Under Secretary of War Anthony J. Tata announced Thursday that a former U.S. Navy serviceman discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine has been reinstated.
Devin Berry has been reinstated to the U.S. Navy and promoted to Petty Officer Third Class, becoming a high-profile success story in the military’s efforts to reverse COVID vaccine mandate separations. Berry, an Aviation Boatswain’s Mate, was involuntarily discharged in July 2022 after refusing the vaccine.
The then-Department of Defense <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/soldiers-file-lawsuit-over-military-vaccine-mandate-seeking-exemption-for-natural-immunity">ordered all service members</a> to receive a COVID vaccine beginning August 24, 2021. More than 17,000 service members declined the shots, citing safety fears related to the vaccine’s rapid development, questions about messenger RNA technology, and objections tied to the use of fetal cell lines in testing, according to a 2023 <a href="https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-military/2023/03/27/the-fallout-of-the-militarys-covid-19-vaccine-mandate/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">report</a> from Air Force Times.
After President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14184 to offer reinstatement to service members involuntarily separated due to the vaccine requirement, Berry collaborated with the Navy’s reinstatement team to rejoin the fleet, receiving full back pay and three years of active-duty credit.  Tata lauded Berry’s return, quoting the sailor’s desire to finish his career in what he called &#8220;the best job in the Navy.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Pleased to share the story of another brave warrior impacted by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Devin Berry.
E3 Berry, an Aviation Boatswain’s Mate, was involuntarily separated in July 2022 after refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. After <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> signed EO 14184, he contacted the… <a href="https://t.co/XYP2ETwo8k">pic.twitter.com/XYP2ETwo8k</a>
— Under Secretary of War Anthony J. Tata (@USW_PR_HONTata) <a href="https://twitter.com/USW_PR_HONTata/status/2021982043467292788?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Berry’s case is part of a broader federal initiative to restore the honor of thousands of service members impacted by the 2021 vaccine mandate. Between August 2021 and the mandate’s rescission in January 2023, an estimated <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-reinstates-service-members-discharged-for-refusing-the-covid-vaccine">8,000 service members</a> were involuntarily separated. The Marine Corps saw the highest number of discharges, at more than 3,700, followed by significant numbers in the Navy, Army, and Air Force. Thousands more in the Guard and Reserve faced suspensions, and some chose to resign or retire early rather than comply.
The controversy surrounding the mandate centered on the military&#8217;s low approval rates for religious and medical exemptions, prompting numerous lawsuits and claims of violations of religious freedom. While many service members were discharged &#8220;honorably,&#8221; roughly 4,000 received &#8220;General (Under Honorable Conditions)&#8221; discharges, a designation that can limit access to GI Bill education benefits and hinder their transition to civilian life.
The tide turned after President Trump returned to office in early 2025. Executive Order 14184 authorized the reinstatement of all service members separated under the mandate, and the War Department moved to restore rank, back pay, and lost service time. A December 2025 review began automatically upgrading &#8220;General&#8221; discharges to &#8220;Honorable,&#8221; restoring GI Bill benefits for nearly 900 veterans.
While the return rate was initially low — with only 43 individuals rejoining in the first year after the mandate ended — the new incentives and formal apologies from leadership have aimed to improve those numbers. Returning service members are generally required to commit to a new four-year service obligation.
For Berry and others like him, the policy shift marks a second chance to complete the military careers they once thought were over.

Damn Few

Restoring Honor: Navy Reinstates Sailor Discharged Over Vaccine Refusal

COVID-19 Vaccine

Military

Politics

U.S. Navy

Vaccine Mandate

President Donald Trump on Friday evening pushed back on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/first-in-the-nation-florida-to-end-all-vaccine-mandates">Florida&#8217;s plan</a> to eliminate all vaccine mandates, including school requirements.
Trump said Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo&#8217;s plan was a &#8220;tough stance&#8221; and emphasized that some vaccines are &#8220;not controversial&#8221; and should generally be taken to protect children.
&#8220;I think we have to be very careful,&#8221; he told the press from the Oval Office. &#8220;You have some vaccines that are so amazing: the polio vaccine, I happen to think is amazing. A lot of people think that COVID [vaccine] is amazing. You know, there are many people that believe strongly in that.&#8221;
&#8220;You have some vaccines that are so incredible, and I think you have to be very careful when you say that some people don&#8217;t have to be vaccinated,&#8221; the president reiterated. &#8220;It&#8217;s a very tough position.&#8221;
&#8220;Initially, I heard about it yesterday,&#8221; Trump said of the Florida vaccine initiative. &#8220;And it&#8217;s a tough stance. You have vaccines that work &#8212; just pure and simple, they work, they&#8217;re not controversial at all. And I think those vaccines should be used, otherwise some people are going to catch it and they endanger other people. And when you don&#8217;t have controversy at all, I think people should take it.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump pushes back on Florida removing all vaccine mandates, including for schoolchildren. He says some vaccines are a must.
&#8220;I think we have to be careful. You have some vaccines that are so amazing. The Polio vaccine I think is amazing. A lot of people… <a href="https://t.co/PsTGMIBaWl">pic.twitter.com/PsTGMIBaWl</a>
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1964084178720608711?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
Dr. Ladapo, alongside Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, announced on Wednesday that the Sunshine State will end all vaccination mandates, including requirements for schools.
“The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the government, is working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law — all of them,” Ladapo said. “Every last one of them.”
Ladapo said the government has no right to tell parents what to put in their children’s bodies, or their own bodies.
“Every last [mandate] is wrong and drips with disdain — and slavery,” he argued. “Who am I, or anyone else … to tell you what you should put in your body? Who am I to tell you what your child should put in [their] body?”
“I don’t have that right,” he continued. “Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God. I don’t have that right. Government does not have that right.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨 MAJOR BREAKING: The Surgeon General of Florida just announced ALL VACCINE MANDATES IN FLORIDA will be ENDED, and the room erupted.
All. Not just COVID. ALL.
JOSEPH LADAPO: &#8220;Every last one is wrong and DRIPS with disdain and slavery! Who am I, or anyone else, to tell YOU what… <a href="https://t.co/Kah5LscGTo">pic.twitter.com/Kah5LscGTo</a>
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1963254999204442607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
Ending vaccine requirements for schoolchildren would be a seismic change — every state in the nation currently has school vaccine requirements. Additionally, liberal states have increasingly nixed religious exemptions for families looking to opt their children out of some requirements.
Gov. DeSantis on Friday seemed to reiterate his support for the plan. During remarks at the second annual State Freedom Caucus Summit, the governor boosted the right to medical freedom and said he didn’t believe the government should coerce people into certain treatment, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-reveals-what-battles-he-wants-to-tackle-next-as-governor?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=Original&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=DeSantis+Reveals+What+Battles+He+Wants+To+Tackle+Next+As+Governor">The Daily Wire</a> reported.
Gov. DeSantis has led the charge on the issue of <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/05/12/desantis-medical-freedom-laws?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">medical freedom</a> in the wake of aggressive COVID policies. In 2023, for example, he signed a set of medical freedom measures into law, which banned mask and vaccine mandates and added new conscience protections for health care providers.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/first-in-the-nation-florida-to-end-all-vaccine-mandates">First In The Nation: Florida To End All Vaccine Mandates</a>

Sir Keir Starmer visit to Washington DC

Trump Pushes Back On Florida Plan To End All School Vax Mandates

Donald Trump

Florida

Health

Ron DeSantis

U.S.

Vaccines

Florida’s surgeon general, alongside GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, announced on Wednesday that the Sunshine State will end all vaccination mandates, including requirements for schools.
“The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the government, is working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law — all of them,” Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo told a room of supporters. “Every last one of them.”
Ladapo went on to say that the government has no right to tell parents what to put in their children’s bodies, or their own bodies, sparking loud applause.
“Every last [mandate] is wrong and drips with disdain — and slavery,” he argued. “Who am I, or anyone else … to tell you what you should put in your body? Who am I to tell you what your child should put in [their] body?”
“I don’t have that right,” he continued. “Your body is a gift from God. What you put into your body is because of your relationship with your body and your God. I don’t have that right. Government does not have that right.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨 MAJOR BREAKING: The Surgeon General of Florida just announced ALL VACCINE MANDATES IN FLORIDA will be ENDED, and the room erupted.
All. Not just COVID. ALL.
JOSEPH LADAPO: &#8220;Every last one is wrong and DRIPS with disdain and slavery! Who am I, or anyone else, to tell YOU what… <a href="https://t.co/Kah5LscGTo">pic.twitter.com/Kah5LscGTo</a>
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1963254999204442607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
Ending vaccine requirements for schoolchildren would be a seismic change — every state in the nation currently has school vaccine requirements. Additionally, liberal states have increasingly nixed religious exemptions for families looking to opt their children out of some requirements.
An attorney from New York, who recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/teen-takes-on-new-york-over-vax-mandate-and-wins">won a major vaccine case</a> in the state, told The Daily Wire that since the state did away with religious exemptions, it has also largely eliminated medical exemptions, despite the government’s claims to still accept them.
“The problem really is these New York State Department of Health regulations that were issued in 2019, that led to hundreds of children who had longstanding medical exemptions suddenly getting them revoked,” attorney Sujata Gibson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/teen-takes-on-new-york-over-vax-mandate-and-wins">said</a>. “Many, many families have had to move out of town, get vaccinated against medical advice — some children have been severely harmed by that.”
It’s unclear how vaccine requirements will be peeled back in the state, but Ladapo does oversee the Florida Department of Health. He also noted that this vision will be possible with the help of state lawmakers, who Ladapo said will “have to make decisions” on these matters.
Gov. DeSantis has led the charge on the issue of <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/05/12/desantis-medical-freedom-laws?utm_source=chatgpt.com">medical freedom</a> in the wake of the aggressive COVID policies. In 2023, for example, he signed a set of medical freedom measures into law, which banned mask and vaccine mandates and added new conscience protections for health care providers. He flanked Ladapo during the announcement to end all vaccination requirements on Wednesday.
Federally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has moved to effectively make COVID vaccine mandates illegal by ending “emergency use authorization” for the vaccines.
“We saw the heavy-handed government with the vaccine mandates with the COVID vaccine, no longer is that possible given the landscape that we’ve created,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary <a href="https://x.com/SecKennedy/status/1962895599835009184">said</a>. 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-removes-woke-crosswalk-sparks-backlash-from-the-left?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=DeSantis+Removes+Woke+Crosswalk%2C+Sparks+Backlash+From+The+Left">DeSantis Removes Woke Crosswalk, Sparks Backlash From The Left</a>

Syringe and Coronavirus vaccine

First In The Nation: Florida To End All Vaccine Mandates

News

Public Schools

The Biden administration was aware of potentially deadly side effects associated with COVID vaccines and chose not to alert the public about the risks for months, according to a bombshell Senate report obtained by The Daily Wire.
According to the report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, officials knew as early as February 2021 that the vaccines were associated with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the thin sac surrounding the heart). Still, they waited to warn the public until June as they pushed the vaccine on Americans. 
The report concludes that U.S. health officials &#8220;knew about the risks of myocarditis,&#8221; &#8220;downplayed the health concern,&#8221; and deliberately &#8220;delayed informing the public about the risk.&#8221;
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who chairs the committee and will lead a hearing on it later this afternoon, told The Daily Wire that Biden officials delayed reporting the side effects because they were concerned about &#8220;vaccine hesitancy.&#8221; 
&#8220;But in being concerned about that, they violated the inviolable principle of informed consent,&#8221; Johnson said.
READ THE FULL REPORT:
<a style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Senate Report On The Biden Administration's Handling Of COVID Vaccine Side-Effects on Scribd" href="https://www.scribd.com/document/865042931/Senate-Report-On-The-Biden-Administration-s-Handling-Of-COVID-Vaccine-Side-Effects#from_embed">Senate Report On The Biden Administration&#8217;s Handling Of COVID Vaccine Side-Effects</a> by <a style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Daily Wire Investigations Team's profile on Scribd" href="https://www.scribd.com/user/694252498/Daily-Wire-Investigations-Team#from_embed">Daily Wire Investigations Team</a> on Scribd
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&nbsp;
&#8220;The federal government was very well aware of the myocarditis signal, particularly in young men, as early as February [2021],&#8221; Johnson told The Daily Wire, adding that Israeli officials were informing the United States about side effects they were noticing.
In late February, a CDC official named Lauri Markowitz, who co-led the Vaccine Safety Technical Work Group (VaST), sent an email concerning the “draft minutes and summary report from the VaST call this week” and stressed that “all VaST documents and communications are confidential.”
According to that email, the call included an update about nearly 1,000 death reports to VAERS following vaccination. Notably, the email said that in the cases where cause of death was “known,” it was “often cardiovascular”:
<blockquote>There have been 19536 VAERS reports (Moderna: 7092 PfizerBioNTech: 12444), including 1287 reports of COVID-19 disease after vaccination and 980 death reports to VAERS. Of the death reports, 470 were from long term care facilities. Where known, the cause of death was often cardiovascular.</blockquote>
Israel rolled out vaccinations quicker than the United States, so Israeli health officials saw adverse effects sooner.
The report states that the Israeli Ministry of Health notified Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials of “large reports of myocarditis, particularly in young people, following the administration of the Pfizer vaccine.”
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=memorial&amp;utm_content=editorialmemorialday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Memorial Day Sale – Get 40% Off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
Johnson said the report — &#8220;Failure to Warn: How Federal Health Agencies Downplayed the Risk of Myocarditis and Other Adverse Events Following COVID-19 Vaccination&#8221; — documents this apparent cover up in over 2,400 pages of attachments, which largely derive from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
&#8220;For a number of months, they were talking about these things. At some point in time, they actually internally said, &#8216;Is there a signal of myocarditis, a safety signal?&#8217; And the answer was &#8216;Yes,'&#8221; Johnson explained. &#8220;And yet, a couple of days later, they decided not to issue a warning on the Health Alert Network (HAN).&#8221;
&#8220;Rather than provide informed consent, the federal health agencies, the Biden administration, covered it up,&#8221; Johnson charged. &#8220;They downplayed the signals.&#8221;
The report notes that the Biden White House &#8220;distribut[ed] talking points to top U.S. health officials,&#8221; including National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, downplaying the risk of myocarditis:
<blockquote>Rather than provide the public and health care providers with immediate and transparent information regarding the risk of myocarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration waited until late June 2021 to announce changes to the labels for the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines based on the “suggested increased risks” of myocarditis and pericarditis. Even though CDC and FDA officials were well aware of the risk of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration opted to withhold issuing a formal warning to the public for months about the safety concerns, jeopardizing the health of young Americans. </blockquote>
An executive summary of the report notes that Johnson&#8217;s committee was effectively stonewalled by the Biden administration when requesting documents, seeking transparency. Under the Trump administration, that changed.
&#8220;Now, under a new administration and a new HHS secretary, HHS is beginning to produce records, pursuant to the chairman’s subpoena, that should have been provided years ago, without redactions, to Congress and the public,&#8221; the report said.

President Biden Receives His Updated Covid-19 Booster Vaccine

BOMBSHELL: Report Lays Out How Biden Covered Up Deadly Side-Effects Of COVID Vaccine

Bombshell: Biden Admin Covered Up Adverse COVID Vaccine Reactions, Including Myocarditis

Anthony Fauci

COVID

COVID-19

Joe Biden

Ron Johnson

Conservatives celebrated on Thursday as the Senate voted 52-45 to confirm Harmeet Dhillon to a top Justice Department position.
Dhillon, a conservative lawyer who fought Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate, will now become the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ. She was confirmed in a mostly partisan vote, with one Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voting alongside Democrats against Dhillon’s confirmation.
Throughout her legal career, Dhillon has fought for free speech, religious liberty, and defended President Donald Trump when a group of leftist voters attempted to throw him off the ballot in Colorado during the 2024 election.
“I’m extremely honored by President Trump’s nomination to assist with our nation’s civil rights agenda. It has been my dream to be able to serve our great country, and I am so excited to be part of an incredible team of lawyers led by [Attorney General Pam Bondi]. I cannot wait to get to work!” Dhillon said after she was first nominated by Trump. “I would not be here today without my amazing mother and brother’s support, and my beloved father Tejpal and husband Sarv, who did not live to see this day. I hope I will honor their memories, with God’s grace.”
Conservatives celebrated Dhillon’s confirmation, saying that she was a welcome addition to the DOJ.
“Congrats to my former lawyer [Harmeet Dhillon] on her confirmation as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights,” conservative activist Robby Starbuck <a href="https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1907922482050617740" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X. “No one will fight harder to ensure that EVERY American has their civil rights protected. A fearless champion for justice!”
The Dhillon Law Group, which was founded by Dhillon, posted a video featuring Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro and others congratulating her after the Senate vote wrapped up. 
“Hey Harmeet, I just want to say thank you so much for all the work you’ve done with Daily Wire to preserve free speech and free access to work and all the rest of the things that you’ve helped us with,” Shapiro said. “I can’t wait to see what you do at the DOJ. They put you in literally the perfect position to kick ass.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BIG CONGRATULATIONS from all of us at the Dhillon Law Group to our founder and FORMER managing partner, <a href="https://twitter.com/HarmeetKDhillon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HarmeetKDhillon</a> on her confirmation today as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. You’re going to do great things! <a href="https://t.co/wuBHIe9aBg">pic.twitter.com/wuBHIe9aBg</a>
&mdash; Dhillon Law Group (@dhillonlaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/dhillonlaw/status/1907921768565833761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
One of Dhillon&#8217;s best-known cases was when she <a href="https://www.dhillonlaw.com/lawsuits/the-daily-wire-challenges-biden-administration-vaccine-mandate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">represented</a> The Daily Wire in the legal fight that led to the Supreme Court blocking the Biden administration from enforcing a COVID vaccine mandate for private employers. With Dhillon’s help, The Daily Wire became the first major company to file a lawsuit against the emergency mandate in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.

US-POLITICS-REPUBLICANS-RNC

Conservatives Cheer As Harmeet Dhillon Confirmed To Key Justice Department Role

Civil Rights

Department of Justice

Executive

Harmeet Dhillon

Lisa Murkowski

Senate

President Trump recently signed an executive order to reinstate service members kicked out of the military for refusing to receive the COVID vaccine. The EO states they will be given their former rank, full back pay, and benefits. While this EO is a crucial first step, it doesn’t go far enough.
In addition to the provisions of the EO, an adjudication board, court martials, and support for those vaccine injured are needed to repair the considerable damage. To understand why the EO is insufficient to repair the military and restore trust, one must first understand the extent of the damage the mandate caused.
The mandate destroyed careers and upended lives. Over 8,000 troops were involuntarily kicked out for refusing to take the vaccine while tens of thousands more chose to leave after facing career hardships and the real possibility of being kicked out.
Service members’ religious rights were trampled as individual accommodation requests were dismissed wholesale in a manner so blatantly unconstitutional, injunctions were issued by federal judges to put a stop to these illegal practices. Meanwhile, troops with pending religious accommodation requests were de facto punished for even submitting an exemption as they couldn’t deploy, travel TDY (temporary duty), or PCS (permanent change of station) to future duty assignments.
The unvaccinated were harassed and suffered disparate treatment. They often had to wear masks while the vaccinated did not, were subjected to weekly COVID tests, were denied use of facilities such as the gym during certain hours designated only for the vaccinated, and were quarantined for extended periods of time. At some training environments, the unvaccinated were ordered to wear red wrist bands and red tape on their gear to indicate their “unclean” status.
Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his flag officers did everything in their power to coerce service members to get the vaccine and punish those who refused.
Even worse, some who received the COVID shot were medically injured, including with life altering ailments. The extent of this damage is unknown as information provided by the Department of Defense from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) has been incomplete.
To add insult to injury, the mandate was likely illegal as many troops claim no FDA approved product was available as required by 10 U.S. Code § 1107a.
All of this has no doubt contributed to the worst recruiting crisis in modern history.
Given this extensive damage, three things must be done to make this right.
First, there must be an adjudication board to repair the careers of affected troops. Those who refused the vaccine lost out on deployments, career enhancing schools, and promotions; received adverse paperwork for refusing to comply with a “lawful order”; and likely received bad evaluations for not being a “team player.” An adjudication board will assess these lost career opportunities and help affected service members get their careers back on track, not simply return them to their same rank. Failure to repair their careers would mean punishment even if they returned to service.
Second, to ensure this never happens again, flag officers who enforced this unlawful order and persecuted their subordinates must be held accountable through court martial. Trump’s service secretaries have the authority to conduct these court martials and can even recall retired flag officers to active duty so that they can be tried. Firing a few Generals so they can receive a fat retirement check and find jobs in the Military Industrial Complex won’t cut it. Their actions caused irreparable harm to service members and to restore trust, there must be real accountability.
Third, there must be an investigation into the health effects of the COVID shots on service members and medical compensation for those who have been vaccine injured. Troops, often against their will, were ordered to take an experimental shot with known negative side effects. Many of them now report adverse reactions and some of them experienced life altering ailments. These service members must receive TRICARE for life and the Department of Veterans Affairs must add reactions from the COVID shot to be covered as a Toxic Exposure Risk Activity (TERA) under the PACT Act.
President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are committed to making the military lethal and taking care of service members. This initial EO reinstating those kicked out with backpay is greatly appreciated. However, more needs to be done to repair the extensive damage, restore trust, and prevent similar overreach in the future.
With a better understanding of the harmful effects of the COVID vaccine mandate, I believe President Trump and Secretary Hegseth will seek broader repair and accountability. This must include an adjudication board, court martials, and care for the vaccine injured.
* * *
<a href="https://johnfrankman.com/">John Frankman</a> was a Captain in the U.S. Army who served as a Green Beret assigned to 7th Special Forces Group. On July 1st, 2023, he was forced out of the Army due to difficulties with the COVID 19 vaccine mandate.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Army Hosts Air Assault Operations Training Exercises At Fort Carson In Colorado

Why Trump’s Order To Restore Unvaccinated Troops Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Why Trump’s Order To Restore Unvaccinated Troops Doesn't Go Far Enough

Opinion

Pete Hegseth

President Trump

U.S. Army

U.S. Military

From defeating Biden&#8217;s COVID vaccine mandate to suing doctors who performed transgender surgeries on children, Harmeet Dhillon brings an established record of challenging government overreach and fighting for First Amendment rights ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing.
Dhillon, whom President Donald Trump tapped to be Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where she will face questions from lawmakers about her legal experience and knowledge. Throughout her legal career, Dhillon has fought for free speech, religious liberty, and defended Trump when a group of leftist voters attempted to throw him off the ballot in Colorado.
“I’m extremely honored by President Trump’s nomination to assist with our nation’s civil rights agenda. It has been my dream to be able to serve our great country, and I am so excited to be part of an incredible team of lawyers led by [Attorney General Pam Bondi]. I cannot wait to get to work!” Dhillon said, adding, “I would not be here today without my amazing mother and brother’s support, and my beloved father Tejpal and husband Sarv, who did not live to see this day. I hope I will honor their memories, with God’s grace.”
Dhillon’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee will be livestreamed by The Daily Wire.
Through her legal firms, the Dhillon Law Group and the Center for American Liberty, Dhillon has been involved in a number of impactful cases that have shaped the country over the last several years. One of Dhillon’s former law partners, David Warrington, is currently serving as White House Counsel, a role he was appointed to after working as the general counsel for Trump&#8217;s 2024 presidential campaign.
In November 2021, Dhillon <a href="https://www.dhillonlaw.com/lawsuits/the-daily-wire-challenges-biden-administration-vaccine-mandate/">represented</a> The Daily Wire in the legal fight that led to the Supreme Court blocking the Biden administration from enforcing a COVID vaccine mandate for private employers. With Dhillon’s help, The Daily Wire became the first major company to file a lawsuit against the emergency mandate in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
Fighting more COVID overreach, the Dhillon Law Group and the Center for American Liberty defended a coalition of congregants from three Christian churches in Southern California that sued California Governor Gavin Newsom over restrictions on religious services he imposed as part of his COVID crackdown. The Christians argued that Newsom was being harsher on religious groups than he was on certain businesses.
That case also made its way to the Supreme Court, which sided in February 2021 with the churches. The case was later settled.
Dhillon also represented Trilochan Oberoi, a Sikh man who sued the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in California for discriminating against his religious beliefs, which include not cutting his hair or shaving his beard. He was prevented from working as a prison guard if he insisted on keeping his beard. Dhillon successfully compelled the defendant to hire Oberoi, make an accommodation for his Sikh religious beliefs, and pay him a $295,000 settlement. 
In 2017, Dhillon sued the president of the University of California school system, Janet Napolitano, on behalf of the Young America’s Foundation and the Berkeley College Republicans, who accused UC Berkeley of restricting the free speech rights of conservatives through its guest speaker policies. The conservative groups alleged that the college had implemented certain high-profile speaker policies that disproportionately impacted their ability to bring speakers to campus and allowed leftists to exercise a “heckler’s veto” over controversial speakers.  
The university agreed to end security fees for speakers invited by student groups, implement First Amendment training for administrators, and provide universal guidelines for event planning. 
In recent years, Dhillon has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioner-chloe-cole-announces-official-lawsuit-against-kaiser-permanente-for-medical-negligence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">waded into</a> the battle against radical transgender ideology. She sued a group of health systems, including the Kaiser Foundation, and doctors for medical malpractice on behalf of Chloe Cole, a woman who was put on cross-sex hormone therapy and had her breasts removed because she identified as male as a teenager.
“Chloe’s family sought medical treatment for her at Kaiser,” Dhillon said at the time. “Her physicians and other medical professionals violated the first norm of the profession, the Hippocratic Oath, when, instead of caring for her and providing medically competent diagnoses and treatment, they permanently disfigured her for profit.”
Dhillon has worked for Trump in the past, defending him after a group of Colorado voters attempted to kick him off the ballot, claiming that he had violated the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment and was ineligible for office. The Supreme Court unanimously sided with Trump and ruled that he must be allowed to stay on the ballot.
In his announcement that he had picked Dhillon for the role, Trump said that she would be “a tireless defender of our Constitutional Rights.”

Harmeet Dhillon greets President Trump after he arrives aboard Air Force One at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, Calif. to attend a Republican Party fundraiser at an undisclosed location on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019.

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Biden Administration

Gavin Newsom

Religious Liberty

transgender surgery

President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> is reportedly set to reinstate service members discharged from the military under the Biden administration’s COVID vaccine mandate. 
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-reinstate-service-members-discharged-not-getting-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a> reported Monday morning that Trump plans to sign an executive order allowing those pushed out the door to return to the military at their previous rank with back pay and benefits. Under President Joe Biden, more than 8,000 service members were booted because they chose not to get the COVID jab. 
&#8220;The Executive Order directs the Secretary of Defense to reinstate all members of the military (active and reserve) who were discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine and who request to be reinstated,” a White House fact sheet obtained by Fox News says. 
&#8220;From 2021 to 2023, the Biden Administration and former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin discharged over 8,000 troops solely due to their COVID-19 vaccination status,&#8221; it adds. &#8220;After the vaccine mandate was repealed in 2023, only 43 of the more than the 8,000 troops dismissed elected to return to service under the Biden Administration and Secretary Austin.&#8221;
During his inaugural address last week, Trump promised he would hire back the discharged service members and give them back pay. 
&#8220;This week, I will reinstate any service members who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the COVID vaccine mandate with full back pay,&#8221; Trump said shortly after swearing in as president. 
The Biden administration’s military vaccine mandate ended in January 2023 after Republicans in Congress led an effort to repeal it as part of the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act. 
“The end of President Biden’s military COVID vaccine mandate is a victory for our military and for common sense,” then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-house-leader-kevin-mccarthy-the-covid-vax-mandate-on-our-military-is-ending" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time. “Last week, I told the president directly: it’s time to end the COVID vaccine mandate and rehire our service members.”
An <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-passes-defense-spending-bill-rescinding-covid-vaccine-mandate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">effort</a> led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to add an amendment to the repeal that would have rehired those discharged over the mandate failed. 
In addition to the military, the Biden administration issued a vaccine mandate for federal workers and all employers with at least 100 employees, who had the option to be tested weekly instead. The vaccine-or-test rule for large businesses was struck down in a 6-3 decision by the Supreme Court in January 2022.

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Covid vaccine

Executive Orders

Lloyd Austin

House lawmakers released their final comprehensive report on COVID on Monday detailing how government officials misled the public about the origins of the pandemic. 
The <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/12.04.2024-SSCP-FINAL-REPORT.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">520-page report</a> from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic covered everything from school closures to gain-of-function research to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/fauci-unmasked" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anthony Fauci</a>’s leadership of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The release of the report comes after the committee spent two years conducting over 30 transcribed interviews and depositions, holding 25 hearings and meetings, and going over over one million pages of documents. 
“The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a distrust in leadership. Trust is earned,” Chair Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) wrote in a letter accompanying the report. “Accountability, transparency, honesty, and integrity will regain this trust. A future pandemic requires a whole of America response managed by those without personal benefit or bias. We can always do better, and for the sake of future generations of Americans, we must. It can be done.”
One of the key findings of the report was that COVID likely originated and leaked out of a lab, a view that was once banned by Facebook but now echoed by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/covid-likely-leaked-from-wuhan-lab-senate-gop-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Senate Republicans</a> and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-responds-to-u-s-energy-departments-revised-wuhan-lab-leak-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Department of Energy</a>. The report said that COVID “likely emerged because of a laboratory or research related accident.”
The report noted that public officials from both China and the United States tried to hide facts that might confirm the lab leak theory. “The Chinese government, agencies within the U.S. Government, and some members of the international scientific community sought to cover-up facts concerning the origins of the pandemic,” the report said. 
For example, the lawmakers said that Fauci prompted the writing of an academic paper to undermine the lab leak theory in early 2020. The paper, known as “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pandemic-origins-subcommittee-suggests-fauci-prompted-doctors-to-draft-paper-to-disprove-lab-leak-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> that it was not plausible for the virus to come from a lab. 
The lawmakers further concluded that the NIH funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. According to the report, this research was facilitated by the EcoHealth Alliance and Peter Daszak, who the government <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hhs-moves-to-defund-ecohealth-alliance-says-action-needed-to-protect-the-public-interest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moved to bar</a> from future federal funding earlier this year. 
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/gift-guide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://get.dailywire.com/gift-guide/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1732727087136000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3Ao27zcTCGutKhTz_xpaKC">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE</a>
The report accused former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of “medical malpractice,” saying that he acted to publicly cover “up the total number of nursing home fatalities in New York.”  The panel previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-panel-refers-andrew-cuomo-to-doj-for-criminal-prosecution-over-covid-testimony" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made a criminal referra</a>l against Cuomo for allegedly lying about his knowledge of a report that was used to defend a New York policy that placed COVID patients in nursing homes.
Additionally, the report was critical of the Biden administration&#8217;s vaccine mandate, which was later struck down by the Supreme Court. The lawmakers wrote that the government was currently failing &#8220;to efficiently, fairly, and transparently adjudicate claims for the COVID-19 vaccine injured.&#8221;
Other findings of the report were that lockdowns of schools caused significant learning challenges for children and that pandemic aid was plagued by fraud and waste. Wenstrup wrote that the lockdowns were overly strict and broad and caused &#8220;predictable anguish and avoidable consequences.&#8221;
“Just a few short years ago, arguing that COVID came from a Chinese lab and that lockdowns &amp; authoritarian measures didn’t work would get you censored and kicked from social media,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said of the report. “This report will stand as a warning for future generations of what NOT to do.”

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House Oversight Committee

Pandemic

Wuhan Institute of Virology

When Rob Schneider calls you from the car, you can’t help but wonder where he’s going.
The set of Happy Gilmore 2? A Los Angeles comedy club? One of the few bars on the West Coast where they still let David Spade drink for free?
I never did learn where Schneider was headed during our conversation — we had bigger things to talk about. Things like the First Amendment, Saturday Night Live, the Khmer Rouge, vaccine mandates, Alexis de Tocqueveille, and Shane Gillis.
If you think that’s a random smattering of topics, you may not be ready for Schneider’s new book. “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Do-Speak-America/dp/1546007865">You Can Do It!: Speak Your Mind, America</a>,” is equal parts memoir, historical survey, and political polemic, all wrapped up in Schneider’s trademark irreverent humor. At times it feels like Schneider is trying to make the case for free speech through sheer force of will: his stream-of-consciousness narrative plows forward at a breakneck pace, flitting from childhood reminiscence to an exploration of Soviet propaganda and back to a funny Chris Farley anecdote all before you can say “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Fk_mDem4o">makin’ copies!</a>”
That the book is funny isn’t surprising. After nearly a decade on Saturday Night Live, Schneider moved to the big screen, starring in hit films like “The Hot Chick” and “The Benchwarmers,” and making countless memorable appearances alongside his close friend and former SNL cast mate, Adam Sandler.
The humor is a given. It’s everything else that’s shocking.
Schneider is hardly the first celebrity to get political, nor the first to get in trouble for doing so. That he moved from left to right is a bit more shocking, but not without precedent. What’s truly strange about Schneider is just how seriously he’s taking his political turn. “You Can Do It!” doesn’t just have arguments — it has information. It has citations and statistics and digressions on Stanley Milgram and Mikhail Bulgakov. At times it feels more like a college lecture hall than a 30 Rock soundstage.
What made Deuce Bigelow get so serious?
“I got into show business to avoid having to do stuff like writing a book,” Schneider told The Daily Wire, adding that doing so was “a pain in the ass.” It was after witnessing the “egregious attack on our civil liberties and the attack on free speech” perpetrated by Democrats and their media allies that Schneider decided to pick up the pen. But even then, he didn’t lose his sense of humor.
“We&#8217;re kind of f***ed as a country,” Schneider said. “And so I do feel a responsibility, even though it cost me money and cost me work, I feel like it is my comedic-patriotic duty to at least bring these things to attention.”
The importance of protecting free speech may be the stated focus of “You Can Do It!” But Schneider’s understanding of this “comedic-patriotic duty” is perhaps the most essential — and certainly the most interesting — thread of the book.
“As de facto intellectuals, comedians are the cultural rearview mirrors,” Schneider writes. “Our jokes reflect the essence of a particular time, place, and attitude, to remind us of the context of where we just came from.”
This is why it felt so wrong when, following Donald Trump’s election in 2016, and then the coronavirus pandemic 2020, comedians by and large abandoned their craft and began echoing liberal talking points.
“I think the low watermark of comedy in the 21st century was late night television, with these hosts who all had interchangeable monologues,” Schneider told The Daily Wire.
“Nothing to me was more egregious than the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xP6c9UqPcU">dancing syringes</a> on Colbert&#8217;s show. That to me, it wasn&#8217;t cringe. It was Soviet bloc. It seems like something out of the Khmer Rouge.”
Schneider says the preservation of free speech in America depends in a large part on the flourishing of comedy — honest, equal-opportunity, no-holds-barred comedy.
“If you can get people to see the absurdity” of a given figure or issue, Schneider told The Daily Wire, “and mock it and laugh at it, it is the best way to move its natural path towards tyranny so that it collapses.
“When the public is comfortable laughing at the government, then they are no longer in fear of the government,” he said.
This is what makes Schneider’s activism so refreshing. Unlike many celebrities who jump in the arena, he doesn’t think his fame entitles him to serve as a moral arbiter for the rest of us. Rather, he sees himself as a member of the comedian class, a role that comes with a certain obligation to challenge authority and speak truth to power.
“I&#8217;m not saying I&#8217;m 100% right in these things,” he says, “but the fact is we need to have discourse, we need to not shout each other down.”
That humility doesn’t mean Schneider is pulling punches. He says that “the Democratic Party needs to lose this election — and maybe two or three more — so that they can regroup and become a political party that isn&#8217;t undemocratic and authoritarian.” Republicans, he tells The Daily Wire, “are going to have to put on their big boy pants and change legislation” should they win in November.
If this doesn’t happen — if Democrats keep power and continue their assault on free speech, or if Republicans win but resort to ad hominem attacks — Schneider worries about what will come next.
“Western civilization is committing suicide,” Schneider tells The Daily Wire, adding that “the United States is the last bastion of freedom in the world.”
“If we go, so goes the world,” he says. “There will be no Marines to rescue the United States from another country, there will be no food drop. There is no Marshall Plan for the United States. We are it.”
Dire as that sounds, Schneider has hope for the future of the country. His spirits are buoyed by, among other things: Mark Zuckerberg’s recent admission that the Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor content (“I don’t think Zuckerberg’s a bad actor”); Saturday Night Live’s decision to have Shane Gillis host after firing him for politically incorrect jokes (“How great was Lorne Michaels to do that?”); and The Daily Wire’s own Matt Walsh (“The one, rightful heir to Sacha Baron Cohen. I think Matt Walsh is a genius. I really do”).
But more than anything, Schneider is optimistic because he believes in America.
“This imperfect union was founded under God with a belief that we have done something special,” he says. “It is a union deserving of our forgiveness and deserving of our thanks, deserving of our gratitude and deserving of every attempt we can [make] for its preservation.”
To do that, “we must call out injustice. But in that call…we should have a reconciliation.”
“We have to be generous, and if our fault is that we are too generous, that is the price that we must pay, that is what this great nation calls upon us now to do,” Schneider says.
Before we spoke, I was ready for Schneider to go deep on all sorts of subjects — I had read the book, after all — but I wasn’t expecting such a serious meditation on American democracy. Thoroughly impressed and hoping for a good kicker, I asked Schneider if he had any parting thoughts he wanted to share. He didn’t even hesitate.
“The book’s also pretty funny.”

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Free Speech

Matt Walsh

Rob Schneider

Known for many memorable aphorisms, Winston Churchill once expressed a determination to “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
Over the ensuing decades, some leaders have used such logic to justify taking advantage of people’s fears during perilous times — trampling their liberties in ways the people would never tolerate during more normal circumstances.
The better application of Churchill’s principle, however, is to actually learn the right lessons from crises we encounter — and to apply those lessons in ways that truly protect both lives and liberty.
So it is with the COVID-19 pandemic that remains relatively fresh in our collective memory.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the architect of much of the federal government’s initial COVID-19 response, admitted late last year that many directives — such as 6-foot social distancing — “sort of just appeared” without any serious science backing them up.
So seems to be the case with many mandates and orders imposed in the individual states.
Here in Indiana, we Hoosiers recently passed the four-year anniversary of stay-at-home orders imposed by our governor with the support of appointed bureaucrats and others.
On March 6, 2020, Governor Eric Holcomb declared a public health emergency. Over the course of more than two years, various government officials issued and enforced COVID-19 mandates, including stay-at-home orders, capacity limits, vaccine mandates, mask requirements, and business, school, and church closures.
Unfortunately, few of the leaders responsible for these harsh measures have undertaken any serious effort in the aftermath of their actions to assess whether they responded appropriately to the threats we faced. But we need such an evaluation in order to learn from mistakes — and to develop a plan and vision for how we will react to similar scenarios in the future.
Toward accomplishing these ends — and because no one else stepped forward to adequately address these issues — I tasked my office with conducting an analysis of how our state government responded to the dangerous coronavirus spawned in China.
In March, we <a href="https://events.in.gov/event/attorney-general-todd-rokita-reveals-faulty-covid-19-data-in-shocking-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released a full report</a> on what we found. One key example — death counts across Indiana were vastly inflated:
<blockquote>COVID-19 was listed as a “cause of death” for numerous deaths caused by gunshot wounds, fires, car accidents, blunt force trauma, drowning and drug overdoses.</blockquote>
The obvious truth is that our state government produced and relied on severely flawed data, including inflated death counts and unsound positivity rates, to shape the state’s failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This faulty data led to months of mask mandates and, even worse, to lockdowns that devastated our economy and our children’s education.
The measures implemented to combat COVID-19 turned out to be even more destructive than the havoc wreaked by the public health crisis itself.
In Indiana, literacy rates plummeted as chronic absenteeism skyrocketed. Thousands of Hoosier 3rd graders have been allowed to move forward despite being unable to read. Students’ mental health also took a toll during the pandemic, with three out of every 10 Indiana students saying they considered suicide.
Shutting down society triggered an unprecedented level of federal spending. Total public debt as a percent of GDP skyrocketed to over 132% and remains historically high. Hoosiers and other Americans have suffered from the highest inflation rate in decades, and the consumer price index (CPI) remains elevated over pre-pandemic levels. Even after the pandemic, total federal government expenditures far exceed pre-pandemic levels.
Moving ahead, we must resolve never again to accept the false notion that we have to choose between our lives and our livelihoods. We must resolve, as well, to keep Indiana’s economy and educational institutions fully open for business during future public health challenges.
Some continue to insist that they have no regrets about the lockdowns and mandates that severely damaged our economy and our kids’ educations. In fact, after our report was released, the governor lambasted it as having “zero” credibility.
Why not <a href="https://www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/files/Covid-Report_efile.pdf">read the report</a> for yourself? Then, you can decide whether you believe it to be credible.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Let the people know the truth, and the country is safe.” Just as in his day, the need for transparency in government remains absolutely essential to maintaining a free society.
Let us all learn and remember the lessons from COVID-19 so that we can avoid past mistakes and better serve our fellow Hoosiers in the future. In particular, let us commit to always fighting the dangerous forces that are all too eager to lock down our liberties — for they pose as much danger to our republic as any virus ever could.
* * *
Todd Rokita is Indiana’s attorney general.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Death

Indiana

Readers Pass

School Lockdowns

The following is an edited transcript of an interview between Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief and Morning Wire co-host John Bickley and former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele on her battle with the network over vaccine mandates and her plans for the future. Listen to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/sidelines-to-spotlight-sage-steele-s-new-chapter-sunday-extra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">full interview here</a>.
JOHN: Joining us now to discuss her journey from ESPN SportsCenter anchor to “canceled” to now host of her own show is Sage Steele. Sage, thank you so much for joining us.
SAGE: Thank you for having me.
JOHN: You’ve now launched “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-maher-launches-new-podcast-network-hires-conservative-as-his-first-host" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Sage Steele Show</a>,” which we’d like to ask you about, but let&#8217;s start with you parting ways with Disney and ESPN. For those who haven&#8217;t tracked that sequence of events, can you tell us exactly what happened there?
SAGE: That&#8217;s a big, long answer. It was almost a two year process to be honest with you. I was on a podcast on a day off, giving my opinions and views on my own experiences and things that were happening at that time. That was in September or October of 2021. I was suspended for it, punished, silenced, and assignments were taken away from me and I was told that if I didn&#8217;t apologize publicly, I would lose my job.
Listen, there were years and years leading up to the point where I spoke differently from others. I didn&#8217;t follow the same narrative. I decided to stand up only because of the hypocrisy I saw on the other side where all of my peers were able to go on the network whenever they wanted and say what they wanted [because it was the accepted narrative], even if it had nothing to do with sports on ESPN platforms. And of course, I&#8217;d lived a lot of it behind the scenes.
Then, once you’re punished, at some point you have a decision to make. For me, I knew that it was enough. I also knew it was bigger than me, and that&#8217;s kind of what was happening throughout society in America — where if you don&#8217;t follow a certain narrative, then you&#8217;re silenced and punished and canceled. Also, once you get canceled so many times, it&#8217;s easier to say, “Wait a minute.” So I took a stand and did something I never thought I&#8217;d do, which is file a lawsuit against the company that I loved and ended up working for, for almost 17 years. It broke my heart, but I know it was the right thing because it&#8217;s truly about standing up for yourself and others and for freedom of speech.
JOHN: Now, vaccines played a central role in your <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/longtime-espn-anchor-who-criticized-covid-mandates-leaving-network-to-exercise-first-amendment-rights" target="_blank" rel="noopener">split with ESPN</a>, correct? Can you explain that for us?
SAGE: Yes. So at Disney, of course ESPN is owned by Disney, we were required to be fully vaccinated by September 30, 2021. I waited until literally the very last day. I was devastated about it and didn&#8217;t agree with being forced. There&#8217;s a difference between the vaccine and the vaccine mandate. I had an issue with the mandate because I wasn&#8217;t comfortable with the vaccine yet. I just wanted more time for more research to be done. I&#8217;d done my homework and I think the average is six to nine years for the FDA to approve a vaccine. And this was shoved out there pretty quickly as we know. It became super political on both sides and I just didn&#8217;t feel comfortable with doing it.
So, I actually went onto that podcast that day directly from getting the shot. I was pretty emotional, probably, and was running a little bit hot, but I was pretty measured with my comments. And I basically said, “Listen, I just don&#8217;t agree that anyone should be forced to do something to their body. I think it&#8217;s sick and scary for any company to do that, but I love my job. I need my job, and I complied in order to keep my job.” And that&#8217;s what I said.
Since then I&#8217;ve obviously thought so much about it. If I had said the opposite — if I had said, “Listen, all these anti-vaxxers are being quite selfish, they don&#8217;t care about their neighbors or their coworkers or their families, just get it” — I would have been celebrated. The other comments I made about race and being biracial and people telling me I should identify as black, even though I&#8217;m black and white, if I had said the other idea, I feel like I would have been celebrated. That&#8217;s where the hypocrisy was and that&#8217;s why I stood up.
JOHN: I should note for disclosure purposes — and also because it proved very consequential — that The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dhillonlaw.com/lawsuits/the-daily-wire-challenges-biden-administration-vaccine-mandate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued the federal government</a> over its vaccine mandate for big companies. We put ourselves at severe risk by doing so, but <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-said-do-not-comply-we-won" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we won that lawsuit</a>. And it&#8217;s something that we felt like we had to do. Your story certainly resonates with that move.
SAGE: Can I hug you for that? Because it&#8217;s been people like you and groups like yours who stand up — it just meant the world to me. And I have to say, doing it alone — and I&#8217;m a single mother of three kids, high school and college age kids — it&#8217;s not cheap to stand up. It&#8217;s scary when you&#8217;re on your own and you&#8217;re financially responsible for everybody. Along with throwing away the career that I loved, as I was told I was doing. But sometimes it&#8217;s bigger than us. And so people like you made me feel not quite as alone. It&#8217;s amazing what happens when you do take a stand and step out — how many thousands, millions of people — you realize you&#8217;re so not alone. There&#8217;s such fear and we just can&#8217;t lead with that fear anymore.
JOHN: About that, how have you seen people embrace you? And what&#8217;s this next phase in your career?
SAGE: I cannot tell you how excited I am about what&#8217;s next. Being able to have true, deep, genuine conversations, kind of a talk show format, but not an interview, it’s more of a conversation. There&#8217;s a huge difference. I&#8217;m all about freedom of speech and diversity of thought; that&#8217;s what I lead with. Anyone who knows me will back that up. That’s why, when Bill Maher offered me a job while I was on his Club Random podcast, I thought he was joking. And then he did it again. Of all people, Bill Maher is someone with whom I see things completely differently. I&#8217;m definitely more conservative; he is definitely far Left. He doesn&#8217;t believe in marriage and kids; he’s an atheist and thinks it&#8217;s all crazy. And I&#8217;m the opposite in every single category. I love that we can sit and talk. Most importantly, he saw where my heart is, which is to truly be accepting of everyone and welcome diverse thoughts. And to give me a show to do that? It&#8217;s so much bigger than me. This is about trying to show America that this can exist: We can lead with kindness and be strong in our beliefs. It&#8217;s a beautiful thing that Bill Maher saw this controversial conservative, former ESPN star and said, “No, no, no, I&#8217;m going to give her a shot, even though I completely feel differently about huge important issues in our country.” I think it&#8217;s a win for everybody and I&#8217;m so honored.
JOHN: During the COVID pandemic, we saw censorship on a level I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;ve ever seen before, at least not in recent decades. Do you feel like there&#8217;s progress being made, or are we still under this heavy-handed censorship complex?
SAGE: I think there is. Obviously you do this every single day and pay super close attention to it. I&#8217;m probably a step back from you, but watching it in a different way as a journalist now, my journalism career is changing and evolving. I feel like there&#8217;s progress and to me the biggest reason for it is Elon Musk. I&#8217;m so grateful for him taking that huge chance. I don&#8217;t care how many billions of dollars you have, that is a risk he has taken. It&#8217;s been fascinating to watch him, what he tweets and what he says. I think it gives the majority of America hope because I truly believe that most Americans think like we do — like we don&#8217;t all have to believe the same things, but you must be respectful of everyone&#8217;s opinion and their right to have it. So, because of Elon Musk, it is changing.
I have seen and read about so many other people taking stands. It&#8217;s fascinating to learn what&#8217;s going on with Google and all the suppression over the last 12 years with the election process. That stuff’s being exposed. I feel like on the old Twitter, now X, that we would never have been able to hear about that, not as quickly and efficiently and accurately. So, to me, there is progress and we have to continue. I believe there&#8217;s a groundswell for people like us who just want all things available for us to review and allow us to make our own decisions. That&#8217;s what had been taken away and people didn&#8217;t realize it. Now it&#8217;s being exposed and that&#8217;s the win.
That&#8217;s what I want to talk about on my show with a variety of guests. Yes, some will be athletes, but also people in Hollywood, some politicians, actors, all the above, because I think we probably have a lot more in common than we believe. It doesn&#8217;t all have to be political. I want to hear their “whys” and most importantly though, when it all hits the fan, how do they push through? How do they push through those adverse moments in their lives despite making it all look perfect on TV or on the internet? What I have found is most people believe like us, but they&#8217;re fearful — fearful in Hollywood in particular to speak their truth. So, I hope and pray that I can make people comfortable — comfortable enough to do that. And then, when people open up and speak openly, I think everybody wins and others realize, “Hey, I&#8217;m not alone and we&#8217;re right to stand up and speak our own truths. It doesn&#8217;t have to fit a certain narrative.”
JOHN: As you mentioned, Bill Maher is far-left on many issues. Is he putting any restrictions on your topics for your show?
SAGE: Zero. Nothing. It&#8217;s beautiful. I&#8217;m so not used to this world. I&#8217;m like, “Wait, what?” I&#8217;m waiting for someone from the Disney offices in Burbank to reach up and cut me off. It&#8217;s just a whole new world. Bill and I agree on some of the core issues. That&#8217;s what we found out in that podcast I did with him on Club Random — about immigration, he thinks it&#8217;s completely out of control; about transgender, the transgender sports, women&#8217;s sports issue, out of control and ridiculous and scary; and of course the vaccine, vaccine mandates, nuts. So those are three core issues that have obviously been so divisive. But again, when you look at my stance on things, how I feel about things based on myself and being a mother and not having a certain platform, and then you look at Bill Maher with his massive platform and his very Left-leaning liberal approach to pretty much everything in life. But it&#8217;s a great lesson, that when we are respectful, when we talk and lead with kindness, we realize we actually have a lot more in common. And he&#8217;s like, “Go girl. Say what you want, ask what you want, do what you want.” There&#8217;s a trust there already, and it&#8217;s something I&#8217;m so grateful for because I&#8217;m not used to that.
JOHN: Final question before you go: What have you been surprised by and what are you looking most forward to in this next phase?
SAGE: Well, thank you. I was just so shocked and honored that someone on “the other side of the aisle” saw the need for more conversation, and for Bill Maher to believe that I could be the one. I&#8217;ve never been given that kind of platform before. But it&#8217;s not about me or Bill; it&#8217;s about what has to happen. It does take courage though, right? For someone like Bill to say, “Oh, I&#8217;m going to go right into these waters and give a voice to someone with whom I feel so differently.” Kudos to him for seeing the big picture beyond what he believes. I am so excited to have these conversations and make them continue. Because if we don&#8217;t do this – I&#8217;m not trying to be dramatic – I believe we lose America and I do believe it&#8217;s now or never. So here we go with Club Random and Bill and me and a whole bunch of other guests. I hope you guys take a chance and listen.
JOHN: We certainly will. Sage, thank you so much for joining us. We&#8217;d love to talk to you again.
SAGE: I would love to. I listen to y&#8217;all every morning. So thank you.
JOHN: That’s certainly nice to hear. Thanks again for coming on.
SAGE: Thank you. God bless.
Listen to the full Morning Wire interview <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/sidelines-to-spotlight-sage-steele-s-new-chapter-sunday-extra">here</a>.

Shaq’s Fun House

INTERVIEW: Former ESPN Anchor Sage Steele Talks Getting Canceled After Vax Comments, Surge Of Support & Launch Of Her New Show 

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