A disturbing new trend on social media celebrates the violent murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf.
Youths are shockingly dancing to a song dubbed the &#8220;Austin Bop&#8221; and mimicking stabbing motions. Metcalf was fatally stabbed by Karmelo Anthony at a track meet in 2025. The trend appears to be racially charged, with some young black people mocking Metcalf, who was white, after Anthony was found guilty of murder.
&#8220;Disgusting new TikTok trend called the &#8216;Austin Bop&#8217; has exploded among young black Karmelo Anthony supporters,&#8221; X user @ImMeme0 posted online, captioning a video of the trend: &#8220;They gleefully dance, with and without knives, while making repeated thrusting and stabbing motions toward the chest in a brazen mockery of a teenage boy’s brutal [murder] to their videos.&#8221;
&#8220;This isn’t edgy content. This is straight-up demonic celebration of violence,&#8221; the account added. &#8220;Thug culture remains one of the most toxic, self-destructive forces rotting the black community from within. It glorifies murder, mocks victims, and turns human tragedy into dance challenges.&#8221;
Lyrics in the song include, &#8220;Austin Bop, knife had blood on the tippity-top.&#8221;
Earlier this month, Anthony, who is black, was convicted of murder for fatally stabbing the teen. According to evidence and testimony presented in the trial, Anthony murdered Metcalf after the teen told him to leave his team&#8217;s track tent and shoved him or put his hand on Anthony&#8217;s shoulder. Despite the racial narrative peddled by the Anthony family, teen witnesses, some of whom were black, said Anthony was in the wrong and described Metcalf as a leader and a &#8220;brother.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
VILE: disgusting new TikTok trend called the “Austin Bop” has exploded among young black Karmelo Anthony supporters. They gleefully dance, with and without knives, while making repeated thrusting and stabbing motions toward the chest in a brazen mockery of a teenage boy’s brutal… <a href="https://t.co/cqTYD122ok">pic.twitter.com/cqTYD122ok</a>
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) <a href="https://x.com/ImMeme0/status/2066889059029434735?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
Support for the convicted murderer is not isolated to online teens. Last week, Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett (TX) downplayed Metcalf&#8217;s murder, calling the knife used to kill Metcalf a &#8220;small object&#8221; and not a &#8220;deadly weapon.&#8221; She also claimed the Metcalf family doesn&#8217;t understand the “fear and agony” of black women.
“Black women, especially black women who have black male children live in fear and agony every single day … fear and agony that I promise you the Metcalfs probably never spent a day living that way and we’re going to have to have just some real conversations about race in this country,” the Democrat said.
Several other Democrats have deemed the trial unfair, including fellow Texas Rep. Christian Menefee, who said the situation was a &#8220;travesty&#8221; and complained that the minorities on the jury were not black. 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jasmine-crockett-explains-why-she-thinks-karmelo-anthony-was-justified?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Jasmine+Crockett+Explains+Why+She+Thinks+Karmelo+Anthony+Was+Justified">Jasmine Crockett Explains Why She Thinks Karmelo Anthony Was Justified</a>

Karmelo Austin

Disturbing New TikTok Trend Celebrates The Murder Of Austin Metcalf

Austin Metcalf

Karmelo Anthony

TikTok

TikTok Trend

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued TikTok on Monday, accusing the app of violating state law by allowing minors access to inappropriate content and deceiving parents.
<a href="https://www.fox13news.com/news/florida-attorney-general-sues-tiktok-violations-state-child-safety-law">The lawsuit</a> claims that TikTok illegally permits children to view dangerous content “while prioritizing user engagement and profits,” and that the app breaches Florida&#8217;s House Bill 3, which became effective January 1, 2025. The <a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/3">bill</a> is meant to protect minors by requiring social media platforms to prohibit those under 14 from creating new accounts.
But according to the new lawsuit, TikTok is allowing 13-year-olds and younger to create accounts. Additionally, Uthmeier says the app violates the bill by permitting teenagers of age to create an account without parental consent. 
“The lawsuit is focused on two things — deceiving parents and the real harms that are out there for kids,”  <a href="https://fox17.com/news/nation-world/florida-news-attorney-general-james-uthmeier-time-is-up-florida-takes-legal-action-against-tiktok-over-child-safety-concerns-st-lucie-county-civil-lawsuit-ages-14-and-15-must-have-parental-consent-predators-targeting-minors-social-media-dangers">Uthmeier said</a>.
 <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/support/faq_detail?id=7543604784432093752&amp;category=web_account">TikTok</a> claims to be an app appropriate for children, saying its content will not contain any “focus on fear or suffering, profanity or vulgarity, serious violence, dangerous behavior, or threatening imagery, including blood, sexually suggestive content, explicit references to mature or complex themes.”
However, Florida’s lawsuit says that these themes appear regularly on the app and “often in graphic detail” — a violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and a deception to parents.
The lawsuit further claims that TikTok knew about these dangers posed to children and refused to address them.
“TikTok knowingly deceives parents and allows children to be exposed to harmful and inappropriate content in direct violation of Florida law,” Uthmeier said. “We have zero tolerance for companies that prioritize profit over children’s safety.&#8221;
According to Uthmeier, the app violated the law in order to keep the money flowing.
“TikTok’s success hinges on its ability to addict children and teenagers to the platform,&#8221; he added. 
The app functions on an “algorithm-driven feed” — a <a href="https://www.hivedigital.com/blog/how-social-media-algorithms-work/">ranking system</a> that places videos and posts in an order the user is most likely to enjoy. The design boosts time spent on the app, especially for younger users. 
“TikTok happens to be one of the most egregious social media applications when it comes to the dangers that are there at the fingertips of kids,” Uthmeier said.
The social media company has not responded to these allegations.

National-Conservatism-Conference-in-Washington

TikTok Under Fire As Florida Calls Out The App’s Deception

algorithm

Florida

The deaths of three Connecticut children from diphenhydramine overdoses have renewed concerns about a dangerous social media trend that encourages young people to consume excessive amounts of the over-the-counter allergy medication commonly sold as Benadryl.
In the past two months, three Connecticut children have died from Benadryl overdoses, according to the <a href="https://portal.ct.gov/oca/-/media/oca/oca-recent-publications/oca-statement-diphenhydramine-and-safe-storage-2026-06-10.pdf?rev=1feb34995f34436cbb121d417264c506">Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate</a> (OCA). If abused, the drug can lead to “serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or even death,” <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-warns-about-serious-problems-high-doses-allergy-medicine-diphenhydramine-benadryl">according to the FDA.</a> 
On Wednesday, the OCA issued a warning to parents and healthcare providers, emphasizing that “adolescents may misuse the medication.”
“We want parents to be aware that any medication, including prescription and non-prescription medication, is potentially dangerous to children of all ages. We strongly encourage parents to store all medications safely, to ensure they are not easily accessible to children,” the agency said in a statement. 
The agency said it could not confirm whether the deaths were linked to the so-called &#8220;Benadryl Challenge,&#8221; a TikTok trend that started at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
“OCA has received media inquiries requesting information on whether the deaths are related to a TikTok challenge. OCA cannot confirm such a connection. What is most important is that providers and parents be aware that adolescents may misuse the medication,” the agency said at the time. 

The disturbing trend gained so much traction online that the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-warns-about-serious-problems-high-doses-allergy-medicine-diphenhydramine-benadryl">FDA issued a warning</a> alerting parents to its potentially deadly consequences.
Noelia Swymeler, a pediatric resident physician at the University of Oklahoma at Tulsa School of Community Medicine, said trends such as the “Benadryl Challenge” stem from the drug’s sedating effects.
Some teens intentionally consume excessive amounts of diphenhydramine and then fight the resulting drowsiness in an effort to experience hallucinations and a euphoric high, <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases-from-aap-conferences/social-media-challenge-encouraging-adolescents-to-engage-in-dangerous-over-the-counter-drug-use/?srsltid=AfmBOor0USeru-d12kUM8PkYkSUuJCHX5nPDiXKd_nUi27w7NwMX5PWs">according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. </a>
The trend&#8217;s apparent resurgence does not appear to be limited to Connecticut.
Last month, an Oklahoma father warned parents of the challenge after his 11-year-old daughter, Molly Miller, died from a diphenhydramine-related overdose, according to a local news outlet. 
Mason Miller, Molly’s father, said he found his daughter unresponsive. 
“When I went back there, she was laying on the ground covered in vomit,” Miller told <a href="https://www.news9.com/oklahoma-city-news/anadarko-dad-warns-of-social-media-dangers-after-daughters-death-linked-to-possible-benadryl-challenge">Channel 9 News.</a> “We started CPR and called 911. I was just praying, ‘God, raise my daughter.’” 

Experts say social media trends continue to encourage dangerous misuse of common medications.
“The fact that we continue to see spikes in harmful diphenhydramine use years after the challenge first went viral shows just how powerful and dangerous social media trends can be,” <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases-from-aap-conferences/social-media-challenge-encouraging-adolescents-to-engage-in-dangerous-over-the-counter-drug-use/?srsltid=AfmBOor0USeru-d12kUM8PkYkSUuJCHX5nPDiXKd_nUi27w7NwMX5PWs">Swymeler said.</a>

Social media

The Deadly Online Trend Parents Thought Was Gone Is Back

drug abuse

News

Social Media

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.
***
Leave it to people on the internet to complain about even the most innocuous things. One X user <a href="https://x.com/handslikevap0r/status/2055111321910157422">snarked</a> last week that a woman she “went to school with” is “trying to be a Raleigh, North Carolina influencer.” That tweet went mega-viral, with over 24 million views and tens of thousands of likes.
The point of the tweet was obviously mockery, but about what, exactly? That the young woman grew up in a Raleigh suburb and still lives in the area? That she’s conventionally attractive and stylish without the edge of a jaded Brooklynite? That it’s embarrassing to try to be an influencer from somewhere as obscure as the capital city of a Southern state?
“When I saw it, I was like, ‘What in the world?’” Bayleigh Adams, the subject of the viral tweet, told The Daily Wire. “I don’t know if she was being mean towards me specifically, or just like the idea of somebody doing it in Raleigh, who knows?”
Bayleigh said she started posting about local events on her TikTok account just in the past few months, gathering several thousand followers for her posts on the goings-on in North Carolina’s second most populous city. She says she knew of the woman who tweeted about her, but they had never even had a conversation. Nevertheless, the publicity was good news for her page. “Ever since that tweet, it’s done a lot better,” she says.
Not everyone who exists publicly online aspires to Kardashian levels of fame, nor should she. Micro-influencers across the country keep countless people apprised of fun happenings in their neighborhoods and cities. Without them, we’d miss out on farmers&#8217; markets, art fairs, happy hours, and plenty of community events. Whereas people once found out about upcoming events in the paper, today they hear about them on Instagram and TikTok.
“I feel like Raleigh has started becoming a more up-and-coming city,” Bayleigh says. “We’re getting new trending restaurants and bars and more things to do where it used to be kind of the same old things, so I’ve just been trying to promote that.”
“I really enjoy doing things in general,” she adds. “If anything, this has made me step out of my comfort zone with doing the same activities, and it’s making me try new places and do new things. And hopefully it’s helping other people find some things to do too.”
The <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@bayleighadams/photo/7639740167284182285">post</a> that went viral listed several events happening that upcoming weekend. If you were in Raleigh earlier this month, you might’ve wanted to watch “Beauty and the Beast” by the Carolina Ballet, shop at a night market, or chow down at a food truck festival. 
After Bayleigh went viral, many onlookers rushed to her defense. “[T]his is such a hating *ss post I had to find her and follow,” one person <a href="https://x.com/turntineforwhat/status/2055393436241408097">said</a>. “Bayleigh from Rayleigh got a ring to it!” 
Bayleigh herself took it in stride, posting to her TikTok, “[By the way] I’ve never even had a conversation [with] that girl from my high school, but [thanks] for the support girlie… anyways follow along for things to do in Raleigh.”
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" style="max-width: 605px; min-width: 325px;" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@bayleighadams/video/7640125974004239630" data-video-id="7640125974004239630">
<section><a title="@bayleighadams" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@bayleighadams?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@bayleighadams</a> Thx gf! <a title="raleigh" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/raleigh?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#raleigh</a> <a title="thingstodoinraleigh" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/thingstodoinraleigh?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#thingstodoinraleigh</a> <a title="♬ original sound - Ian Asher" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7588227011932474142?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">♬ original sound &#8211; Ian Asher</a></section>
</blockquote>
<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
News of the viral drama went all the way to the governor’s mansion, where Bayleigh herself was <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@bayleighadams/video/7641689360148090125">invited</a> to a wine-tasting event with other content creators — via DM from the governor&#8217;s account. Everyday viewers have also reached out, Bayleigh says, to thank her for sharing businesses and events that they’ve tried out themselves.
It can be embarrassing to post videos of yourself, Bayleigh admits. But that’s no reason not to do it. 
“At the end of the day, I think that the success that you want to have, it’s not going to happen by just sitting around. You have to actually do it,” she says. “If this is something you want to do and you want to post or whatever it is, you shouldn’t worry about what anybody says. There can be a thousand positive comments and you’re gonna have somebody that is gonna give you a hate comment or somebody that’s gonna make fun of you. And, honestly, who cares?”
Gen Z’s aloof, irony-poisoned attitude may finally be giving way to something more earnest. Or, at least, more people are embracing the mantra, let people enjoy things. If anything, people need more reasons to leave their living rooms and meet up with their neighbors.
Bayleigh is looking forward to trying a new cocktail bar and posting a video, which can take the edge off trying a new place for some viewers. &#8220;Those sorts of things help too because I know when I’m going somewhere I want to see the vibe,&#8221; she says. What are people wearing? What should you expect? &#8220;So I think that’s helpful too, and a lot of people seem to think that as well.&#8221;
“Obviously people are loving it,” Bayleigh says, “so I’ll keep doing it.”

IMG_5661

She Got Mocked Online For Posting Wholesome Content. Then Came The Plot Twist.

Instagram

Upstream

Good-faith skeptics and bad-faith conspiracy peddlers from TikTok live streams to Substack sleuths are flooding the online ether with lies and half-truths about the attempted assassination of President Trump and his senior team at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night. Some, potentially motivated by TDS, insist it was a false flag operation staged by the government. Others claim there was no shooting at all and the only shots were due to friendly fire. Never mind that the Department of Justice has already charged the 31-year-old suspect (whom I won’t name) with, among other felonies, one count of &#8220;discharging a firearm during a crime of violence&#8221; — a charge that would make zero sense if he never pulled the trigger.
The central thesis for many who assert the government is lying to us about the events of April 22, including <a href="https://www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/is-the-justice-department-lying-about-saturday-s-shooting">Garrett Graff,</a> rests on the initial criminal complaint against the 31-year-old suspect. Skeptics and cynics point to the complaint’s use of passive voice, the absence of an explicit allegation or perceived audio evidence that the assailant fired the first round, the timeline, and the employment of TSA agents at magnetometers.
Graff specifically notes the absence of a charge for “assaulting a federal officer” under 18 U.S.C. § 111, which one would expect to see if someone shot a Secret Service officer. That’s a fair observation. Except, it ignores the fact that this is the initial charging document filed less than 48 hours after the incident and is designed to focus on what can be immediately proven from preliminary evidence and witness statements — how federal prosecutions are supposed to begin.
He goes on to suggest the single unaccounted shot could have been friendly fire from another federal agent. Citing the Wall Street Journal analysis showing six total shots fired on ballroom recordings, Graff argues none of them “sound to me like a shotgun” — implying the first shot wasn’t the gunman’s at all but came from a service pistol.
Well, hold on.
<div id="attachment_1084285" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1084285" class="size-large wp-image-1084285" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2273148555-864x576.jpeg" alt="Federal agents draw their guns out after an incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner April 25, 2026 in Washington, DC." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2273148555-864x576.jpeg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2273148555-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2273148555-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2273148555-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2273148555-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2273148555-1800x1200.jpeg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2273148555-1200x800.jpeg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Nathan Howard/Getty Images</div>
The publicly available audio does capture a distinct initial pop followed by five rapid return shots from the officer’s service weapon. A 12-gauge shotgun fired indoors is obviously loud, but so is a 9mm or .40-caliber service pistol fired in a hotel. The presence of six shots, not five, is precisely why the DOJ’s theory is that the gunman fired just once.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has already explained the government’s early working theory of what happened: a preliminary review found an empty spent shotgun shell still inside the chamber of the 12-gauge pump-action shotgun the assailant was carrying when he sprinted through the magnetometer. A spent shell in the chamber of a pump-action shotgun is strong circumstantial evidence that it was cycled and fired. Ballistics experts are still doing the detailed work, including gunshot residue testing, trajectory mapping, and audio forensics, to confirm exactly which weapon produced the first shot.
Graff also questions the timeline and the perpetrator’s actions captured on surveillance cameras. In the video, the attacker is seen sprinting past the magnetometer, shotgun in hand. He is off camera for just a few seconds, where he would have presumably readied his weapon before firing.
Graff argues that there simply would not be enough time for him to bring his shotgun to bear, and fire at close range — something he calls “challenging” for “someone even far more experienced with firearms than [defendant] appears to be.”
Yet, the entire sequence from breach to tackle was recounted by eyewitnesses, body-worn cameras (standard for Uniformed Division officers), and venue security. While the video doesn’t show the exact trigger pull, the audio, the spent casing, the officer’s vest impact, subsequent injury, and the shooter’s immediate arrest with a loaded shotgun and .38-caliber pistol help shape the story as more evidence comes to light.
Acting AG Blanche has been explicit, saying more forensic examination is underway. On Monday, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro reinforced that these are just the initial charges by saying, “More to come.”
The American public can expect the complaint to be superseded with additional details from the ballistics report and full video review. You can bank on one of the additional charges being §111, &#8220;assault against a federal officer.&#8221;
Perhaps his weakest point, Graff notes that TSA personnel were helping run some of the magnetometers — a fact he presents as evidence that the Secret Service was “overstretched.” Well, speaking as a former Homeland Security official, I know firsthand that supplemental screening by partner federal agencies is routine for mega-events like the Correspondents’ Dinner, which requires layered security. That is standard interagency support.
Those who say the DOJ may be “misleading the public” or exaggerating the threat to keep the events of April 25 “scary or threatening” are belied by the investigation’s transparency: releasing the complaint quickly, the president and DOJ officials&#8217; late-night press conference hours after the shooting, and the Acting AG’s daily interviews or press conferences every day since.
Six gunshots, an injured officer, a suspect tackled with two loaded firearms, the pre-attack email signed “‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen,” the manifesto found in his hotel room, and his cross-country train trip specifically for this event don’t simply vanish because the first complaint was conservatively worded or because ballistics work takes time.
Americans can and should be skeptical about what the U.S. government tells us — we’ve been lied to in the past — but the facts in this case simply don’t fit the fiction that TikTok investigators or Substack sleuths are serving up.
Skepticism is wise, sanity is essential.
* * *
Tricia McLaughlin served as the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. Follow her on X: @TriciaOhio

Senior Justice Department Leaders Announce Charges Against Correspondents Dinner Gunman

‘False Flag’ Frenzy Erupts After Trump Attack But The Facts Won’t Cooperate

'False Flag' Frenzy Erupts After Trump Attack But The Facts Won’t Cooperate

Donald Trump

DW Opinion

Shooting

Substack

White House Correspondents’ Dinner

A pregnant woman on TikTok posted a video of herself playing music next to her stomach so her unborn son would turn out gay.
The video, posted to X by independent journalist Cam Higby, shows user Katie Frank playing ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” with the caption: “POV you’re pregnant with a boy and gotta make sure he turns out a little gay.”
“No toxic masculinity allowed in this house,” the caption said.
“This is DISGUSTING,” Higby said in his post.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A mother posted on TikTok that she’s playing “gay” music next to her baby bump hoping that it will make her son gay.
The entire comment section is FLOODED with to-be mothers and mothers sharing techniques they used or are using to make their own kids gay.
This is DISGUSTING. <a href="https://t.co/HqpybMv469">pic.twitter.com/HqpybMv469</a>
— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) <a href="https://twitter.com/camhigby/status/2047704691992043876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The video has 4.3 million views on TikTok and more than 950,000 likes.
The comments of the video, which Higby also posted, were filled with moms talking about wanting their sons to be gay.
“My son is four and exclusively listens to sabrina carpenter [sic]… hopes are VERY high,” one comment, which has more than 97,000 likes, said.
Another comment with more than 150,000 likes was from a mother celebrating her son wanting to go to theater camp.
“My son just officially came out a few months ago,” yet another comment said.
“I can confirm this worked for me,” a third commenter said. “Manifesting for you.”
“My son LOVES the new lady Gaga song. He’s on 1 1/2 but I have high hopes,” another stated.
Other comments were from self-described gay users thanking moms in the comments for being supportive.
“Didn’t start my transition until just recently because I never [sic] given the space to explore who I was as a child,” one commenter said. “Seeing the moms in the comment section who let their kids be who they are without judgement gives me a bit of hope.”
Another wrote, “As a gay man this comment section is making me tear up, thank you for being so loving and accepting Moms!”
The only negative comment from the woman&#8217;s video was one user who wrote, “Hope yall get better soon.”
Conservatives, on the other hand, shredded the video in Higby’s comments.
“But they say gay people are ‘marginalized and oppressed’…so they want their kids to be oppressed???” conservative commentator Riley Gaines posted.
“Not sure who needs to hear this, but this is child abuse,” conservative actor Kevin Sorbo wrote on X.
Others said listening to ABBA music was the wrong strategy.
“I grew up listening to air supply and ABBA, this technique doesn’t work,” Andrew Gruel posted in response to the video.

Pregnant

Pregnant Woman On TikTok Blasts Music To Make Her Son Gay

LGBTQ

Social Issues

U.S.

This piece is adapted from the latest episode of Matt Fradd All Access. You can watch the full episode <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/matt-fradd-myth-busted?elementPosition=0&amp;row=5&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">here</a>.
There’s a bit of a meme that’s been going around that claims Jesus was a myth, and an unoriginal one at that.
Jesus, this theory goes, is an amalgamation of various Pagan figures blended into some new Christian invention.
If you’re reading this, you probably got a good laugh from that and rightfully dismissed it. Trust me, I agree with you. But I do think it’s worth taking a deeper look at those claims, their history, and to try and think of the best ways to respond if someone brings them up at your office Christmas party.
Similarity Does Not Imply Dependence
Before we look at some of these alleged parallels between Christianity and paganism, it’s important to note that similarity does not imply dependence. That is, even if Christianity did have beliefs and practices similar to those of earlier religions, it doesn’t follow that there must be a causal connection between them.
Similarities among religions shouldn’t surprise us. Most religions, after all, try to answer the same fundamental questions in life: “Where did we come from?”, “Is there an afterlife?”, “How should we live?” Most religions have rituals, sacred stories, and moral codes. It would be surprising if there weren’t some similarities among them. In fact, you might say that the similarities are a sign that God does exist. If he is real, which he is, you can expect different religions in different eras and cultures to reach many similar conclusions about what he’s like and how to relate to him.
Jesus, Pagan Myth, &amp; Anti-Semitism
Claims that Christian beliefs about Jesus are adapted from pagan cults may be popular on TikTok and Instagram today, but they’ve actually been around a lot longer than you might think.
A school of 19th century German theologians sought to interpret Jesus against a pagan background rather than a Jewish one. Frankly, they weren’t a big fan of Jews, and there was a desire for an “Aryan Jesus,” rather than a Hebrew one. The movement continued into the early 20th century with writers such as J. M. Robertson, William Benjamin Smith, Arthur Drews, and others who sought to deny the historicity of Christ by drawing upon the work of liberal theologians who tended to deny the value of the sources for Jesus outside of the New Testament.
Unfortunately for these critics, their arguments were not taken seriously by mainstream critics, and their work fell into relative obscurity. It was not until a British professor named G.A. Wells rediscovered and translated this German scholarship in the 1970s that the myth argument rose to prominence again. However, it is still a fringe movement, and even Wells has abandoned it and admits there is a historical basis for the stories about Jesus.
The fact is, there is no serious debate among the vast majority of scholars in the fields related to the question of the historicity of Jesus. Even agnostics like Bart Ehrman, who has become popular for his arguments against the reliability of the New Testament, admit that Jesus was a real historical figure. He writes, “The view that Jesus existed is held by virtually every expert on the planet.”
Pagan Deities
Those who claim Jesus’s story was lifted from Pagan myths all follow the same pattern: they choose a Pagan figure — whether Horus, Dionysus, Mithras, or whoever — and claim that there are so many similarities in their stories that Jesus must be a copy.
That might make a good TikTok video. But if you look closer at these so-called similarities, you quickly realize that they’re either completely coincidental, or just plainly fabricated.
Among the many ancient pagan deities of which Christ is said to be a copy, the Egyptian god Horus seems to get the most attention. So let’s take a closer look at the alleged parallels and decide for ourselves.
The first claim is that Horus was born to a virgin mother.
Several different (and contradictory) stories about Horus have developed gradually over the last 3,000 years, but the most common story of his conception espoused by mythicists today involves his father, Osiris, and mother, Isis.
It goes like this: When Osiris was murdered and his body cut up into fourteen pieces, his wife Isis journeyed throughout Egypt collecting them. She was able to find all the pieces except his genitals (not making this up), which had been eaten by catfish at the bottom of the Nile. Isis then makes a prosthetic phallus, gets impregnated by it and along comes Horus.
So, not exactly a virgin birth.
The second claim is that Horus was crucified.
So, how did Horus die? Well, again, that depends on which account you go by. Horus either did not die, or died as a child after having been poisoned by a scorpion. It’s only in the popular mythicist film “Zeitgeist” that we get the claim that Horus was “crucified.”
Debunking this one is easy. Crucifixion was a Roman invention with no Egyptian equivalent. The basis for claims that Horus was crucified? Images depicting him with his arms outstretched. That’s it.
As the film’s study guide explains, “The issue at hand is not a man being thrown to the ground and nailed to a cross, as Jesus is depicted to have been, but the portrayal of gods and goddesses in cruciform, where by the divine figure appears with arms outstretched in a symbolic context.”
By this line of reasoning, we should also conclude that Barney the dinosaur was crucified, since there are many images of him standing with outstretched arms!
The third claim is that Horus rose from the dead.
This one is somewhat true. But the fact is, the dying and revivification of Horus is vastly dissimilar to the death and resurrection of Christ. The idea that the New Testament authors concocted the resurrection story from dying and rising Pagan gods was put to rest by Jonathan Z. Smith in the late 1980s, in his article “Dying-Rising Gods” in the scholarly and authoritative Encyclopedia of Religion. He writes:
“The category of dying and rising gods, once a major topic of scholarly investigation, must be understood to have been largely a misnomer based on imaginative reconstructions and exceedingly late or highly ambiguous texts … All the deities that have been identified as belonging to the class of dying and rising deities can be subsumed under the two larger classes of disappearing deities or dying deities. In the first case the deities return but have not died; in the second case the gods die but do not return. There is no unambiguous instance in the history of religions of a dying and rising deity.”
So, sorry Horus. Doesn’t quite cut it.
What To Tell The Pagans
As I said, Horus isn’t the only pagan entity people claim was the inspiration for Christ. So, should you ever find yourself in dialogue with someone making this argument, here’s what you can do:
Familiarize yourself with the alleged parallels by reading authoritative sources yourself. Then, ask your interlocutor where they are getting their information. If they point you to a particular website or movie, ask them where that website or movie got its information.
Take the parallels one at a time. It’s easy for someone to rattle off a list of alleged parallels making it appear that the evidence is overwhelming, but if you take the time to examine each supposed parallel, you’ll find, as we found above, that they are not very similar at all.
And remember: just because an ancient Japanese boat looks a bit like an American birch-bark canoe, that doesn’t mean they were copying off each other’s paper.

Untitled design – 2026-04-24T131400.733

Why Jesus Is Not A Spinoff Of Pagan Gods

Atheism

Debate

Jesus Christ

Matt Fradd

Paganism

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

Actor Timothée Chalamet sparked backlash after saying &#8220;no one cares&#8221; about opera and ballet, comments that quickly drew criticism from artists and cultural figures. But one singer admitted that she joined the pile-on for a different reason: &#8220;virtue signaling.&#8221;
Recording artist Doja Cat acknowledged that her criticism came not out of personal conviction, but because she wanted to participate in online outrage, revealing that she has never even attended an opera or ballet performance.
“I took it upon myself yesterday to kind of give it to the man because there is a culture based around outrage and things like that, and people want to feel like they’re part of something,&#8221; the 30-year-old singer shared in a TikTok video. &#8220;It’s a need to connect, whether good or bad.” 
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" style="max-width: 605px; min-width: 325px;" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@dojacat/video/7615352156626963725" data-video-id="7615352156626963725">
<section><a title="@dojacat" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@dojacat?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@dojacat</a><a title="♬ original sound - Doja Cat" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7615352204446223117?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">♬ original sound &#8211; Doja Cat</a></section>
</blockquote>
<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
“What I was doing&#8230;was virtue signaling because I wanted to connect and I knew that Timothée’s goof up was something that I could leverage in order for people to connect with me and f*** with me,” Doja Cat went on. 
“And it’s easy. It’s a modern way to garner clicks, likes, approval and all kinds of things like that from people. And so I did that yesterday, and I didn’t really think about why I was doing it&#8230; I don’t know anything about opera. I don’t know anything about ballet, and I’ve never been to either shows.&#8221;
That message was shared after Doja Cat’s original, since-deleted TikTok told Chalamet to “sit the f*** down and shut the f*** up” and insisted that “people give a f***” about opera and ballet.
The controversy began after a clip from Chalamet&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/timothee-chalamet-still-getting-slammed-for-saying-ballet-and-opera-are-dead">conversation</a> with Matthew McConaughey during a CNN &amp; Variety town hall event went viral. The “Marty Supreme” actor was blasted for saying “no one cares” about the two art forms. 
Ballet dancer Misty Copeland <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/global/misty-copeland-timothee-chalamet-actor-ballet-opera-1236684380/">claimed</a> Chalamet wouldn’t have his acting career if opera and ballet didn’t exist. Legendary opera singer Andrea Bocelli said Chalamet’s comments “<a href="https://people.com/andrea-bocelli-speaks-out-after-timothee-chalamet-opera-ballet-comments-exclusive-11924422">surprised</a>” him and invited the actor to attend one of his performances. 
Many social media users are now saying the outrage cycle has dragged on too long. Chalamet has not issued a public apology or clarified any of his comments. So far, Doja Cat appears to be the only celebrity who has admitted that she was only coming down hard on the actor to get clicks.

2025 LACMA Art + Film Gala

Doja Cat Admits She Piled On Chalamet For Clicks, Says She Was ‘Virtue Signaling’

Celebrities

Entertainment

Timothee Chalamet

Virtue Signaling

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&#8217;m in a very Chinese time in my life. No, you didn&#8217;t misread that.
A new trend has emerged on TikTok where Chinese-American girls are sharing the Eastern lifestyle with the rest of us. The videos have taken off, garnering millions of views from non-Chinese users looking to improve their health with the help of generations-old wellness routines.
It&#8217;s not cultural appropriation; it&#8217;s cultural appreciation.
&#8220;Tomorrow, you’re turning Chinese,&#8221; Chinese-American TikToker Sherry, one of the viral creators behind the craze, told her followers in a recent video. “I know it sounds intimidating, but there’s no point fighting it now. You are the chosen one.&#8221;
The viral fad has taken off as more and more young women are looking for ways to make America healthy again and turn to natural and homeopathic remedies. It has even converted the macho men of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXhW9H9bCmM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barstool Sports</a>, who are now starting their days with an &#8220;ancient Chinese&#8221; workout featuring &#8220;lymphatic hops&#8221; in the hopes of getting shredded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Day 2 of the Chinese work out. We’re both insanely sore but we’re here and about to dominate the day <a href="https://t.co/tBtv1aG7wG">pic.twitter.com/tBtv1aG7wG</a>
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarstoolBigCat/status/2024135141912707213?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
KB may be too brolic for the Ancient Chinese Workout™️… <a href="https://t.co/r4kcmNyATm">https://t.co/r4kcmNyATm</a> <a href="https://t.co/4TCg5aJSLD">pic.twitter.com/4TCg5aJSLD</a>
— The Yak (@BarstoolYak) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarstoolYak/status/2025963212231922044?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I tried some of the ancient practices for a week to see if the routine would change my physical and emotional health.
Each day, I started my morning with warm tea before I ate anything. I then went on a short walk to promote digestion after eating my breakfast, which was usually eggs and toast. The key is to keep your digestive system warm and not shock it first thing in the morning with cold food or ice water.
A study <a href="https://www.sdsu.edu/news/2025/10/sdsu-study-links-food-and" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> last year by San Diego State University found that individuals who consumed cold drinks had &#8220;increased anxiety, more sleep disturbances, and greater feelings of abdominal fullness.&#8221; On the other hand, those &#8220;who drank more hot beverages &#8230; reported lower levels of depression, improved sleep quality, and fewer digestive symptoms.&#8221;
&#8220;Researchers found food and beverage temperature, long recognized in traditional Asian medicine, has measurable links to anxiety, insomnia and gut discomfort,&#8221; the university said in a release at the time.
I wore slippers and never went barefoot, which Sherry explains is meant to prevent illness. Some of the Chinese creators also say it promotes kidney health and fertility by keeping the womb and abdomen warm.
&#8220;You&#8217;re letting cold enter your body and thus you&#8217;re weakening your body,&#8221; Sherry said in one video. &#8220;But if you&#8217;re wearing house slippers, you&#8217;re more likely to maintain that warmth and you&#8217;re less likely to get sick.&#8221;
Some of the girls behind the trend suggested drinking broth first thing in the morning. The broth wasn&#8217;t for me and felt too heavy to start my day. Instead, I opted for peppermint tea.
If I drank or ate anything cold, I would balance it out with a hot tea to keep my digestive system warm, as directed by the Chinese baddies. I also had a warm apple drink, which I made by boiling apples, ginger, honey, and goji berries, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine to support the kidney and liver detoxification systems. It was really delicious, but didn&#8217;t change my life in a week.
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" style="max-width: 605px; min-width: 325px;" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@jenniethereporter/video/7608251340040572190" data-video-id="7608251340040572190">
<section><a title="@jenniethereporter" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@jenniethereporter?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@jenniethereporter</a>Chinese baddie tea!<a title="♬ Relaxed and chill lofi hip hop long version(1580488) - Koko ni studio" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/Relaxed-and-chill-lofi-hip-hop-long-version-1580488-7426811894536849424?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">♬ Relaxed and chill lofi hip hop long version(1580488) &#8211; Koko ni studio</a></section>
</blockquote>
<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
The routine has also helped me prioritize self-care. I&#8217;ve found myself journaling, praying, reading, and adopting tasks that promote mindfulness.
One of the biggest differences I noticed was that a few days into walking after meals, I craved movement. I am usually a low-impact workout kind of girl and like doing pilates and yoga a couple times a week. But as I adopted more of the &#8220;Chinese baddie&#8221; lifestyle of increasing my movement throughout the day, I started going ham in the gym. For days, I&#8217;ve been lifting and even running on the treadmill. The endorphins were addicting, and so were the points on my Oura ring. I found I was walking for longer periods and exceeding 10,000 steps per day.
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" style="max-width: 605px; min-width: 325px;" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@mollymyattporter/video/7599784621575884063" data-video-id="7599784621575884063">
<section><a title="@mollymyattporter" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mollymyattporter?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@mollymyattporter</a> Woke up a Chinese baddie <a title="chinesebaddie" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/chinesebaddie?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#chinesebaddie</a> <a title="♬ original sound - alex" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7313321369772854048?refer=embed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">♬ original sound &#8211; alex</a></section>
</blockquote>
<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
Another mood boost came from spending more time outside. As a result, I found myself interacting with the outside world more, rather than spending most of my day mindlessly scrolling on my phone. In many of the viral TikTok videos, Chinese-American girls said they intentionally make time to phone a friend or have social time in the morning to promote longevity. When I was out with the dog in the park during my walks, I ran into neighbors whom I&#8217;d never before interacted with and quickly fostered new friendships with them.
Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in 2023 <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> an &#8220;epidemic&#8221; of &#8220;loneliness and isolation&#8221; in America.
Loneliness affects somewhere between &#8220;one third to well over half of people in industrialized societies,” <a href="https://lifestylemedicine.stanford.edu/how-social-connection-supports-longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> Steven Crane, a research scholar at Stanford University.
“While healthy networks of social connection provide powerful protective health effects, increasing odds of long-term survival by 50%, loneliness itself is associated with many distinct detrimental health impacts on sleep, physical health, and mental health,&#8221; Crane says.
Overall, I see no harm in implementing the &#8220;Chinese baddie&#8221; routine in your day, even if it&#8217;s just one of your habits. After this week of wellness, I plan to continue walking in the morning after breakfast and keeping my slippers on at home. But I probably will ditch drinking warm water as soon as the Texas heat takes hold.
***
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Untitled design – 2026-02-23T125029.564

I Followed TikTok’s Hottest Wellness Trend For A Week — Here’s What Happened

Health

A Virginia hospital fired a nurse after she encouraged other medical professionals to inject ICE officers with succinylcholine, a drug that temporarily paralyzes muscles, in an effort to &#8220;sabotage&#8221; them.
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health said it opened an investigation after the nurse posted a series of TikTok videos and ultimately terminated her employment. In one of the videos, she urged doctors and nurses to “grab some syringes with needles on the end” and fill them with &#8220;saline or succinylcholine,&#8221; adding, &#8220;Whatever. Whatever,” and claiming it would “probably be a deterrent.”
&#8220;Following an investigation, the individual involved in the social media videos is no longer employed by VCU Health. In addition, VCU Health has fulfilled its reporting requirements under Virginia state law,&#8221; the hospital said in a statement Tuesday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Meet Melinda, a healthcare worker at <a href="https://twitter.com/VCUHealth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VCUHealth</a>. She posted a series of videos encouraging people to inject ICE agents with succinylocholine, a temporary paralysis drug, and spray poison on them. She also encourages woman to go on dates with agents and drug their food.
Any… <a href="https://t.co/CMJN12GhOc">pic.twitter.com/CMJN12GhOc</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/2015941489516245223?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The woman, who went by the handle Redheadredemption, posted another video in which she appeared in scrubs and encouraged viewers to use poison ivy-soaked water in a water gun to shoot ICE officers in the face.
She also called on single women to meet up with ICE agents on dating apps and spike their drinks with laxatives.
“All the single ladies where these ICE guys are going have a chance to do something, not without risk, but could help the cause for sure. Get on Tinder, get on Hinge, find these guys, they’re around,” she said.
“If they’re an ICE agent, bring some ex-lax and put it in their drinks, get ’em sick. Nobody’s gonna die, it’s just enough to incapacitate them and get them off the street for the next day.”
“Highly easily deniable, you could get sick, too. Won’t eat there again. I’m just sayin’, let’s get ’em where they eat, somebody’s not gonna be supporting these guys, where’s the hotel where they eat? Who makes their breakfast? Let’s find them.”
“Let’s make their lives f*cking miserable.”
She also encouraged hotel staff to hide “dead fish” in ICE officers’ rooms.
The woman&#8217;s posts come as ICE agents face an 8,000% increase in death threats and a more than 1,300% surge in assaults.

Screenshot 2026-01-27 at 4.02.32 PM

Virginia Hospital Fires Nurse Who Urged Colleagues To Inject ICE Agents With Paralytic Drug

Crime

hospital

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Minneapolis

WASHINGTON—Shortly after President Donald Trump&#8217;s second term began, Vice President JD Vance was given a job: figure out how to fulfill the president&#8217;s promise to save TikTok.
That deal was reached late last week, but work started a year ago when the vice president convened a series of &#8220;late night meetings&#8221; to dissect the unique challenges of convincing ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the social media network, to sell to an American company. Congress passed a law during the Biden administration to ban TikTok unless it was sold to an American company, but Trump delayed enforcement as his team worked towards a deal to avert it.
Alex Bruesewitz, the trusted Trump advisor and X Strategies CEO, explained that Vance&#8217;s history in Silicon Valley, tech literacy, and rolodex in the business world made him the obvious choice to spearhead the initiative.
&#8220;The president trusted him with that because the president knows that not only is JD a capable politician, but he also has tremendous business acumen,&#8221; Bruesewitz said. &#8220;He knows a lot of the guys who were involved, and so, it was very easy for the president to task JD with this, and JD didn&#8217;t disappoint.&#8221;
Vance&#8217;s role in the deal was &#8220;crucial&#8221; from the very beginning, Bruesewitz said, noting that though there were some concerns about the platform, they were addressed and ironed out in the new deal. Vance was a major part of that.
&#8220;Like the president, the vice president understood the importance of making sure that TikTok stayed alive,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s such an incredible platform to reach the youth in our country. It&#8217;s also an incredible platform for small businesses in our country, and it&#8217;s actually the most pro-Trump platform out there.&#8221;
Vance&#8217;s negotiating tactics included pushing Google and Apple to put TikTok back into their app stores, and speaking regularly with ByteDance, TikTok&#8217;s Chinese parent company. He kept Trump looped in on all those ongoing conversations, &#8220;including the importance of securing a deal that would first and foremost address our national security and data privacy concerns,&#8221; according to Bruesewitz.
Throughout the spring of 2025, the vice president was working to firm up a deal — and that deal was ready to be signed, The Daily Wire has learned, until China backed out of it due to the Liberation Day tariffs. Vance kept pushing for the deal, negotiating with investors and ByteDance throughout the summer. In August, he began pushing for more direct engagement with China.
By September, Vance was leading the planning for a meeting in Madrid between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Chinese officials, and Vance&#8217;s own counsel, which &#8220;played a significant role directly negotiating the final terms on behalf of Vance.&#8221; Both Vance and Trump joined some of those negotiating meetings over the phone, and threatened China with &#8220;serious consequences&#8221; if the deal was not made by the end of the Madrid trip.
<div id="attachment_1034305" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://drwordpress.dailywire.com/news/how-jd-vance-helped-donald-trump-to-save-tiktok/president-trump-signs-order-on-tiktoks-us-operations-3" rel="attachment wp-att-1034305"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1034305" class="wp-image-1034305 size-large" src="https://drwordpress.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/GettyImages-2237013328-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2237013328-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2237013328-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2237013328-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2237013328.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
The deal was closed by the end of the trip. Vance, according to a source familiar, &#8220;opened the door&#8221; for Trump to close the deal. And Trump signed an executive order advancing the TikTok deal on September 25, 2025.
Under the terms of that new deal, TikTok US will be owned and operated by an entity that is majority United States-owned and United States-based. ByteDance now owns less than 20% of TikTok, as is required by United States law.
&#8220;[TikTok United States Data Security] Joint Venture&#8217;s mandate is to secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures,&#8221; TikTok <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/announcement-from-the-new-tiktok-usds-joint-venture-llc?lang=en">said in a release</a>. &#8220;It will safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem through robust trust and safety policies and content moderation while ensuring continuous accountability through transparency reporting and third-party certifications.&#8221;
TikTok US has three managing investors: the tech giant Oracle, investment firm MGX, and private equity firm Silver Lake, which each own 15% stakes. Other investors include Dell Family Office, Vastmere Strategic Investments, Alpha Wave Partners, Revolution, Merritt Way, LLC, and Via Nova.
Trump described these entities as &#8220;a group of Great American Patriots and Investors, the Biggest in the World,&#8221; noting that TikTok &#8220;will be an important Voice&#8221; in a Truth Social post late last week. He specifically thanked Vance for helping to bring about the deal and it&#8217;s &#8220;very dramatic, final, and beautiful conclusion.&#8221;
“Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and Vice President Vance, the Administration has successfully made good on yet another campaign promise and saved TikTok for its hundreds of millions of American users,&#8221; a spokesman for the vice president told The Daily Wire. &#8220;With this new entity under the control of U.S. investors, Americans can continue to enjoy TikTok safely and securely with their data protected in the United States.&#8221;
Bruesewitz pointed to internal analysis <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/23/us/politics/trump-biden-tiktok.html">conducted in 2024,</a> when President Joe Biden was still in the race for the 2024 election, which found that Trump was far more popular than Biden on the platform: the analysis found almost twice as many pro-Trump posts on TikTok as pro-Biden ones.
That&#8217;s a point that Trump has repeatedly emphasized, suggesting that TikTok was responsible for his performance &#8220;with the Youth Vote in the 2024 Presidential Election.&#8221;
&#8220;I only hope that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok,&#8221; the president said last week.
Democrats who used to support the app, despite Republican concerns about national security issues, flipped on TikTok once they realized how much pro-Trump sentiment was being shared on the app, Bruesewitz said.
&#8220;That&#8217;s when the Democrats switch happened,&#8221; Bruesewitz added. &#8220;The Democrats used to want to protect TikTok and then they said, OK, we want to ban it, when they realized that they weren&#8217;t very popular on that platform with the youth.&#8221;

US-POLITICS-VANCE

How Trump’s Team Got The TikTok Deal Done

J.D. Vance

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