Tuesday marks 100 days of President Trump&#8217;s second term.
President Trump has done an enormous number of amazing things, ranging from fighting DEI in every aspect of his administration to targeting university campuses that are hotbeds of antisemitism and leftism and wokeness, to having the Secretary of Defense try to fix all the problems at the Pentagon, to establishing DOGE, which is going through all aspects of government spending with Elon Musk and attempting to cut waste, fraud and abuse.
The president has issued more executive orders in his first 100 days than any president in history. He&#8217;s been incredibly effective in terms of pushing forward many parts of his agenda.
With all of that said, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/27/trump-poll-approval-rating-100-days/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">polling</a> right now for President Trump is not good. That is a reflection of public sentiment specifically regarding the economy. And that is all before the main effect of the tariff war that he has declared kicks in.
The good news for President Trump is that he&#8217;s blessed by his enemies, because they are awful. The American people hate the people that President Trump faces down even more than they dislike President Trump.
The same Washington Post/ABC News-Ipsos <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/27/trump-poll-approval-rating-100-days/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poll</a> showing President Trump with a 39% approval rating also shows that 7 in 10 Americans say the Democratic Party is out of touch, while 6 in 10 say that about Trump.
So whatever the American people think of President Trump, they think even less about the Democratic Party.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2187-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
There’s a good reason for that, which is that the Democratic Party is so unbelievably unhinged. They are truly incompetent. It is amazing. It&#8217;s a target-rich environment for Democrats out there, particularly on the economy — but they cannot help themselves because they&#8217;re constantly running to the radical left of their own base. They&#8217;re saying idiotic things on a daily basis.
Over the weekend, J.B. Pritzker — the rotund governor of Illinois who has to be lowered into the Illinois capital by crane — was <a href="https://x.com/IsaacDovere/status/1916660604577763511" target="_blank" rel="noopener">giving a speech</a> in which he suggested that anybody who is a supporter of Trump ought to be harassed on the streets.
He declared: 
<blockquote>Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I have now. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and every microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box.</blockquote>
Democrats are unhinged. Instead of them simply saying, “President Trump isn&#8217;t doing the job Americans want him to do,” which would be the smart way to actually approach this, they&#8217;ve decided instead that they&#8217;re going to go psychotic.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader and would-be House speaker, was in the middle of a protest when he <a href="https://x.com/IsaacDovere/status/1916660604577763511" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started quoting</a> Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War, suggesting that America could break down between patriots and traitors. Presumably, the traitors in his mind would be Republicans. 
He quoted Grant saying: 
<blockquote>Whatever may have been my political opinions before, I have but one sentiment now: that is, we have a government, and laws, and a flag, and they must all be sustained. There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots.</blockquote>
This is just psychotic, because he’s not even arguing about the supposed violation of law by the Trump administration. He&#8217;s not arguing about emoluments. He&#8217;s arguing here about the budget. He&#8217;s suggesting if you&#8217;re on the wrong side of the budget negotiation, then you are a traitor. 
President Trump is blessed in his opposition. He brings out the absolute worst in all of his enemies. Jon Ossoff, the soon-to-be ex-senator from Georgia, was trying to rile up the Democratic base, and said that he&#8217;d be <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sen-jon-ossoff-signals-support-trump-impeachment-rcna203126" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in favor</a> of impeaching President Trump for selling meme coins as a fundraiser. 
With all of that said, it is not good news for President Trump that he&#8217;s riding so low in the polls. That&#8217;s particularly true with independents; according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/27/trump-poll-approval-rating-100-days/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a brand-new</a> Washington Post/ABC News-Ipsos poll, among independents, only 33% approve of Trump while 58% disapprove. Among independents who lean Republican, Trump&#8217;s approval has dropped from 76% to 63% since February.
There&#8217;s one reason for this drop, and that reason is not immigration. That reason is not foreign policy. That reason is the tariff war. The tariff war has absolutely crippled him.
According to that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/27/trump-poll-approval-rating-100-days/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poll</a>, only 31% of Americans approve of the recent turmoil in the stock market. Only 34% of Americans approve of tariffs on imported goods. Only 38% approve of his relations with foreign countries, only 39% approve of his work on the economy.
The problem, however, is that whenever a president is unpopular on one issue, it tends to drag him down on a wide variety of other issues. On immigration, which is a signal issue, his key issue since 2015, President Trump is succeeding. But when it comes to the economy and expanding the power of the presidency, 64% of Americans say that he&#8217;s going too far.
If you&#8217;re hoping for President Trump&#8217;s success, as I am — as someone who voted for him and fundraised for him — he needs to succeed on the economy because if he doesn’t, everything else goes down in flames.
I&#8217;m talking to people who are in the wholesale and retail space and they are freaking out about the tariffs. They’re seeing their orders cut while prices increase. They’re seeing the supply chains break and ships arriving empty. There are a lot of fears of actual shortages and price hikes. I know people who are in the import/export business and they&#8217;re getting hammered, some looking at the possibility of actual bankruptcy. The Magnificent Seven are off to their worst start to a year.
As I’ve said before, there are preconditions to fighting a successful trade war. You need to get ready for it just like a regular war. If you&#8217;re going to win a regular war, you need to make sure your supply lines are in place. You need to make sure that you actually have the material. You have to have your allies in place.
Meanwhile, Congress needs to get the tax bill through ASAP.
President Trump&#8217;s presidency now relies on a couple of things. First, ending this trade war or recalibrating it so that it will be more likely to be successful, which will require dramatic moves. Second, passing the tax bill. If neither of those things happens, then President Trump&#8217;s presidency will continue to spin out. That’s because as the economy goes, President Trump&#8217;s promise for all of his career has been that he&#8217;s a great businessman, and he would make sure the economy was okay. 
Getting the economy right is what President Trump needs to do if he wishes to make the American people happy with his presidency again, which will give him the political capital necessary to do everything else.
That would be fantastic, because he is getting so many other things dead-right.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP-HABBA

100 Days: Where Does Trump Stand?

Ben Shapiro

Democrats

Donald Trump

Hakeem Jeffries

J.B. Pritzker

Polls

Presidency

President Trump

Republicans

Tariffs

Washington Post

According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration is pushing the Internal Revenue Service to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status.
The Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/04/16/trump-harvard-tax-exempt-irs/">reported</a> that three sources informed the outlet that President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration had asked the IRS to make the move, although there is no confirmation that it has done so. WaPo also reported that its sources claimed Andrew De Mello, the IRS’s acting chief counsel, was asked by the Treasury Department to take the action. Sources also claimed this is part of a feud with Ivy League schools that the Trump administration views as &#8220;woke.&#8221;
“I think they’re going to go after a whole bunch of them,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) said. “I’m not sure why we need to be funding people who aggressively refuse to give up a variety of values and structures that most Americans don’t agree with.”
On Tuesday. President Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114342374504628520">posted</a> on Truth Social, “Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’ Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!”
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields stated: &#8220;Any forthcoming actions by the IRS will be conducted independently of the president, and investigations into any institution’s violations of its tax status were initiated prior to the president’s TRUTH.”
In January 2024, Rep. Jason T. Smith (R-MO), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/10/jason-smith-harvard-mit-penn-might-not-deserve-tax-exemption-00134815" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> that the responses of Harvard, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT to the antisemitism on their campuses might justify revoking their tax-exempt status. The college’s actions “raise several questions, including whether your institutions are fulfilling their educational purposes as required to receive 501c3 tax-exempt status &#8230;”
On Monday, the Trump administration’s Department of Education announced it would freeze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contract value to Harvard University after the school said it would not comply with the Trump administration’s demand that the university <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/research-funding/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2025/04/Harvard-Response-2025-04-14.pdf">claimed</a> would “invade university freedoms.”
Last Friday, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services sent a <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/research-funding/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2025/04/Letter-Sent-to-Harvard-2025-04-11.pdf">letter</a> to Harvard in which they stated, “By August 2025, the University must adopt and implement merit-based hiring policies, and cease all preferences based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin …” adding that the same attitude must prevail in admissions policies. The correspondence also declared that by the same date, the university must “prevent admitting students hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the American Constitution and Declaration of Independence, including students supportive of terrorism and anti-Semitism.”
The university “shall commission an external party … to audit the student body, faculty and leadership for viewpoint diversity” by August 2025, the letter continued, in order to ensure that the leftist perspective that dominates the university should be contrasted with other viewpoints.
Alan Garber, the president of Harvard University, responded with a <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/president/news/2025/the-promise-of-american-higher-education/">statement</a> in which he said, “We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement,” contending, “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights” and claiming the administration’s demands violated “Harvard’s First Amendment rights … threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge.”

Harvard University

Trump Admin Wants IRS To Quash Harvard’s Tax-Exempt Status: Report

Education

Harvard

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Politics

Taxes

Wokeness

The Washington Post is probing one of its reporters over past alleged social media posts that express support for the “resistance” in Gaza and call Israel an “illegal” state.
Heba Farouk Mahfouz is a reporter in The Washington Post’s Cairo bureau and has written and contributed to dozens of articles on Israel’s war against the terror group Hamas. In addition to the war in Gaza, Mahfouz also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/heba-farouk-mahfouz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">covers</a> “human rights, gender issues, the economy, [and] religious minorities.”
Mahfouz joined the Post on 2016, but several years before, her social media account was allegedly espousing radical sentiments on Israel and Palestinians. Independent journalist Eitan Fischberger resurfaced the alleged posts recently, pointing out that Mahfouz has contributed significantly to the Post’s coverage of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
“Since the start of 2025, all 13 of the articles she&#8217;s written have focused on Israel and Hamas. The problem? She actually supports Hamas, and thinks Israel shouldn&#8217;t exist,” Fischberger posted on X, leading into a thread of some of Mahouz’s alleged old posts.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Meet Heba Farouk Mahfouz, a reporter in the <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@washingtonpost</a>&#39;s Cairo Bureau.
Since the start of 2025, all 13 of the articles she&#39;s written have focused on Israel and Hamas. 
The problem? She actually supports Hamas, and thinks Israel shouldn&#39;t exist. Let&#39;s dive in 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/XcOEKpkeyg">pic.twitter.com/XcOEKpkeyg</a>
&mdash; Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) <a href="https://twitter.com/EFischberger/status/1899549551671062659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Isreal IS a COLONIAL, ILLEGAL (according to international law), state. It’s not a point of view. It’s a fact,” Mahfouz allegedly said in one November 2013 <a href="https://x.com/EFischberger/status/1899549563977077144" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a>.
In another alleged post, she says she does not “like Hamas’ social repression of Palestinians,” but asserts she will “always and forever support the resistance as long as it is against the Zionist entity,” according to a translation of the <a href="https://x.com/EFischberger/status/1899549602010857793" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a>.
“I am always and forever with the resistance! And with Hamas and Hezbollah too, as long as their weapons are against Israel and not Arabs like them … with Israel itself if it is fighting against Israel!” she allegedly says in another translated <a href="https://x.com/EFischberger/status/1899549614765670816" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a>.
A Washington Post spokesperson told The Daily Wire that the paper is aware of the alleged posts and is investigating. Mahfouz’s X account is locked.
The investigation into Mahfouz’s alleged past social media posts comes as members of The Washington Post’s staff have been in an uproar as owner Jeff Bezos institutes changes at the paper. In a <a href="https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1894757287052362088" target="_blank" rel="noopener">note</a> to staff last month, Bezos said the paper would become a champion of “personal liberties and free markets.”
“We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others,” Bezos said.
The Washington Post owner has also warned about flagging American trust in media.
“We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement. Most people believe the media is biased,” Bezos wrote in an October 2024 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/28/jeff-bezos-washington-post-trust/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">op-ed</a>.

The Washington Post

WaPo Probes Reporter Over Alleged Social Media Posts Pushing Violence Against Israel

Hamas

Israel

Jeff Bezos

Media

World

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Friday that she was &#8220;aggressively pursuing” individuals within the intelligence community who have leaked information to legacy media outlets, such as NBC News and The Washington Post.
Gabbard said that leakers violated the law by providing reporters with classified information about American foreign policy on Iran, Israel, and Russia. 
“Our nation’s Intelligence Community must be focused on our national security mission. Politically motivated leaks undermine our national security and the trust of the American people, and will not be tolerated,” Gabbard posted on X. “Unfortunately, such leaks have become commonplace with no investigation or accountability.  That ends now. We know of and are aggressively pursuing recent leakers from within the Intelligence Community and will hold them accountable.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Our nation’s Intelligence Community must be focused on our national security mission. Politically motivated leaks undermine our national security and the trust of the American people, and will not be tolerated.
Unfortunately, such leaks have become commonplace with no…
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) <a href="https://twitter.com/DNIGabbard/status/1900525554039939309?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
She then listed several examples of &#8220;unauthorized leaks.” 
In one case, she said a leaker had been sharing “classified information” with the liberal outlet Huffington Post but did not specify on what topic. In another example, Gabbard referenced unauthorized leaks on Iran and Israel to The Washington Post. 
Another intel worker gave NBC News information on the U.S.-Russia relationship, Gabbard said, and a different person told The Record about activities of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. 
“Any unauthorized release of classified information is a violation of the law and will be treated as such,” Gabbard said. 
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) praised Gabbard’s announcement. 
“I&#8217;m grateful that [Gabbard] is working to end leaking and the weaponization of the Intelligence Community,” he <a href="https://x.com/TomCottonAR/status/1900563534645195240" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X. “Another promise made and promise kept.”
Gabbard was narrowly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-tulsi-gabbard-as-director-of-national-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> as DNI last month in a 52-48 vote. During her confirmation hearing, she promised to end the politicization of intelligence and restore trust in the national security apparatus tasked with protecting American citizens.

Senate Intelligence Cmte Holds Confirmation Hearing For DNI Nominee Tulsi Gabbard

Gabbard ‘Aggressively Pursuing’ Intel Community Leaks To Legacy Media

Director of National Intelligence

Huffington Post

Legacy Media

NBC News

Tulsi Gabbard

Woke leftism is totally on the ropes.
The Democrats don&#8217;t know what to do about this, but their entire centralizing philosophy is on the ropes.
Jeff Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post. When he bought the Post, he said he would not get involved in the editorial side of the newspaper. 
Then, the newspaper decided to become the repository of the most radical woke nonsense in all of American media. By doing so, The Washington Post blew out its credibility more than any other major newspaper in the country.
It had been the paper of record. It had been the paper of Watergate. It had been the paper that broke an enormous number of serious scandals about the American government.
And then it turned into Salon.com. It was Jennifer Rubin whining about how Donald Trump was a mean, bad man. It was Eugene Robinson whining about how America was terrible. It was all the usual suspects saying the most radical, stupid things.
The number of Washington Post subscriptions began to seriously dip because they weren&#8217;t making any of the same smart business moves The New York Times was making. The New York Times also became a liberal fan paper, but they also decided to diversify into Wordle.
That did not happen with The Washington Post, who simply kept doubling down on the anti-Trump radical leftism and the suggestion that boys weren&#8217;t just girls, boys had to be girls. This had to be taught to kids — the idea that all politics could be boiled down to racial and sexual identity along with the idea that capitalism was, in and of itself, bad.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2147-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
But now there is a new middle in America, and the new middle is pro free market. It&#8217;s a middle that doesn&#8217;t like the leftist idea that the American economy is rigged on behalf of white people, rigged on behalf of men.
It&#8217;s an American middle that believes in the American dream and thus believes in the idea, generally speaking, of capitalism. It&#8217;s also an American middle that, while fairly liberal about what their neighbors do, is not completely liberal about what their neighbors do — meaning if their neighbors decide to open a porn shop next door, the answer is no. If their neighbors decide the local public school is going to be teaching gender-queer, the answer is no.
That&#8217;s the new middle in America.
So, what does that mean? It means there is now a real market possibility of newspapers like The Washington Post reorienting. Bezos is not a traditional Republican. He is not someone who believes in traditional conservative social values. He&#8217;s not somebody who, as far as I am aware, is particularly hawkish on foreign policy.
But Bezos does exist in the business world and in the world of semi-rationality. So yesterday, Bezos announced he will be reorienting (and remaking) the Post’s editorial board. It is worth sharing <a href="https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1894757287052362088" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his statement</a> in full:
<blockquote>I shared this note with the Washington Post team this morning:
I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages.
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job.
I am of America and for America, and proud to be so. Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.
I offered David Shipley, whom I greatly admire, the opportunity to lead this new chapter. I suggested to him that if the answer wasn’t “hell yes,” then it had to be “no.” After careful consideration, David decided to step away. This is a significant shift, it won’t be easy, and it will require 100% commitment —  I respect his decision. We’ll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction.
I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.</blockquote>
This is a sea change. It is a true recognition of the fact that The Washington Post never had a broad spectrum of opinion. The tacit recognition in Bezos’ announcement is that there might have been a time when The Washington Post was a sort of platform with a variety of opinions — Charles Krauthammer and George Mitchell used to write for The Washington Post —  but then something changed.
Once The Washington Post became the exclusive preserve of the radical Left on matters economic and social, it was no longer a platform. It became, in the most real sense, a publisher of only the content the editorial board wanted to publish.
So Bezos is now saying, “Listen, if that&#8217;s going to be the way this works, then I want the Post to publish things I want. I spent $100 million on this newspaper. I own this newspaper. I get to decide what&#8217;s in this newspaper.”
Good for him.
I think that we are exiting the era of “objective journalism” and moving toward the realization there is no such thing. The case can be made that there are journalists who do their best to remove their personal bias from situations, but the notion of there being an “objective news media” writ large was a lie and is a lie.
There&#8217;s a prism of politics through which the news is refracted at every one of these major publications. Everybody knows The Wall Street Journal editorial page tilts to the Right and The New York Times’ editorial page toward the Left.
I remember when Twitter (now X) was owned by Jack Dorsey — and when conservatives said that the standards that were being applied were unfair and that the standards Twitter professed to be applying were not actually the standards they were applying — people on the Left said, “Well, then, build your own.”
Then, Elon Musk bought it, and now the Left is whining about it.
The same is true here. When people complained about the editorial direction of The Washington Post, the Left said, “You don&#8217;t own The Washington Post. You don&#8217;t like it? Build your own.”
All of this is part and parcel of a radical sea change that is happening in American politics.
And it is driven by the Democrats, who are totally disconnected from reality.

Washington Post Shakes Up Leadership

The Washington Post Surrenders — To Reality

Journalism

Opinion

Trump Derangement Syndrome

U.S. Politics

Woke Culture

Multiple journalists were outraged after Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wapo-opinion-editor-quits-after-jeff-bezos-announces-significant-shift-in-opinion-section" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on Wednesday that the newspaper&#8217;s opinion section editor was stepping down as Bezos pushes for more takes defending &#8220;personal liberties and free markets.&#8221;
Bezos told the Post&#8217;s staff in an email, &#8220;We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We&#8217;ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.&#8221;
Jeff Stein, the chief economics reporter for the Post, <a href="https://x.com/JStein_WaPo/status/1894760153813275124" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to Bezos&#8217; move, calling it a &#8220;massive encroachment&#8221; and claiming that it &#8220;makes clear dissenting views will not be published or tolerated there.&#8221;
&#8220;I still have not felt encroachment on my journalism on the news side of coverage, but if Bezos tries interfering with the news side I will be quitting immediately and letting you know,&#8221; Stein added.
Columnist Philip Bump, a constant critic of President Donald Trump and Republicans, responded to the news, writing, &#8220;What the actual f***,&#8221; CNN&#8217;s Hadas Gold <a href="https://x.com/Hadas_Gold/status/1894767069276643793" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Washington Post White House reporter Cat Zakrzewski <a href="https://x.com/Cat_Zakrzewski/status/1894781102084002236" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on X, &#8220;Jeff Bezos announced that the Washington Post opinion page will no longer publish viewpoints opposing personal liberties and free markets. In light of this news, I want to emphasize that there is a strong firewall between opinion and news at our publication.&#8221;
Reporters outside of the Post also slammed Bezos. Deputy Tech Editor at NBC News, Ben Goggins, <a href="https://x.com/BenjaminGoggin/status/1894768136907288713" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, &#8220;If it wasn’t clear that Jeff Bezos wanted a personal mouthpiece with the Washington Post before, it sure is now.&#8221;
POLITICO reporter Ben Jacobs quipped that the move puts the Post more in line with The Wall Street Journal than with The New York Times. &#8220;BROKE: The Washington Post is aspiring to be just like the New York Times. WOKE: The Washington Post is aspiring to be just like the Wall Street Journal,&#8221; Jacobs <a href="https://x.com/Bencjacobs/status/1894760264844587091" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.
Bezos said he offered David Shipley, the current editorial page editor, the opportunity to remain in charge of the opinion section, but only if he was 100% on board with the new direction. Shipley, however, “decided to step away.”
&#8220;This is a significant shift, it won’t be easy, and it will require 100% commitment — I respect his decision,&#8221; Bezos added. &#8220;We’ll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction.&#8221;

Journalists Melt Down Over Bezos’ New Direction For WaPo Opinion Section

journalists

Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos <a href="https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/1894757287052362088" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Wednesday that his newspaper will undergo a &#8220;significant shift&#8221; in its opinion section, focusing more on the &#8220;support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.&#8221;
Bezos, who has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jeff-bezos-blasts-media-bias-in-op-ed-for-his-own-paper" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticized</a> his paper for its &#8220;continuing fall in credibility,&#8221; announced the change in a note to Washington Post staff on Wednesday morning.
&#8220;I am of America and for America, and proud to be so. Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else,&#8221; Bezos wrote. &#8220;Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.&#8221; Bezos said the Post will &#8220;cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.&#8221;
Bezos added that he offered David Shipley, the current editorial page editor, the opportunity to remain in charge, but only if he was 100% on board with the new direction. Shipley, however, &#8220;decided to step away.&#8221;
&#8220;I offered David Shipley, whom I greatly admire, the opportunity to lead this new chapter. I suggested to him that if the answer wasn’t &#8216;hell yes,&#8217; then it had to be &#8216;no.&#8217; After careful consideration, David decided to step away,&#8221; the Amazon founder added. &#8220;This is a significant shift, it won’t be easy, and it will require 100% commitment — I respect his decision. We’ll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction.&#8221;
In October 2024, Bezos reportedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bezos-tells-wapo-to-hire-more-conservatives-as-paper-loses-200k-subscribers-over-endorsement-debacle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urged</a> the Post to hire more conservative columnists as the newspaper faced massive subscription cancellations. Many of the 200,000 cancellations were in response to the Post declining to endorse a presidential candidate in the 2024 election after it backed Democrats in each of the previous four presidential races.
Bezos has grown increasingly warm toward President Donald Trump, donating $1 million to Trump&#8217;s inauguration fund and attending the inauguration. One month before Trump was sworn in for a second term, Bezos <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jeff-bezos-im-super-optimistic-about-what-trump-is-going-to-do-for-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he was &#8220;very optimistic&#8221; about Trump&#8217;s plans and then dined with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago.
“He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation,&#8221; Bezos added during a December interview. &#8220;And my point of view, if I can help him do that, I’m going to help him because we do have too much regulation in this country. This country is so set up to grow.”
Bezos says the paper&#8217;s shift to defending personal liberties and free markets is an attempt to revive viewpoints that he believes are &#8220;underserved&#8221; in the current state of &#8220;news opinion.&#8221;
&#8220;I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.&#8221;

WaPo Opinion Editor Quits After Jeff Bezos Announces ‘Significant Shift’ In Opinion Section

WaPo Opinion Editor Quits After Jeff Bezos Announces 'Significant Shift' In Opinion Section

A famous &#8220;anti-racist&#8221; cartoonist who once drew Donald Trump molesting the Statue of Liberty has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography, the Sacramento County Sheriff said Thursday.
The NAACP gave Darrin Bell its <a href="https://darrinbell.substack.com/p/ive-won-the-image-award-and-the-libby" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Image Award</a> last year for his comic book &#8220;The Talk,&#8221; about parents telling their children that they are victims of racism.
The <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article298639688.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sacramento Bee</a> said Bell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, made history as “the first Black cartoonist to have two nationally syndicated strips,” including Candorville, “which features three childhood friends of color and their daily lives in the inner city.”  Now he has made history again with his arrest for alleged possession of artificial intelligence-generated child abuse material, just days after a California law banning AI porn went into effect.
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For years, the Washington Post Writers Group syndicated Bell&#8217;s cartoons in the Post and other papers. He also published cartoons in the New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other publications. He won the <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/darrin-bell-freelancer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pulitzer Prize</a> in 2019 “For beautiful and daring editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration.”
Bell said that respect for human dignity is the “common thread I try to weave through every cartoon that I draw — whether it&#8217;s about police brutality or immigrants being separated from their children, or whether it&#8217;s about Donald Trump,&#8221; <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/won-pulitzer-prize-editorial-cartoons-promoting-human-dignity/story?id=62466906" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a> reported after he won the prize. One of his cartoons showed Trump attempting to molest the Statue of Liberty.
The sheriff said in a <a href="https://x.com/sacsheriff/status/1879899320616710372">statement</a> that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tipped it off that a resident had uploaded 18 files containing Child Sex Abuse Material to an online service. Sacramento Valley Internet Crimes Against Children detectives soon found 134 child abuse videos linked to the same account, which they said was owned by Darrin Bell. On Wednesday, they served a search warrant at Bell&#8217;s house. He is currently being held in jail on $1 million bail, they said.
Detectives said some material they recovered was “computer-generated/AI CSAM,” making him “the first arrest by Sacramento Valley ICAC where possession of computer-generated/AI CSAM was charged against a suspect (the law changed on January 1, 2025, to include AI-generated material as a criminal offense.”
On his blog, Bell describes his work as “Progressive anti-fascist, anti-racist political cartoons.” The most recent cartoon posted portrays Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg saying “We’re gonna get rid of a bunch of restrictions on  attacking whichever minorities MAGA considers ‘undesirable.’” He wrote beneath it: &#8220;When Elon Musk bought Twitter a couple years ago, he reinstated NAZIS, throttled anyone to the left of Attila the Hun, and his algorithm filled our timelines with a rogues gallery of alt right types, incels, Q-Anon cultists, and paid Russian dupes.&#8221;

Darrin Bell attends the NAACP Image Awards Nominees Brunch (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images for NAACP)

BLM Pulitzer Winner Makes History Again By Being Arrested For AI-Generated Child Porn

Artificial Intelligence

Child Abuse

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/washington-post" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a> is attempting a rebrand as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office again on Monday, as evidenced by the revelation of a new mission statement that was first reported early Thursday morning.
The new mission, which comes as the newsroom is still in disarray after the paper&#8217;s refusal to endorse a 2024 presidential candidate — or, perhaps more accurately, the paper&#8217;s refusal to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race — prompted a number of high profile exits.
On Wednesday, in reaction to those exits and other concerns, some 400 employees signed a letter to the outlet&#8217;s billionaire owner Jeff Bezos, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/business/media/the-washington-post-new-mission.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. In the letter, they called on Bezos to meet with them to discuss recent leadership decisions that they claimed had &#8220;led readers to question the integrity of this institution.&#8221;
The old mission statement — &#8220;Democracy dies in darkness&#8221; — was adopted as Trump took office the first time, as the Times noted, and was meant to be a reminder of the outlet&#8217;s role in holding the government accountable.
The new mission statement takes a broader approach — and suggests that the outlet intends to prioritize reaching all Americans: &#8220;Riveting Storytelling for All of America.&#8221;
Whether or not the new mission statement will stem some of the outlet&#8217;s internal chaos remains to be seen — but critics are already predicting that little is likely to change.
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&#8220;The actual statement is even funnier. To be honest, WP’s stories are better than many airport paperbacks. Russia collusion coup attempts, unsubstantiated rape smears against political opponents, COVID being from a wet market, etc,&#8221; The Federalist&#8217;s Mollie Hemingway posted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The actual statement is even funnier. To be honest, WP’s stories are better than many airport paperbacks. Russia collusion coup attempts, unsubstantiated rape smears against political opponents, COVID being from a wet market, etc. <a href="https://t.co/VedhvAosf2">https://t.co/VedhvAosf2</a>
&mdash; Mollie (@MZHemingway) <a href="https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1879932431878475877?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Quick don&#8217;t look is this the statement for Disney Plus, Max, or The Washington Post,&#8221; Tim Miller posted.
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Quick don&#39;t look is this the statement for Disney Plus, Max, or The Washington Post <a href="https://t.co/PNYeFERs0h">https://t.co/PNYeFERs0h</a>
&mdash; Tim Miller (@Timodc) <a href="https://twitter.com/Timodc/status/1879933855844692390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Daily Wire&#8217;s Ashe Short added, &#8220;lol democracy died in darkness the past 4 years. Now it’s about &#8216;storytelling.&#8217; What &#8216;stories&#8217; will be told? Same ones over the past decades that paint one narrative to the detriment of the truth?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
lol democracy died in darkness the past 4 years. Now it’s about “storytelling.”
What “stories” will be told? Same ones over the past decades that paint one narrative to the detriment of the truth? <a href="https://t.co/iVqPDYz8LL">https://t.co/iVqPDYz8LL</a>
&mdash; Ashe Short (@AsheSchow) <a href="https://twitter.com/AsheSchow/status/1879941653722722428?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The last one &#8216;Democracy Dies in Darkness&#8217; &#8230; died after the @washingtonpost conspired and covered up the mental incapacity of the &#8216;Commander -In -Chief,'&#8221; Chris LaCivita said.
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The last one “Democracy Dies in Darkness” ..died after the <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@washingtonpost</a> conspired and covered up the mental incapacity of the “Commander -In -Chief” <a href="https://t.co/s2xSqzukmN">https://t.co/s2xSqzukmN</a>
&mdash; Chris LaCivita (@ChrisLaCivita) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisLaCivita/status/1879964876489257147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

New Washington Post Editor Won’t Take Job Following Ethics Furor

WaPo Reveals New Mission Statement, And It’s A Bigger Joke Than The Last One

WaPo Reveals New Mission Statement, And It's A Bigger Joke Than The Last One

Media Bias

The Washington Post&#8217;s longtime &#8220;conservative blogger&#8221; Jennifer Rubin announced on Monday that she had resigned from the paper, effective immediately, to launch a new outlet that was &#8220;not owned by anybody.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/conservatives-washington-post-jennifer-rubin-not-joseph-curl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rubin</a>, who became an outspoken <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wapos-jen-rubin-blasted-for-wild-claim-republicans-want-to-kill-your-kids-its-actually-true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advocate for Democrats</a> in her efforts to &#8220;resist&#8221; Donald Trump, lionized President Joe Biden until the very end, and then went so far as to fawn over Vice President Kamala Harris even before she was foisted on the Democratic Party as their de facto nominee.
But the media landscape has begun to change with Trump&#8217;s re-election — and even some legacy media personalities and outlets have started to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-reveals-what-was-discussed-in-meeting-with-scarborough-brzezinski" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show signs of coming around</a>, resigning themselves to the fact that if they don&#8217;t at least attempt to speak to Trump and his allies in good faith, they may find themselves ousted by podcasters, citizen journalists, and other less traditional media outlets.
Rubin, according to her Monday announcement, is having none of that — in addition to launching her new outlet, she declared her intention to leave X altogether in protest of Trump&#8217;s alliance with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
&#8220;BIG NEWS. I have left the Post. Corporate and billionaire media are failing to meet the moment,&#8221; she claimed in her post to X. &#8220;With @normeisen.bsky.social I&#8217;m launching @contrariannews.bsky.social. We&#8217;ll have politics but also cooking, humor, film and even pets. Please subscribe and join the fight. And because I want to be true to my values I am leaving X. I refuse to enable the Elon-Trump presidency.&#8221;
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BIG NEWS. I have left the Post. Corporate and billionaire media are failing to meet the moment. With <a href="https://twitter.com/NormEisen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@normeisen</a>.bsky.social I&#39;m launching <a href="https://twitter.com/contrariannews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@contrariannews</a>.bsky.social. We&#39;ll have politics but also cooking, humor, film and even pets. Please subscribe and join the fight.…
&mdash; Jen &#39;now @jenrubin9&#39; Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) <a href="https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1878810056596111658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
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In a lengthier post via her <a href="https://contrarian.substack.com/p/i-have-resigned-from-the-washington" target="_blank" rel="noopener">substack</a> page, Rubin offered more by way of explanation — specifically blaming WaPo&#8217;s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, for bending the knee to Trump and Musk.
<blockquote>Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission — defending, protecting and advancing democracy. The Washington Post’s billionaire owner and enlisted management are among the offenders. They have undercut the values central to The Post’s mission and that of all journalism: integrity, courage, and independence. I cannot justify remaining at The Post. Jeff Bezos and his fellow billionaires accommodate and enable the most acute threat to American democracy—Donald Trump—at a time when a vibrant free press is more essential than ever to our democracy’s survival and capacity to thrive.</blockquote>
Rubin went on to name a number of her collaborators at the new outlet — George Conway and Laurence Tribe, among others — before taking another swing at Bezos on her way out the door.
<blockquote>In closing, I want to reiterate that I have been honored to work for over fourteen years alongside the finest writers and editors in journalism. Above all, I was blessed to work for The Post under the Graham Family ownership and Fred Hiatt’s leadership of the editorial section. My admiration for their collective integrity, dedication to craft, courage, patriotism, and decency is boundless. But when new leaders sully the reputation of institutions entrusted to them and the fate of democracy is in the balance, we all must reevaluate our careers and our obligations to the world’s most essential nation.</blockquote>
&#8220;History calls us all,&#8221; she claimed.
Rubin signaled the coming move in December when she criticized elected Democrats — who are in the minority in both the Senate and the House — for suggesting that they might work with Trump during the coming administration.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/">JOIN THE MOVEMENT IN ’25 WITH 25% OFF DAILYWIRE+ ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS WITH CODE DW25</a>
&#8220;A depressingly high number of elected Democrats are declaring their intent to find &#8216;common ground&#8217; with President-elect Donald Trump and his crackpot Cabinet picks. Their naive, tone-deaf declarations epitomize an infatuation with bipartisanship for bipartisanship’s sake. Sometimes, it’s better not to bend the knee before the bidding even gets underway,&#8221; she complained.
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A depressingly high number of elected Democrats are declaring their intent to find “common ground” with President-elect Donald Trump and his crackpot Cabinet picks. Their naive, tone-deaf declarations epitomize an infatuation with bipartisanship for bipartisanship’s sake.…
&mdash; Jen &#39;now @jenrubin9&#39; Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) <a href="https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1871195157153849354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2024</a></blockquote>
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She also whined loudly — and often — about the fact that her own outlet was among those that had refused to offer an outright endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.
&#8220;If a news organization offers up financial tribute or shies from endorsing an opponent, readers and viewers have every right to question its impartiality, aggressiveness and spine. The sort of behavior we have witnessed from many legacy outlets will not help win back audiences who have lost faith in them. (Progressives are horrified; right-wingers will never patronize them.) Maintaining financial and personal distance from the president, whom news organizations are obligated to investigate and hold accountable, should not be difficult,&#8221; she said. &#8220;If people in positions of public trust, whether in elected office or in media, do not demonstrate — in deed and word — sufficient courage, fidelity to democracy and resistance to authoritarian manipulation, we will tip into a kakistocracy without much of a fight. Sadly, the past few weeks have not been encouraging.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
If a news organization offers up financial tribute or shies from endorsing an opponent, readers and viewers have every right to question its impartiality, aggressiveness and spine.
The sort of behavior we have witnessed from many legacy outlets will not help win back audiences…
&mdash; Jen &#39;now @jenrubin9&#39; Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) <a href="https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1870121385801998359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Her insistence on absolute opposition to Trump led to repeated demands of absolute fealty to Democrats — despite the fact that for years, she had claimed to be the WaPo&#8217;s &#8220;conservative&#8221; voice.
&#8220;The idea we have to understand how or why Trump won to prepare to fight him is a category error,&#8221; Rubin said just after the 2024 election.
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The idea we have to understand how or why Trump won to prepare to fight him is a category error.
&mdash; Jen &#39;now @jenrubin9&#39; Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) <a href="https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1854734804257800370?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

Jen Rubin

WaPo’s Pretend Conservative Resigns — And Rage-Quits X — Over Trump-Musk Alliance

WaPo's Pretend Conservative Resigns — And Rage-Quits X — Over Trump-Musk Alliance

Jennifer Rubin

Former Washington Post tech reporter Taylor Lorenz raised eyebrows when she told British talk show host Piers Morgan that she&#8217;d felt &#8220;joy&#8221; upon learning of the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
In a video clip that circulated on Monday, Lorenz sparked an immediate reaction from Morgan when she made the comment on his show.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy&#8230;&quot;
Piers Morgan is left astounded as Taylor Lorenz gives her thoughts on the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
📺 <a href="https://t.co/4ZCtndddDg">https://t.co/4ZCtndddDg</a><a href="https://twitter.com/piersmorgan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@piersmorgan</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/Taylor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Taylor</a> Lorenz <a href="https://t.co/dNzF2jmw8U">pic.twitter.com/dNzF2jmw8U</a>
&mdash; Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) <a href="https://twitter.com/PiersUncensored/status/1866259531145138665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I do believe in the sanctity of life, and I think that&#8217;s why I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy, unfortunately, you know because —&#8221; she began.
&#8220;Joy?&#8221; Morgan interrupted, his voice incredulous. &#8220;Seriously? Joy at a man&#8217;s execution?&#8221;
&#8220;— it feels like &#8230; maybe not joy, but certainly not — certainly not empathy,&#8221; Lorenz continued. &#8220;Because again, this is a man responsible —&#8221;
Morgan cut in again, showing surveillance video that had caught the execution-style murder, and asking, &#8220;How can this make you joyful? This man is a husband, he&#8217;s a father —&#8221;
Lorenz argued that Thompson was himself guilty of &#8220;murder,&#8221; claiming that he was responsible for &#8220;millions&#8221; of deaths because of his business practices.
&#8220;So are the tens of thousands of Americans — innocent Americans — who died because greedy health insurance executives like this one push policies of denying care to the most vulnerable people,&#8221; she complained, quickly revising down her numbers.
Lorenz went on to say that she had personally watched people she loved &#8220;suffer&#8221; because of people like Thompson.
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Morgan asked whether she&#8217;d be &#8220;more joyful&#8221; if those other executives were killed off as well, and Lorenz continued to backpedal. She claimed that feeling &#8220;joy&#8221; at the death of one did not mean she wanted more of them to die.
Shortly after the clip went viral, Semafor <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/12/08/2024/taylor-lorenz-and-vox-are-parting-ways" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Vox Media — which partnered with Lorenz to distribute her podcast — was severing ties with her. The report indicated that the contract between Lorenz and Vox was set to expire at the end of the year, and that a decision had been made not to renew that contract prior to her controversial comments.
Lorenz has denied that Vox is walking away from the partnership, promising to reveal all on her podcast in the coming days.

Taylor Lorenz

Ex-WaPo Reporter Taylor Lorenz Says United Healthcare CEO’s Murder Brought Her ‘Joy’

Ex-WaPo Reporter Taylor Lorenz Says United Healthcare CEO's Murder Brought Her 'Joy'

Murder

The Washington Post took a virtual beating on Friday after publishing an article declaring that the two Bronze Star medals awarded to Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump&#8217;s nominee to lead the Pentagon, were less than because they were awarded for &#8220;Meritorious Service&#8221; rather than for &#8220;Valor.&#8221;
In the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/12/05/pete-hegseth-bronze-star/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a>, military reporter Alex Horton argued that Bronze Stars &#8220;were issued somewhat liberally throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan&#8221; and suggested that because Hegseth was an officer rather than enlisted, the award — which he said had been compared to a &#8220;participation trophy&#8221; — had even less comparative value.
&#8220;While many officers have risked their lives on the battlefield, the majority of fighting and exposure to danger is performed by the enlisted troops they command,&#8221; Horton wrote.
The next sentence refuted most of the article&#8217;s claim, however. After five paragraphs effectively — and thoroughly — disparaging Hegseth&#8217;s Bronze Stars as though they were far from proof that he had distinguished himself as a combat veteran, Horton wrote the following: &#8220;Hegseth also received a Combat Infantryman Badge, which is awarded when infantry soldiers and officers engage an enemy in combat.&#8221;
In order to receive the <a href="https://www.hrc.army.mil/content/Combat%20Infantryman%20Badge%20CIB" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB)</a>, soldiers must meet ALL of the following criteria:
<ol>
<li>Be an infantry Soldier satisfactorily performing infantry duties.</li>
<li>Be assigned to an infantry unit during such time as the unit is engaged in active ground combat.</li>
<li>Actively participate in such ground combat. Campaign or battle credit alone is not sufficient for award of the CIB.</li>
</ol>
In order to earn the CIB, Hegseth had to not only be assigned to the unit that participated in direct armed conflict, he had to be an active participant in such combat action. Horton&#8217;s willingness to write off Hegseth&#8217;s &#8220;Meritorious Service&#8221; Bronze Stars as trivial while only including his CIB as an aside suggests an agenda that many on X picked up on.
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&#8220;.@WaPo is seriously arguing &#8216;Actually, Hegseth earning two bronze stars in Iraq and Afghanistan isn’t that impressive,'&#8221; John Hasson wrote.
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.<a href="https://twitter.com/wapo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WaPo</a> is seriously arguing “Actually, Hegseth earning two bronze stars in Iraq and Afghanistan isn’t that impressive” <a href="https://t.co/dNhTYqt13J">pic.twitter.com/dNhTYqt13J</a>
&mdash; John Hasson (@SonofHas) <a href="https://twitter.com/SonofHas/status/1864841141398409716?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Every Bronze Star recipient, along with the families, should cancel their subscription to the Washington Post immediately. Of all the gutter trash thrown at Pete Hegseth, this may be the worst of the worst. Absolutely shameful,&#8221; Joe Concha added.
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Every Bronze Star recipient, along with the families, should cancel their subscription to the Washington Post immediately. Of all the gutter trash thrown at Pete Hegseth, this may be the worst of the worst. Absolutely shameful. <a href="https://t.co/Mj5BKMHSMN">https://t.co/Mj5BKMHSMN</a>
&mdash; Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeConchaTV/status/1864949531923632324?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Fox News host Will Cain — who cohosted &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends Weekend&#8221; alongside Hegseth and Rachel Campos-Duffy — added, &#8220;So now they have moved to diminishing Hegseth’s Bronze Stars. This is so gross but it’s also desperate and flailing. Shows the illegitimacy of all the attacks. Just a total Kavanaugh.&#8221;
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So now they have moved to diminishing Hegseth’s Bronze Stars. This is so gross but it’s also desperate and flailing. Shows the illegitimacy of all the attacks. Just a total Kavanaugh. <a href="https://t.co/Q1sM9iaUkI">https://t.co/Q1sM9iaUkI</a>
&mdash; Will Cain (@willcain) <a href="https://twitter.com/willcain/status/1864881950025994393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The Washington Post hates Pete Hegseth so much that it’s now decided the Bronze Star (which Hegseth was awarded 2x) is meh and not very impressive. Which is weird, because the Washington Post wrote tons of articles about collusion hoaxer Robert Mueller’s Bronze Star. Curious!&#8221; The Federalist&#8217;s Sean Davis posted.
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The Washington Post hates Pete Hegseth so much that it’s now decided the Bronze Star (which Hegseth was awarded 2x) is meh and not very impressive.
Which is weird, because the Washington Post wrote tons of articles about collusion hoaxer Robert Mueller’s Bronze Star. Curious! <a href="https://t.co/RhRPtoLMv7">pic.twitter.com/RhRPtoLMv7</a>
&mdash; Sean Davis (@seanmdav) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1864848226743955945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
&#8220;When Biden awarded the Bronze Star to an intelligence analyst, @Washingtonpost called it &#8216;one of the Army’s most prestigious awards.&#8217; But when @PeteHegseth earns two of them, WaPo says &#8216;Actually, they’re pretty common.&#8217; It’s (D)ifferent for some people,&#8221; Hasson added.
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When Biden awarded the Bronze Star to an intelligence analyst, <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Washingtonpost</a> called it “one of the Army’s most prestigious awards” 
But when <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PeteHegseth</a> earns two of them, WaPo says “Actually, they’re pretty common”
It’s (D)ifferent for some people <a href="https://t.co/xgPSKSF3Xr">pic.twitter.com/xgPSKSF3Xr</a>
&mdash; John Hasson (@SonofHas) <a href="https://twitter.com/SonofHas/status/1864850546231857290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Lee Greenwood Visits “FOX & Friends”

WaPo Torched For Dismissing Pete Hegseth’s 2 Bronze Stars As ‘Common,’ ‘Participation Trophy’

WaPo Torched For Dismissing Pete Hegseth's 2 Bronze Stars As 'Common,' 'Participation Trophy'

Pete Hegseth

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