert Cooperman knows this better than anyone because he appears to be the only one who actually did.
Do a quick search of “conservative theater companies” and you’ll find just one response: <a href="http://stagert.org">Stage Right Theatrics</a> in Columbus, Ohio. Cooperman founded the company in 2016 with the mission of presenting plays that reflect a conservative point of view. For the past decade, that decision has come with predictable consequences.
Stage Right has been boycotted, mocked, marginalized, and largely ignored by the local theater establishment and media. Cooperman himself has been branded a “clown,” a “fascist,” a “racist,” a “homophobe,” and every other label that conservatives are usually called.
“Right from the start, I was considered unserious or dangerous by the theater community, said Cooperman. “One member said I was dismissive of theater being a safe space for marginalized people.”
But despite the valiant effort to trample it into the dust, Stage Right has survived, and even thrived, in a world where liberals believe they “own” the arts and entertainment.
<div id="attachment_1040369" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1040369" class="size-large wp-image-1040369" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/theater-864x576.jpg" alt="Stage Right Theatrics-The Uncanny.jpg: These are the lead characters, Sophia and Richard, in our 2022 production of Andrew Klavan's superb play, &quot;The Uncanny.&quot;" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/theater-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/theater-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/theater-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/theater-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/theater-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/theater-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/theater.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Stage Right Theatrics. &#8220;The Uncanny&#8221; by Andrew Klavan.</div>
In January 2017, the company staged its first Conservative Theatre Festival, a modest one-night event featuring six short plays by conservative writers from across the country. The name was intentional and unapologetic. Stage Right was announcing itself to an industry that prides itself on “diversity” while blatantly discriminating against conservatives at every turn.
To the surprise of no one, progressives responded with derision and outrage, while conservatives showed genuine curiosity. Stage Right offered something rarely seen before. Instead of presenting conservatives as caricatures, they were painted as multi-faceted, inherently interesting individuals. The work was pro-tradition, pro-culture, and anti-woke.
What followed over the next decade was more of the same. The Left’s treatment of Stage Right mirrors its approach to every conservative institution. They kept up with the intimidation, ridicule, shunning, and a smug moral superiority. Despite their best efforts, Stage Right kept right on existing and promoting values that used to be mainstream.
<div id="attachment_1040377" style="width: 877px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1040377" class="size-large wp-image-1040377" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/stage-right-shop-867x576.jpg" alt="Donut Shop Dates.jpg: From my 2019 annual festival. That's me and my wife, Sandra, in the lead roles. The play, &quot;Donut Shop Dates,&quot; is by Jeff Strausser." width="867" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/stage-right-shop-867x576.jpg 867w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/stage-right-shop-300x199.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/stage-right-shop-768x510.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/stage-right-shop-1536x1020.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/stage-right-shop.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 867px) 100vw, 867px" />2019 annual theater festival. Robert and Sandra Cooperman in &#8220;Donut Shop Dates&#8221; by Jeff Strausser.</div>
After the 2024 election, Cooperman briefly held out hope that the cultural temperature might shift. It wasn’t just that Trump was elected president, but more that voters indicated their exhaustion with endless woke virtue signaling and the dismantling of Western traditions. Instead, the leftists came out kicking and screaming.
“I really thought, naively it turns out, that the Left would see very clearly the moral and philosophical direction the country embraced in the 2024 election, said Cooperman. “I thought they would realize that they have been losing audiences — and now voters — and that the election results might humble them a little bit to reach out to half the population they have been disparaging for years. I was wrong. They doubled down.”
One incident clearly illustrates the hostility.
Following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Cooperman dedicated three performances of Eugene O’Neill’s “Desire Under the Elms” to Kirk’s commitment to free speech. He framed the dedication as a celebration of the free exchange of ideas and invited post-show discussion.
<div id="attachment_1040383" style="width: 809px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1040383" class="size-large wp-image-1040383" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/eugene-ONeill-799x576.jpg" alt="Desire.jpg: From my 2025 production of Eugene O'Neill's &quot;Desire Under the Elms.&quot;" width="799" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/eugene-ONeill-799x576.jpg 799w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/eugene-ONeill-300x216.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/eugene-ONeill-768x554.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/eugene-ONeill-1536x1108.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/eugene-ONeill.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 799px) 100vw, 799px" />Stage Right Theatrics. Eugene O&#8217;Neill&#8217;s &#8220;Desire Under the Elms.&#8221;</div>
The response was ugly. Audience members shouted that the dedication was “inappropriate.” Someone scrawled “Bigot” on a box of playbills. A lead actor threatened to quit. Two patrons demanded refunds. Word spread quickly through the local theater community, further isolating Stage Right.
This cultural enforcement extends far beyond Columbus. When President Trump restructured the Kennedy Center’s board with the stated aim of broadening ideological inclusion and halting overtly woke productions from being staged, several prominent artists canceled their performances, claiming the institution had become “political.”
The irony was glaring. For decades, the Left has insisted that art is apolitical while simultaneously saying anything conservative is propaganda. Institutions like <a href="http://stagert.org">Stage Right</a> and the Trump-era Kennedy Center expose that lie.
While the hostility from the Left was expected, Cooperman now faces a new challenge as conservatives fracture over key political issues.
Cooperman says his pro-Israel stance has led some conservative and libertarian figures to distance themselves from the organization. A prominent podcaster declined an interview for that reason. A local classical academy backed away from a potential partnership. Cooperman now finds himself defending his principles on two fronts, both from friends and foes.
In 2026, Stage Right celebrated its tenth annual Conservative Theatre Festival. He hopes to encourage conservatives not only to criticize the state of the arts, but to engage in them.
There are conservative artists across the country who remain silent, fearing professional or personal fallout. Cooperman understands the fear, but insists that meaningful change requires courage. There will be consequences, but he insists that standing for something true and good is worth the cost.
The theater company&#8217;s motto says it plainly: “Disagreement Does Not Equal Hate.” 
Cooperman also hopes that one day there will be dozens of companies like his across the country.
&#8220;I&#8217;d love to see theatre companies that present counter programming to what is currently being offered by &#8220;mainstream&#8221; theatre,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m not talking about the &#8220;tied and true&#8221; classics that conservatives will generally attend, but experimental pieces and musicals that present a conservative worldview with hope and redemption built into their structure.&#8221;
After ten years, he has learned that no amount of wokeness, past or present, is going to bring him down.

theater

How One Conservative Built A Theater Company The Left Tried To Silence

Acting

Conservatives

Leftists

Liberals

Ohio

Want to break Grok, ChatGPT or your preferred A.I. bot? Ask it how many versions of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” have been produced since the tale’s 1843 debut.
Over the decades, the irascible Ebenezer Scrooge has been portrayed by everyone from George C. Scott to Mr. Magoo. That doesn’t include endless literary updates (Faith Moore’s “Christmas Karol” being a recent highlight), high school productions and other takes on the classic yarn.
<div id="attachment_1019405" style="width: 452px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1019405" class="size-large wp-image-1019405" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-52974182-442x576.jpg" alt="English actor Edward Woodward (left) as Christmas Present and American actor George C. Scott (1927 - 1999) as Ebenezer Scrooge in a television adaptation of the 1843 Charles Dickens short story 'A Christmas Carol,' 1984. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)" width="442" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-52974182-442x576.jpg 442w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-52974182-230x300.jpg 230w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-52974182-768x1002.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-52974182.jpg 785w" sizes=" (max-width: 442px) 100vw, 442px" />CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images</div>
And the remakes just keep coming. 
Indie filmmaker Ti West (“The Innkeepers,” “Pearl”) is working on a new version dubbed “<a href="https://deadline.com/2025/12/rupert-grint-daisy-ridley-ebenezer-johnny-depp-1236648800/">Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol</a>” to star Johnny Depp alongside Daisy Ridley, Ian McKellen, Sam Claflin, and Rupert Grint of “Harry Potter” fame.
“Nosferatu” director Robert Eggers has his own “Carol” plans to include Willem Dafoe in a role Scrooge McDuck made even more famous. That could be the creepiest “Carol” to date, given Eggers’ film resume.
But why? Sure, it’s easy to say Hollywood hearts beloved IPs for brand recognition alone. Plus, consumers will gobble up just about any Yuletide-themed flick. Netflix this season alone gave us fresh features like “Jingle Bell Heist,” “My Secret Santa,” and “A Merry Little Ex-Mas.”
The Hallmark Channel alone is a St. Nick movie factory come December, though none present an existential threat to holiday classics like “Elf” and “Home Alone.”
Those are partial explanations. The other reasons are more complicated and embedded in our cultural DNA.
Humans love redemption stories, period. It doesn’t matter what race or creed one may be, nor how a person voted in a given election. We flock to stories where a flawed soul finds something meaningful at long last.
<div id="attachment_1019469" style="width: 839px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1019469" class="size-large wp-image-1019469" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/PS-Christmas-Carol-829x576.jpg" alt="Credit: TNT/Hallmark" width="829" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/PS-Christmas-Carol-829x576.jpg 829w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/PS-Christmas-Carol-300x208.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/PS-Christmas-Carol-768x534.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/PS-Christmas-Carol-1536x1067.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/PS-Christmas-Carol.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 829px) 100vw, 829px" />Credit: TNT/Hallmark</div>
“A Christmas Carol” offers redemption on steroids. Imagine Tony Soprano joining the Witness Protection program and starting a nonprofit for vulnerable mothers. Ebenezer’s makeover is that extreme.
That kind of arc always draws a crowd. Sometimes, said crowd can be massive. A certain pilot defied age, conventional wisdom, and his own ego to make “Top Gun: Maverick” the 2022 movie that Steven Spielberg claimed “saved Hollywood.” It’s just one of endless examples, but few characters are given the kind of emotional comeback Scrooge enjoys in the Dickens’ yarn.
Americans in particular crave tales of second chances and attempts to wipe a personal slate clean. “A Christmas Carol” excels on both fronts, letting Scrooge amend his selfish ways before he becomes a diaphanous ghost himself.
That also explains why we keep getting fresh takes on “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” The “Carol” overlaps are obvious, down to the green ghoul’s heart expanding three times in the final passages.
Dickens never shared that kind of a literary X-ray with readers, but it’s hard to doubt Scrooge’s ticker didn’t undergo a change of sorts by story’s end.
Ebenezer Scrooge offers one of the meatiest roles possible for an actor. It explains why so many legends have given life to the curmudgeon, including Patrick Stewart, Derek Jacobi, Michael Caine, Sir Ralph Richardson, and Albert Finney.
<div id="attachment_1019421" style="width: 567px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1019421" class="size-large wp-image-1019421" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-99046661-557x576.jpg" alt="Albert Finney, actor, pictured as Ebenezer Scrooge in the film musical 'Scrooge', adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens, 16 January 1970. (Photo by Keystone Colour/Getty Images)" width="557" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-99046661-557x576.jpg 557w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-99046661-290x300.jpg 290w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-99046661-768x794.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-99046661.jpg 990w" sizes=" (max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px" />Keystone Colour/Getty Images</div>
It’s the ultimate acting challenge, asking stars to embody a wicked character careening from rage and regret to rebirth.
The original tale may be set in the mid-1800s, but the story’s timeless approach remains storytelling catnip. Class envy. Greed. Family ties. Lost loves. It’s hard to name an essential emotion left out of the narrative.
And, of course, the story’s spiritual implications can’t be overlooked. Even a sinful soul like Ebenezer can confess his transgressions with the hope he’ll be embraced by his Creator. His nightmarish journey finds ghostly visions exposing the error of his ways, an afterlife close-up meant to trigger his weak, but still worthy spirit.
<div id="attachment_1019477" style="width: 768px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1019477" class="size-large wp-image-1019477" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Christmas-Carol-musical-758x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Hallmark Entertainment/Mid Atlantic Films" width="758" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Christmas-Carol-musical-758x576.jpg 758w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Christmas-Carol-musical-300x228.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Christmas-Carol-musical-768x584.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Christmas-Carol-musical.jpg 997w" sizes=" (max-width: 758px) 100vw, 758px" />Credit: Hallmark Entertainment/Mid Atlantic Films</div>
His spiritual reboot won’t come easily, even with those ghostly visions taunting him at every step. Does it ever? But when he wakes up on Christmas morning, his heart is alight with good cheer. Even better? He can’t wait to share it, along with his wealth, with others.
Dickens considered himself a Christian, though he had <a href="https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/faith-behind-the-famous-charles-dickens">complicated views on religious dogma</a>. Scrooge’s generosity in the final act reflects his creator’s vision of Christian charity.
The story offers marvelous flexibility, inviting endless spins still tethered to its main themes. We’ve seen more than a few musical variations on “A Christmas Carol” from the aforementioned Mr. Magoo “Carol” to “Spirited,” the Apple TV+ original where Will Ferrell embodies a very 21st-century Scrooge.
<div id="attachment_1019409" style="width: 815px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1019409" class="size-large wp-image-1019409" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1439874905-805x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 07: Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell attend Apple Original Film's &quot;Spirited&quot; New York Premiere at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on November 07, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images,)" width="805" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1439874905-805x576.jpg 805w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1439874905-300x215.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1439874905-768x550.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-1439874905.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 805px) 100vw, 805px" />Cindy Ord/Getty Images</div>
It can even be viewed as a horror yarn with very little effort. Ghosts and morbid visions of the afterlife flash before Scrooge’s eyes, visuals that could easily transform into genre chills.
That may have attracted both West and Eggers, auteurs who relish ways to make audiences squirm. Just the tinkle-tinkle sound of a ghost’s chains bumping along a wooden floor alone is enough to rally goosebumps.
We even endured pre-woke gender swaps on the saga, including 1995’s “Ebbie” (with Susan Lucci) and 1997’s “Ms. Scrooge” with Cicely Tyson. And the less said about the rom-com spin on “Carol,” the forgettable 2009 film “The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” with Matthew McConaughey, the better.
Chances are the West and Eggers projects won’t be the last Hollywood takes on “A Christmas Carol.” As long as we crave hope in a sometimes dark and dreary world, we’ll hunger to revisit Dickens’ yarn anew.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=christmas&amp;utm_content=christmassale25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>

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Why We Can’t Quit Ebenezer Scrooge

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Several clips of actress Cynthia Erivo performing as Jesus Christ in the stage production “Jesus Christ Superstar” have been circulating online, with many viewers taking a negative view of that particular casting decision.
The “Wicked” actress played the role in the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice 1971 rock opera — opposite “American Idol” contestant Adam Lambert, who played Judas Iscariot — for a three day showcase at the Hollywood Bowl.
Commenters also pointed out how once again Christianity was being openly mocked while other religions are almost never targeted in the same way.
“It’s no surprise she looks exactly like how demons have always been portrayed,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action, wrote in response to one of the clips on X. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Cynthia Erivo plays Jesus in the, Jesus Christ Superstar.
I want to know why does this feel evil? Why does her left hand feel as if it’s a demonic claw? <a href="https://t.co/goNoGcnpu2">pic.twitter.com/goNoGcnpu2</a>
— Mary 🤦🏼‍♀️🇺🇸 (@Mary_McMuffin) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mary_McMuffin/status/1952033414120644824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
“And let’s be real … if you dress like a demon, act like a demon, and mock God like a demon … don’t be shocked when people call it what it is,” she added. “This is intentional blasphemy from Hollywood.”
“Let’s do Muhammad Superstar next … Oh wait &#8230;,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/SobrietyCM/status/1952683613251899761">replied</a>.
“Far closer to Nosferatu&#8217;s shadow than the divine light of Christ,” another person <a href="https://x.com/DigitalGal_X/status/1952331624256782737">replied</a>. “God will not be mocked.”
“They mock faith for applause. Cynthia Erivo plays Jesus, wears the crown, gets praised like it’s ‘progress.’ Try pulling that with any other religion &#8230; they’d burn Hollywood to the ground overnight,” echoed another.
Lambert addressed the backlash to Erivo’s casting, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/culture/pride/adam-lambert-jesus-christ-superstar-cynthia-erivo-1236034244/">telling</a> Billboard that “Jesus Christ Superstar” is meant to “provoke and challenge.” 
“I’m excited by the challenge of presenting the audience with a production led by a female, Black ‘Jesus’ and encourage the audience to expand their minds a bit,” Lambert told the outlet. “And shouldn’t the teachings of Jesus transcend gender?”
“You can’t please everyone,” Erivo <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/features/cynthia-erivo-billboard-cover-story-1235985902/">told</a> Billboard during a June interview. “It is legitimately a three-day performance at the Hollywood Bowl where I get to sing my face off. So hopefully they will come and realize, ‘Oh, it’s a musical, the gayest place on Earth.’”
“Jesus Christ Superstar” has been controversial since its Broadway debut more than 50 years ago, with many Christians denouncing it as blasphemous.

Cynthia Erivo

‘Intentional Blasphemy’: Internet Reacts To Cynthia Erivo As Jesus In ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’

'Intentional Blasphemy': Internet Reacts To Cynthia Erivo As Jesus In 'Jesus Christ Superstar'

Christianity

Jesus Christ

Sir Ian McKellen, perhaps best known for portraying Gandalf in the “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, will stage a reading to introduce a new Shakespeare production in London that’s being touted for its all transgender and &#8220;non-binary&#8221; cast.
The 86-year-old actor is slated to appear in support of a new adaptation of “Twelfth Night” being staged by the Trans What You Will theater group in London in July. 
“Twelfth Night is perhaps the funniest and most moving of Shakespeare’s plays. This is achieved through the complexity of gender and sexuality from first to last. I’m really looking forward to the impact of this latest version of the play at The Space. I hope to see you there!&#8221; a quote attributed to McKellen that was posted to the theater group’s Instagram page <a href="https://www.instagram.com/transwhatyouwilltheatre/p/DKMVuhMtnNx/?img_index=3">said</a>.
Those involved with the production gushed about the upcoming stage play. 
Director Phoebe Kemp <a href="https://www.attitude.co.uk/culture/sir-ian-mckellen-to-open-historic-all-trans-and-nonbinary-production-of-twelfth-night-484397/">told</a> Attitude Magazine, &#8220;Twelfth Night already toys with gender and performance — it feels like Shakespeare wrote it for us. This reading is about joy, solidarity and showing what’s possible when trans and nonbinary artists are at the center of the story.&#8221; 
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&#8220;With mistaken identities, cross-dressing, and declarations of love across shifting gender roles, Twelfth Night has long explored the complexity of identity. This production makes that queerness explicit, reclaiming the story through the lived experiences of trans and nonbinary artists,&#8221; a rep for Trans What You Will added.
Twelfth Night is a comedy centered on mistaken identity involving the main character, Viola, who disguises herself as a man after being shipwrecked. Viola becomes stuck in a love triangle, and the play ends in multiple marriages and the revelation of true identities. 
McKellen, who is gay, said in 2017 that his political activism was ultimately &#8220;more important&#8221; and &#8220;longer-lasting than any acting&#8221; he’s done. In the 1980s, he helped fight a law in England that prohibited authorities from &#8220;promoting homosexuality&#8221; and co-founded a U.K.-based gay rights organization.
“I’m very proud of my small contributions to changing the law in this country and changing attitudes, all for the better,” he <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ian-mckellen-talks-gay-rights-activism-documentary-his-life-1054158/">told</a> The Hollywood Reporter at the time.

Ian McKellen

Sir Ian McKellen To Introduce Shakespeare Play With Transgender And ‘Non-Binary’ Cast

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Wokeness is out and entertainment is in at The Kennedy Center. 
The Center’s lineup for the <a href="https://www.kennedy-center.org/">new season was just announced</a> as new staffers at the venue continue to make headlines for fighting back against progressive propaganda that’s been on the docket for years.
Now The Kennedy Center will feature a full lineup of music, drama, and dance that’s inspiring for all ages.
For younger fans, there are two world premiere productions as part of the season, including “The Sea Beyond the Ocean” and the Center’s first Theater for the Very Young commission, “Fishing for Stars,” an immersive non-verbal work for ages 2–6. 
There’s also a new play, “Young Dragon,” and a nostalgic throwback millennials are sure to recognize. The brand-new musical adventure “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock LIVE” presented by the Jim Henson Company debuts in 2026.
“This season brings students of all ages on inspiring journeys,” Jordan LaSalle, Vice President of Education, said of the new shows. “Featuring some of the most exciting companies from across the nation and world, each performance encourages the young and young-at-heart to unleash their imaginations. We are thrilled to continue our decades-long commitment to commissioning new works, including our first for our youngest of audiences and their families.”
In the realm of dance, the Center will showcase ballet and dance offerings from world-class companies and artists. As America nears its 250th anniversary, the 2025-26 season features programming that reflects the deep history of the nation plus fresh, modern interpretations. This includes some new shows plus returning favorites such as “The Nutcracker” from The Cincinnati Ballet.
The theater season also has new and award winning shows, per the press release.
“There is truly a great theater season of excitement and joy coming to the Kennedy Center,” said Senior Vice President of Artistic Programming and Executive Producer of Theater, Jeffrey Finn. “I couldn’t be more proud to feature a season filled with Best Musicals from Broadway, including three Tony®–winning original Best Musicals: ‘The Outsiders,’ ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical,’ and ‘Spamalot.’”
Trump made headlines earlier this year when he promised to reform the Kennedy Center, which began when he replaced its board and was elected chairman. Trump also tapped Special Envoy Richard Grenell to serve as the Center’s president.
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote in February. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”
The changes the new board made led to full-scale meltdowns on the Left, including protests expressed through interpretive dancing.
According to a previous report published on The Daily Wire, the Kennedy Center is $40 million in debt and will be making major cuts to staff.
&#8220;The former leadership built a broken budget with an operating deficit of 100 million dollars and a bottom-line deficit of 26 million dollars,&#8221; CFO Donna Arduin said. &#8220;The former leadership led Board members to believe there was a balanced budget when there was $26 Million in false funds. Fiscal Year 25 budget was previously passed with $26M of fictitious funds. We have now truly balanced the budget.”
Besides their financial goals, the Center’s new leadership is focused on offering high-quality entertainment that’s free from radical progressive messaging.

The Kennedy Center

New Kennedy Center Lineup Includes Family-Friendly Content, Zero Drag Shows For Kids

Culture

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Music

U.S.

Washington D.C.

Kennedy Center director Richard Grenell has issued a strongly worded response to reports that around a dozen actors from a “Les Misérables” tour group are planning to boycott an upcoming performance at the facility because President Donald Trump is expected to attend.
“We haven’t heard this rumor,” Grenell told Entertainment Weekly in a <a href="https://ew.com/kennedy-center-boss-calls-out-les-mis-actors-over-trump-performance-11730526">statement</a> on Wednesday. “But the Kennedy Center will no longer fund intolerance.”
“Any performer who isn’t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won’t be welcomed,” Grenell added. “In fact, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn’t hire — and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience.”
“The Kennedy Center wants to be a place where people of all political stripes sit next to each other and never ask who someone voted for but instead enjoy a performance together,” he concluded.
Grenell was responding to a CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/07/politics/kennedy-center-les-mis-cast-boycott-trump">report</a> citing sources claiming that “Les Mis” cast members were allowed to boycott the June 11 performance because of Trump. The outlet didn’t name any names, but said “both major cast members and members of the ensemble are among those sitting out,” per their sources.
The Kennedy Center has been in the news lately following Trump’s election and his subsequent move to fire all former leadership and appoint himself Chairman of the Board, plus installing Grenell as interim director. 
There have been protests, cancellations, and general doom and gloom from leftists, but despite their reactions, the venue has been attracting record crowds. The Kennedy Center just broke its all-time attendance record for a public event it hosted on March 29, welcoming 11,000 attendees, of whom 76% were there for the first time.
This comes after Trump promised to scrub leftist programs from the Center’s lineup. “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST,” the president wrote on Truth Social in February. 
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-dumps-kennedy-center-board-puts-immediate-end-to-drag-shows-for-kids">wrote</a> in another post. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”

Mike Pompeo Visits Germany

Kennedy Center Director Rips ‘Les Mis’ Cast Over Trump Boycott: ‘Vapid And Intolerant’

Kennedy Center Director Rips 'Les Mis' Cast Over Trump Boycott: 'Vapid And Intolerant'

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Help us, George Clooney … you’re our only hope!”
No one actually shared that plea with the Oscar-winner, but he’s been assuming someone did for a while. Over the course of four decades, the 63-year-old went from the mulleted handyman on “The Facts of Life” to an award-winning actor, director and film producer.
Clooney has every right and intention of using his celebrity gravitas. That’s despite the 2024 election proving voters no longer hold stars in high regard. At least at the ballot box.
Plenty of people listened to Clooney last summer, a time when his unofficial Save America tour kicked off. He took to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/opinion/joe-biden-democratic-nominee.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the pages</a> of The New York Times to call for President Joe Biden to end his rematch against President Donald Trump.
Clooney’s Op/Ed, and his choice of platform, rocked the Democratic establishment. Clooney shared how the Biden he once knew was no more, and that it was time for a younger Democrat to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/george-clooney-joins-chorus-of-stars-telling-biden-its-time-to-drop-out-of-race" target="_blank" rel="noopener">take the fight to Trump</a>.
<blockquote>It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal‘ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.</blockquote>
Breaking News from 2021, right? Except it came on the heels of Biden’s disastrous June 27 presidential debate and endless videos revealing the leader’s rickety health.
When Biden eventually stepped aside ( maybe pushed?), Clooney looked like a Democratic soothsayer.
As a result, the star’s ego grew three sizes. and we’re now getting a good dose of it  during Clooney’s “Good Night, and Good Luck” press tour.
<div id="attachment_912251" style="width: 933px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-912251" class="size-large wp-image-912251" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2198172314-923x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 6: Signage during a press event announcing the cast of the play based on the 2005 film &quot;Good Night, And Good Luck&quot; on Broadway at The Wintergarden Theatre on February 6, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/WireImage)" width="923" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2198172314-923x576.jpg 923w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2198172314-300x187.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2198172314-768x479.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2198172314.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 923px) 100vw, 923px" />Bruce Glikas/WireImage</div>
The actor <a href="https://playbill.com/production/good-night-and-good-luck-broadway-winter-garden-theatre-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brought</a> his 2005 film of the same name to the Great White Way earlier this month. His never-ending publicity for the show, along with the production itself, has given Clooney even more opportunities to lecture reg’lar Americans on The Way Things Ought to Be.
Let’s start with the show, a love letter to journalist Edward R. Murrow during his ‘50s-era battles with Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Their clashes mattered then, and now, and the play (and film) justly honor that.
Except Clooney backloads the production with a clip brigade that touches on everything from the silly to the surreal. It’s meant to remind us why the Fourth Estate matters, even though the clips include video of Elon Musk raising his arm in a manner that some of the far-Left dubbed Nazi-adjacent.
A real journalist wouldn’t suggest the billionaire’s awkward gesture was anything but an awkward hand gesture. Nor would he use that clip as an example of something noteworthy in modern times.
A better example? A shot of a burning Tesla?
<div id="attachment_912255" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-912255" class="size-large wp-image-912255" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208439058-864x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 03: George Clooney celebrates on stage with cast during curtain call for &quot;Good Night, And Good Luck&quot; Broadway Opening Night at Winter Garden Theatre on April 03, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Valerie Terranova/WireImage)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208439058-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208439058-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208439058-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208439058.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Valerie Terranova/WireImage</div>
Clooney has used every media interview to remind us why journalism matters now – more than ever – in the era of Trump.
Here he is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQOvlx8g7fo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">genuflecting</a> to the Fourth Estate:
<blockquote>It’s a subject matter that is very close to our hearts, which is what [the press] does. Telling the truth and holding truth to power. It’s a play we’re very excited to do.</blockquote>
He wagged his perfectly manicured finger at us anew during a chat with CBS about the Broadway show. Once again, he <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-clooney-broadway-journalism-60-minutes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defended modern journalists:</a>
<blockquote>Governments don&#8217;t like the freedom of the press. They never have,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And that goes for whether you are a conservative or a liberal or whatever side you&#8217;re on. They don&#8217;t like the press.</blockquote>
<a href="https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/alex-christy/2025/02/19/clooney-colbert-urge-journalists-stand-right-side-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">He played the same note</a> during a chat with the far-Left “Late Show” on CBS:
<blockquote>We have had this issue where power, kind of, hates the fourth estate. They hate journalism and my father’s an anchorman and news man and we’ve always believed in the idea of when the other three estates: the judiciary branch and the executive branch, when they all fail you, you need that fourth estate, right.</blockquote>
<div id="attachment_912281" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-912281" class="size-large wp-image-912281" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-25-Apr-2025-11-21-AM-3980-1024x576.jpg" alt="Screenshot: YouTube/The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. George Clooney." width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-25-Apr-2025-11-21-AM-3980-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-25-Apr-2025-11-21-AM-3980-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-25-Apr-2025-11-21-AM-3980-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-25-Apr-2025-11-21-AM-3980-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-25-Apr-2025-11-21-AM-3980-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Screenshot: YouTube/The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. George Clooney.</div>
He’s right. So where was it during the last four years? Not only did brave, truth-telling journalists ignore President Biden’s mental decline, some actively covered it up. Remember the brief “cheap fakes” era of media damage control?
Biden’s mental decline was like his son’s missing laptop. Nothing to see here. Move along.
That’s journalism at its worst, and Clooney was part of that cover-up. Clooney palled around with President Biden during a June 2024 fundraiser, something he alluded to in that New York Times open letter. He saw Biden’s sorry state and said nothing for weeks until Biden’s poll numbers sank too low to ignore.
Is that what the son of a truth-telling journalist would do? Of course not.
Yet here he was thumping his chest about his play, the state of modern journalism, and his role in boosting both as if he had done nothing wrong.
It took a member of the “new media” to set Clooney straight about his cover-up.
“That’s not journalism, George. That’s cowardice, followed by naked partisanship,” said Megyn Kelly on her self-titled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eD8glSeIKs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">podcast</a> about his actions.
Clooney remains both handsome and charismatic, and he effortlessly embraced his first major role on Broadway. That’s not easy. He might try putting his partisan blinders on the shelf the next time he waxes philosophical on journalism.
We’ve seen the very worst of it over the past decade, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is just theater.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

George Clooney Announces The Complete Broadway Cast Of “Good Night, And Good Luck”

Exit Stage Left: The Ego And Amnesia Of George Clooney

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“Lord of the Rings” actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">Ian McKellen</a> was hospitalized after falling from the stage during a Monday performance at the Noël Coward Theater in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/london">London</a>.
The 85-year-old lost his balance and fell during a battle scene in “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/theater">Player Kings</a>,” a production of Shakespeare&#8217;s &#8220;Henry IV, Parts One and Two,&#8221; per <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx88v15r41jo">BBC</a>. McKellen reportedly cried out in pain after his fall, prompting staff to rush over and assist him. The report said the theater was &#8220;evacuated&#8221; and Tuesday night&#8217;s performance was also canceled.
McKellen is expected to make a full recovery.
“Thank you to our audience and the general public for their well wishes following Ian’s fall during this evening’s performance of ‘Player Kings,&#8217;” a statement from the theater said. 
“Following a scan, the brilliant NHS team have assured us that he will make a speedy and full recovery and Ian is in good spirits,” it said. “The production has made the decision to cancel the performance on Tuesday 18 June so Ian can rest. Those affected will be contacted by their point of purchase as soon as possible tomorrow. Thank you to doctors Rachel and Lee who were on hand in the audience and to all the venue staff for their support.”
An audience member told BBC the fall was “very shocking.”
“As far as I saw, he was conscious because he was asking for assistance,” the witness explained.
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London-based journalist Charlie Johnson was in the audience and shared his account of the fall with an X post. “Just witnessed Ian McKellen severely injure himself after falling off stage at Noel Coward Theatre. Sir Ian could be heard screaming in pain as ushers rushed to his aid. Show cancelled as he is treated by ambulance crews. Wish him all the best,” he <a href="https://x.com/cejohnson99/status/1802787738250363025?s=46&amp;t=7dEMLEvmtKbqI2lGLTp4lQ">wrote</a>.
McKellen frequently acts in Shakespearean plays, including productions of “Macbeth,” “King Lear,” “Richard II,” “Coriolanus,” “Iago,” and “Richard III.” He is the winner of a Tony Award and six Olivier Awards, which are the British equivalent awarded for excellence in professional theater. 
The actor became internationally known for his portrayal of Gandalf in “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.” McKellen also played Magneto in the “X-Men” films.

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‘Screaming In Pain’: Ian McKellen Hospitalized After Falling Off Stage

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If you spend any amount of time watching shows on streaming services like Netflix or Hulu, then you may have noticed that several big-name productions are now putting trigger warnings on the screen before some pivotal episodes. The show &#8220;Baby Reindeer,&#8221; for example, warns its viewers in advance of an upcoming scene depicting sexual violence. &#8220;Better Call Saul&#8221; alerts its audience about an upcoming suicide. Other popular shows, like &#8220;Severance,&#8221; &#8220;The Morning Show,&#8221; &#8220;Life &amp; Beth,&#8221; and several others also include similar messages before the show even begins. Even classics like &#8220;Goodfellas&#8221; and old <a href="https://x.com/CarmineSabia/status/1728958011392036870" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shows</a> like &#8220;All in the Family&#8221; now come with warnings about &#8220;ethnic prejudices.&#8221; 
Online, these trigger warnings have caused a lot of consternation because they often ruin the episode that people are about to watch. If you know a suicide is coming, for instance, it&#8217;s usually not too hard to guess which character might be involved. (Spoiler alert: It&#8217;s probably the character that&#8217;s been having serious mental problems all season). And even if you&#8217;re not sure what character might be involved, it still blunts the dramatic impact of the scene to be told, directly, that something shocking is about to happen. There&#8217;s a reason Shakespeare didn&#8217;t have some guy go on stage before the fifth act of &#8220;Romeo &amp; Juliet&#8221; to explain that poisoning and self-harm would occur. There was no stagehand to announce, &#8220;If you&#8217;re not ready to see two lovers take their own lives, then leave the amphitheater immediately.&#8221;
But we live in a much dumber time now, so trigger warnings like that are no longer unthinkable. In fact, if you go see a play like &#8220;Romeo &amp; Juliet,&#8221; there&#8217;s a very real chance you might run into one. For several years now, theaters all over the world have been incorporating these kinds of advisories. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 Trigger Warnings" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SKU2CRquz8g?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>
That report was from a few years ago, but the trend has only continued. The Sir Thomas Allen theater in Durham, UK, for instance, posted <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231202062825/https://www.theassemblyroomstheatre.org/whats-on/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this notification</a> on its website just a few months ago, about the play &#8220;I, Joan,&#8221; which also premiered at Shakespeare&#8217;s Globe:
<blockquote>Content Warning: Loud music / Partial nudity / Period-accurate transphobia / Depictions of war.</blockquote>
So &#8220;Period-accurate transphobia&#8221; is now worthy of a trigger warning, which I guess means that every single play and work of literature that was written before 2015 needs a trigger warning. 
I could go on and on about how absurd these warnings are and how counterproductive they are. But there&#8217;s really no point. You&#8217;ve probably already heard about the research demonstrating that these trigger warnings are worse than useless. More than a dozen <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-10-17/are-trigger-warnings-useless-new-study-says-yes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">studies</a> have shown that these kinds of notifications are either ineffective or actively distressing to people. 
This is becoming a mainstream position. Bill Maher did a whole monologue about it a year ago. Dr. Phil talked about it with Joe Rogan. And so on.
Instead of retreading that ground, I wanted to look more closely into why exactly these warnings came about in the first place. They seem like a symptom of a much larger problem that&#8217;s gone unnoticed, for the most part. I came to that realization after the outlet &#8220;Variety&#8221; ran a <a href="https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/trigger-warnings-spoil-tv-shows-1236025257/">piece</a> on this a few days ago on the problems that these trigger warnings can cause. Throughout their article, Variety kept using the term &#8220;trauma&#8221; again and again: &#8220;As content advisories become popular, Hollywood tries to find a balance between ruining plot twists and helping viewers avoid trauma.&#8221; That&#8217;s the headline. Then the article continues, &#8220;A growing number of programs have opted to inform viewers before showing potentially traumatizing content. &#8230; The goal is to help viewers enjoy TV without trauma.&#8221; They even speak to a medical expert about how trigger warnings relate to &#8220;trauma.&#8221;
This caught my attention because, up until relatively recently, when people heard the word &#8220;trauma,&#8221; they thought of serious, violent injuries — the kind people might suffer in car accidents or on the battlefield, for example. And that&#8217;s how the medical profession understood the word &#8220;trauma,&#8221; as well. But somewhere along the line, something obviously changed. &#8220;Trauma&#8221; became a daily occurrence rather than something suffered by people in the most extreme and harrowing circumstances. Everyday discomfort and mild inconvenience has been medicalized and overblown into &#8220;trauma.&#8221;
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1386-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
We&#8217;ve seen this a lot in the past couple of years. You might remember the whole episode when the tennis player Naomi Osaka dropped out of a tournament and melted down at a press conference back in 2021. The idea was that talking to the press was traumatic for her, for some reason. PBS ran a <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/naomi-osakas-withdrawal-from-the-french-open-highlights-how-mental-health-ranks-below-physical-health#:~:text=Pressing%20problems%20with%20stigma,depressed%E2%80%9D%20after%20losing%20a%20match." target="_blank" rel="noopener">sympathetic story</a> at the time that included this paragraph: 
<blockquote>Osaka, who is Black, Asian and female, may have contended with an even greater sense of vulnerability this past year, in light of the Black Lives Matter protests and the increased violence against Asian Americans. Studies have shown that individuals suffer from vicarious trauma when members of their group are targeted and discriminated against.</blockquote>
Yes, the tennis star was suffering from &#8220;vicarious trauma.&#8221; Those are two words we&#8217;re apparently meant to take seriously, along with other new terms like &#8220;intergenerational trauma&#8221; and so on. We&#8217;ve all seen dozens of stories like this. So when I saw the Variety piece, it occurred to me that the story here isn&#8217;t really about the rise of &#8220;trigger warnings,&#8221; per se. Instead, it&#8217;s about the fact that so many Americans now erroneously believe that they are suffering from trauma. And with that in mind, there&#8217;s an obvious question to ask, which is: When did that happen and why? 
The dramatic rise of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, might provide an important clue. In 2022, instances of alleged post-traumatic stress disorder in college students in America <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2819206?guestAccessKey=bc2533bd-e1d2-4991-8500-1da1a731c2a3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rose</a> by 7.5% — which is more than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/30/health/ptsd-diagnoses-rising-college-students.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur" target="_blank" rel="noopener">double</a> the rate from just five years earlier. That suggests that something artificial might be going on here that&#8217;s making more college kids suffer from &#8220;trauma.&#8221;
At the same time, of course, 2022 was right in the middle of the COVID lockdowns, which obviously destroyed many lives. So maybe you&#8217;re thinking that&#8217;s related. But PTSD, as it&#8217;s generally understood, involves <a href="https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/essentials/history_ptsd.asp#one" target="_blank" rel="noopener">witnessing</a> an extreme and catastrophic injury. That&#8217;s why the diagnosis became mainstream following the Vietnam War. And there were no wars directly involving American college students that occurred during the COVID lockdowns. Additionally, violent crime in many major cities was <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/COVIDcrime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">down</a> by nearly a third during the early phase of the lockdowns. So how exactly would COVID have been responsible for more PTSD-related suffering?
Here&#8217;s one mental health expert at Indiana&#8217;s largest nonprofit healthcare provider to explain:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="005 PTSD" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jWvQ6TYr8cI?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>
So masks — which the medical establishment told us to wear at all times, even though they didn&#8217;t stop the transmission of COVID — were actually hell on earth for PTSD sufferers, apparently. This is the explanation they&#8217;ve come up with. If you&#8217;re keeping track, we&#8217;ve gone from &#8220;masks are bad&#8221;, to &#8220;masks are mandatory,&#8221; to &#8220;you should triple-mask,&#8221; back down to &#8220;if you wear a mask, you&#8217;re torturing PTSD sufferers who happen to look at you.&#8221;
This isn&#8217;t exactly a compelling argument. It seems pretty strained, actually. So maybe there&#8217;s another explanation for surging rates of PTSD and &#8220;trauma&#8221; in the general population. What might that reason be?
It turns out that, back in 2013, leading medical associations radically altered the meaning of trauma. As one Berkeley psychology professor <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/30/health/ptsd-diagnoses-rising-college-students.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur">recently told</a> The New York Times: &#8220;Some changes to the diagnostic manual [of psychological disorders] may have blurred the line between PTSD and disorders like depression or anxiety. .. In 2013, the committee overseeing revisions to the manual expanded the list of potential PTSD symptoms to include dysphoria, or a deep sense of unease, and a negative worldview, which could also be caused by depression.&#8221;
The Times report added: &#8220;PTSD was introduced as an official diagnosis in 1980, as it became clear that combat experiences had imprinted on many Vietnam veterans, making it difficult for them to work or participate in family life. Over the decades that followed, the definition was revised to encompass a larger range of injury, violence and abuse, as well as indirect exposure to traumatic events.&#8221;
In other words, with very little fanfare, the medical establishment completely redefined the meaning of PTSD, and the &#8220;trauma&#8221; necessary to qualify for a diagnosis. It&#8217;s no longer necessary to personally witness a violent death or injury to receive a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. It&#8217;s enough to &#8220;indirectly&#8221; experience such a violent death or injury. That&#8217;s trauma, under the new standard. This is what psychologists are telling their patients.
The only limitation, as far as I can tell from reading through the <a href="https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/essentials/history_ptsd.asp#one">DSM-5</a>, is that this &#8220;indirect&#8221; exposure has to involve a loved one. But even then, it&#8217;s no longer necessary for your symptoms to involve vivid flashbacks and extreme social dysfunction or anything like that. Now a &#8220;deep sense of unease&#8221; and a &#8220;negative worldview&#8221; qualifies. That&#8217;s it. Never mind the fact that more than half the country now has a &#8220;deep sense of unease&#8221; and a &#8220;negative worldview.&#8221; That&#8217;s all it takes to suffer &#8220;trauma,&#8221; according to every major medical institution.
This is one way in which the concept of &#8220;trauma&#8221; has been expanded and over-diagnosed into oblivion. They just changed the meaning of the word back in 2013, probably to enable more doctors to diagnose more patients and prescribe them some more drugs. And then that lingo filters down to the media and everywhere else. If that sounds far-fetched or conspiratorial, consider the fact that another convenient rebranding took place that same year, in 2013. That was also the year that the American Medical Association (or AMA) abruptly decided to reclassify obesity as a &#8220;disease,&#8221; just like asthma or diabetes.
But the AMA privately <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/virtually-every-medical-expert-is-lying-to-you-about-obesity-heres-the-proof" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acknowledged</a> that obesity didn&#8217;t actually meet the criteria to be classified as a disease, because there are no unique symptoms that only obese people suffer from. It&#8217;s also the only disease in the world that can be cured, with a 100% success rate, by expending more calories than you&#8217;re consuming. Nevertheless, the AMA simply decided that reclassifying obesity as a disease would have a &#8220;positive impact&#8221; on society, so they did it. The Lancet documented all of this, as I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/virtually-every-medical-expert-is-lying-to-you-about-obesity-heres-the-proof" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outlined</a> a few months ago. And now, just a few years later, Oprah is hosting an hour-long special in which she confidently suggests that Ozempic is the miracle drug that can cure this &#8220;disease.&#8221;
There&#8217;s reason to believe that the same approach has now been applied to &#8220;trauma.&#8221; Much like the idea of &#8220;land acknowledgements,&#8221; this massively expanded definition of trauma has quickly made its way from a handful of elite academics all the way to everyday life. So now we get trigger warnings on Netflix and Hulu and the theater and everywhere else. But much more importantly, now millions of Americans incorrectly believe they&#8217;ve suffered &#8220;trauma&#8221; when they haven&#8217;t. They&#8217;re under the impression that their problems are far more serious and uncontrollable than they really are. That&#8217;s good for the people prescribing the medications and doing the talk therapy. For everyone else, it&#8217;s yet another sign that we&#8217;re becoming a weaker and more broken society — one that, inevitably, will become even easier to control and manipulate.

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