In recent decades, the leftist political ethos has taken over how to tell fairy tales.
My favorite example is the arc Disney has gone through.
I&#8217;m a huge fan of the old Disney films. It makes me really sad how Disney has destroyed its own intellectual property and really screwed itself up as a company in the service of politics.
My favorite example is the difference between the film “Pinocchio” and the film “Frozen.”
In “Pinocchio,” Jiminy Cricket sings, “Always let your conscience be your guide.” The entire story of “Pinocchio” is that the boy who is coming of age refuses to let his conscience be his guide. He has to explore every bad idea, and finally learns that responsibility for protecting his own family and his father is actually how you become a real boy. The way that you actually mature in the world is to take on responsibility and duty and act with conscience, as opposed to going to Pleasure Island.
The theme could not have been more clearly stated.
Contrast that with the immorality of the most popular song in the last 20 years from Disney, “Let It Go,” in which there is literally a lyric that says “No right, no wrong, no rules, I&#8217;m free,” which is about as pagan an ethos as is possible to get.
You can see the arc of American morality in three generations right there.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-251223-member-exclusive?elementPosition=3&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
If you look back to Shakespeare, he sometimes creates a toned-up version of fairy tales. All of his comedies are essentially a type of fairy tale, and every single one of them ends with a marriage. That’s because life is funny; all these bad things happen, and yet the generations move on. You get married, and you build something.
With the tragedies, everyone dies at the end. In these works, death is a tragedy because the characters have not fulfilled their function of passing it on to the next generation.
Moreover, in the tragedies, it&#8217;s not just an old person dying, it&#8217;s the young person dying that&#8217;s the real tragedy. The tragedy of King Lear isn&#8217;t Lear&#8217;s death; it’s Cordelia&#8217;s death.
That’s true throughout all of the stories of the West: the importance of the deepest things. And because we have become a sterile civilization, I wonder, how much of that is connected to the sterility of rationality?
I really pride myself on rationality. I love reason, reason&#8217;s great; logic is great. But the truth is that the things that people tie themselves to are beyond reason.
I’ve spoken about what I call role theory, which is the idea that all of religion and all of culture is built around particular roles that are universal to human beings.
But we as a society have decided that roles are bad. Roles are impositions from the outside. What we really are is free-floating, authentic desire. And because roles come with rules, they are an imposition on us, and therefore, we have to explode those roles to live a free and full life. In reality, the roles are what make us who we are. And that’s pretty much what every fairy tale is about.
What every great story is about is a person reconciling and making the most of the role that has been laid out for them; the world pre-exists you; you&#8217;re meant for a role the minute you&#8217;re born. That role is laid out for you. You have liberty to live out choices within that role, but the minute that liberty becomes a universal asset that destroys the role, the minute that happens, it&#8217;s no longer liberty.
Then it becomes libertinism, and everything descends into chaos.

Traditional wooden Pinocchio toy.

From Conscience To Chaos: How Modern Storytelling Abandoned Moral Roles

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Last week, the White House convened an education roundtable with U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon titled, “Biased Professors, Woke Administrators, and the End of Free Inquiry on U.S. Campuses.”
Secretary McMahon opened the event by <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-secretary-of-education-linda-mcmahon-participates-white-house-roundtable-left-wing-ideological-capture-of-universities">stating</a>, “It was an honor to be at the White House today with this dedicated coalition of students, faculty, institutional leaders, and policy advocates to highlight the issue of woke ideology and the capture of our institutions of higher education. DEI policies have turned universities from free marketplaces of ideas to purveyors of manufactured ideological conformity, chilling free speech and undermining academic rigor.”
She <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-secretary-of-education-linda-mcmahon-participates-white-house-roundtable-left-wing-ideological-capture-of-universities">explained</a>, “We are committed to working with higher education leaders to reverse course from these decades of decline.”
The Secretary highlighted actions taken by the Trump Administration, including dissolving DEI programs, enforcing merit-based practices, and guiding universities to comply with federal law, noting that over 400 institutions have made substantive changes. The U.S. Department of Education is working to incentivize universities to operate with fairness, academic rigor, and civil discourse.
Providing strong, positive leadership, Secretary McMahon <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/secretary-mcmahon-white-house-remarks-12325-112619.pdf">shared</a>, “We want to provide every opportunity for colleges to recommit themselves to principles like non-discrimination, open discourse and neutrality, financial responsibility, resisting foreign influence, and putting students first.” She called for a recommitment to principles of reason, individual excellence, and non-discrimination to create a “golden age” of higher education.
This was the second in a series of higher education roundtables. The first roundtable was held at the White House on November 19, titled “Administrative Bloat and Low-Value Programs: How U.S. Universities are Failing American Families and How They Can Reform.” It addressed higher-education affordability and key components of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including new caps on graduate loan borrowing aimed at reducing costs and boosting accountability.
Undeniably, the Trump Administration is providing pivotal leadership to reform public higher education. As Eric Bledsoe, Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy with a focus on education, explained at last week’s roundtable, “universities serve a public interest and must be held accountable by the public.” Bledsoe also noted that higher education should be about “cultivating mature citizens who are prepared for the workforce.”
It’s common sense 101, and thankfully for the American people, this administration is working overtime to change the status quo and cultivate a return to normalcy in public higher education, which has been overtaken by wokeness.
In October, the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” was released by the Trump Administration and sent initially to nine institutions. It outlined eight “priorities of the U.S. government in its engagement with universities that benefit from the relationship.” It clearly <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Compact-for-Academic-Excellence-in-Higher-Education-10.1.pdf">notes</a> that “Institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values” other than those outlined “if the institution elects to forego federal benefits.”
The priorities are as follows: equality in admission, marketplace of ideas and civil discourse, non-discrimination in faculty and administrative hiring, institutional neutrality, student learning, student equality, financial responsibility, and foreign entanglements.
The Compact <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Compact-for-Academic-Excellence-in-Higher-Education-10.1.pdf">reads</a>: “The leadership of an academic institute is directly responsible for its strategy, success, and adherence to legal and governmental requirements.” More specifically, each year, the institute’s President, Provost, and Head of Admissions will be required to certify that the university abides by the principles outlined in the Compact.
Violators — whether willfully or negligently — will lose benefits for at least one year. Repeat offenders will lose benefits for at least two years. Additionally, funds advanced to the university by the federal government during the year of violation must be returned. Most <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Compact-for-Academic-Excellence-in-Higher-Education-10.1.pdf">notably</a>, “any private contributions to the university during the year(s) in which such violation occurred shall be returned to the grantor upon the request of the grantor.”
Universities collectively receive hundreds of billions of dollars each year, yet do not deliver soundly on their mission. This much-needed accountability is a major step in the right direction.
As Secretary McMahon <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/secretary-mcmahon-white-house-remarks-12325-112619.pdf">communicated</a> at the most recent White House education roundtable, she is inviting those leading higher education institutions to join her in “creating a golden age of academe — committed to reason, not racial preferences. Merit, not marginalizing the so-called ‘oppressor.’ Individual excellence, not ideological indoctrination.”
University leaders would be wise to get out of the business of indoctrination and discrimination and instead focus on fulfilling their institution’s mission of open inquiry and excellence in academics. Even if they do not align with the Trump Administration, agree with the Compact, or value meritocracy, their institution’s bottom line will be better for it. And most importantly, so will their students and our nation.
* * *
Dr. Keri D. Ingraham is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, Director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a Senior Fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.
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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Universities II. Google Gemini design.

Ending The Woke Monopoly: White House Takes Aim At Higher Ed’s Ideological Capture

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“Wicked: For Good” European Premiere – Arrivals

The Real Reason Hollywood Keeps Turning Villains Into Heroes

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Ratings are down. Cultural prestige? Sinking as we speak. Yet the Best Picture race is one even casual movie fans tend to track. It’s the night’s biggest honor, and having a Best Picture logo next to a film title still holds some sway in the culture.
That’s even though most people didn’t see, or can’t remember, the last few Best Picture winners.
And, each awards season, experts track which film has the best chance to win that Oscar trophy. It’s the ultimate horse race, with box office results, critical reviews, and cultural resonance influencing the outcome.
Is this year’s race over already, weeks before some Oscar-bait films have even reached theaters? It sure looks that way.
Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” stars Leonardo DiCaprio and has already won multiple honors, and the awards season has barely begun. The film swept the National Board of Review’s 2025 honors, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor (DiCaprio).
That’s in addition to best picture wins with the Atlanta Film Critics Circle, the Gotham Awards, and the New York Film Critics Circle. The film also scored big with Sight and Sound’s 2025 Best Films Of The Year List, topping its 2025 chart.
More will follow, no doubt.
<div id="attachment_1010711" style="width: 471px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1010711" class="size-large wp-image-1010711" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Movie-OBAA-461x576.jpg" alt="Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures - copyright Warner Bros. Pictures" width="461" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Movie-OBAA-461x576.jpg 461w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Movie-OBAA-240x300.jpg 240w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Movie-OBAA-768x960.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Movie-OBAA-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Movie-OBAA.jpg 1638w" sizes=" (max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" />Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures &#8211; copyright Warner Bros. Pictures</div>
“One Battle After Another” stars DiCaprio as a bumbling protester who hangs up his revolutionary jacket to raise his mixed-race daughter (Chase Infiniti). His radical past comes back to haunt them when a racist, out-of-control Colonel (Sean Penn) tracks his daughter down for nefarious purposes.
It doesn’t take Peter Falk’s iconic Columbo to sleuth out why “One Battle After Another” is generating so much critical adoration. Yes, Anderson is a top-tier filmmaker, and some of the sequences in the film prove exhilarating.
The film’s political point of view is pure catnip to a community wedded to progressive ideals. The story’s heroes are anti-government radicals who will do whatever it takes to free illegal immigrants taken into U.S. custody.
If that means holding U.S. officials at gunpoint, setting off fireworks, or bombing buildings, so be it. The U.S. forces shown throughout the film are almost uniformly cruel, callous, or just plain evil. A subplot involving a White Nationalist group feels too extreme even for your average MS NOW anchor.
It wasn’t for movie critics, apparently. They’ve endlessly praised the film to the tune of a 94% “fresh” rating at RottenTomatoes.com. The general public liked it, albeit less, via an 85% “fresh” score.
Some scribes have tried to <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/columns/no-one-battle-after-another-is-not-a-left-wing-film-1236556461/">downplay the film’s far-Left politics</a>, a funnier take than any late-night monologue.
<div id="attachment_1010715" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1010715" class="size-large wp-image-1010715" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Leo-robe-864x576.jpg" alt="Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures - copyright Warner Bros. Pictures" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Leo-robe-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Leo-robe-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Leo-robe-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Leo-robe-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Leo-robe-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Leo-robe-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Leo-robe.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures &#8211; copyright Warner Bros. Pictures</div>
It helps that no other 2025 release has “Best Picture” written all over it. Director Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet” is getting early raves, but the film has barely registered at the box office ($1.7 million to date) and offers a maudlin subject. The film imagines what William Shakespeare and his wife endured after the loss of their son.
The Boss biopic “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” flopped in theaters and didn’t get enough critical love.
Art remains subjective, but Hollywood politics are another matter. Not only does “One Battle After Another” reflect the industry’s hard-Left embrace of open borders, it’s a thumb in the eye to both ICE and President Donald Trump.
The latter will be irresistible to Academy voters. And, chances are, the film’s key stars will lean into that sentiment during awards season.
The various arts honors do more than help predict which films and actors will emerge triumphant on Oscar night. They let the early winners test out their acceptance speeches, another unwritten part of their Oscar campaigns.
Uncork a few fiery “thank you… and” speeches, hitting all the “approved” targets along the way, and a star’s Oscar chances perk up.
Now, imagine what DiCaprio would say at the Oscar podium while collecting his second Best Actor statue for “One Battle After Another.” He used his 2017 podium time to promote his Climate Change agenda.
<div id="attachment_1010725" style="width: 808px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1010725" class="size-large wp-image-1010725" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-645717450-798x576.jpg" alt="HOLLYWOOD, CA - FEBRUARY 26: Actor Leonardo DiCaprio speaks onstage during the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood &amp; Highland Center on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)" width="798" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-645717450-798x576.jpg 798w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-645717450-300x217.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-645717450-768x554.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-645717450.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 798px) 100vw, 798px" />Kevin Winter/Getty Images</div>
There’s less than zero chance he won’t blast President Trump’s attempt to enforce immigration laws in any 2026 speech. And he won’t be alone.
Recent Oscar ceremonies have dialed back, to a degree, on the hard-Left polemics. Even far-Left host Jimmy Kimmel hasn’t leaned into his progressive bona fides in recent years.
That will change in 2026 after a full year of President Trump’s return to the White House. Is there a better film to reflect that “resistance” than “One Battle After Another”? That’s rhetorical.
We still have a few more weeks before the year ends. Films like “Marty Supreme,” starring perennial Oscar-bait Timothee Chalamet, hit theaters on Christmas Day. Still, anyone who grasps Oscar culture knows a heavy favorite when he or she sees one.
There is one dark path forward that could derail “One Battle After Another.” The film’s gauzy framing of violence against immigration enforcement took an ugly turn when real attacks on ICE agents broke out close to the film’s release.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/second-illegal-immigrant-detainee-dies-after-dallas-ice-shooting">September attack on a Dallas-based ICE facility</a> didn’t kill any U.S. agents, but it did leave two illegal immigrants dead. The media complex didn’t connect the attack to “One Battle After Another,” but if similar events follow, the connection may be unavoidable.
Hollywood may want to shrug off any ties between the film and actual carnage, but it might be enough of a problem to coax Oscar voters to select another, less incendiary film.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
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Oscars Leo

Is the Best Picture Race Already Over?

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The Cracker Barrel rebrand debacle has been one of the most misunderstood corporate wokeness sagas of 2025. For months, it’s been held up as an example of the failures of ‘culture war conservatism,’ a tempest in a teapot that no one really cared about. Yet, we recently received data-driven proof that the backlash to one of America’s most beloved country brands has been anything but imaginary.
At first glance, it would appear the outrage from consumers and shareholders was simply about the advent of a minimalist logo. The reality, however, is that Cracker Barrel’s performance has been slipping for years. For example, if you invested $1,000 in Cracker Barrel at the start of 2021, it would be worth less than $300 today. That can’t be explained away by a simple logo change. That’s a major problem, years in the making.
But the real test for Cracker Barrel wasn’t whether customers would forgive Uncle Herschel and his wayward brand. It was whether investors would forgive the Barrel’s board of directors, specifically embattled CEO Julie Felss Masino.
On November 20, Cracker Barrel held its annual shareholder meeting, and we found out exactly how much investor trust had been destroyed. Simply put: a lot. A large percentage of investor votes are guided by the recommendation of proxy advisory firms, none of which were inclined to let Cracker Barrel walk away from the debacle scot-free.
In the lead-up to the meeting, much of the ire was focused on Gilbert Dávila, Cracker Barrel’s compensation committee chair and a marketing and diversity specialist, advising a vote against, with some firms also advising against re-electing Jody Bilney, the chair of the Barrel’s nominating/governance committee. CEO Masino wasn’t spared either, with proxy advisory firm Egan-Jones <a href="https://ejproxy.com/post/cash-is-king-the-vicious-cycle-at-cracker-barrel">recommending</a> a ‘no’ vote over the brand’s underperformance. Pay attention to these names — this is how you measure impact.
The outcome? CEO Julie Felss Masino failed to gain support from a quarter of shareholder votes. Bilney, the nominating chair, lost almost a third of shareholder support. And Gilbert Dávila, the diversity specialist, barely broke two-fifths of shareholder support, <a href="https://www.scrippsnews.com/business/company-news/cracker-barrel-ceo-survives-push-for-ouster-after-logo-controversy">resigning</a> after the meeting.
In fact, of the 10 directors up for election, seven of them didn’t break 90% support. That may not sound like much, but in a corporate context, let’s be clear: that’s a vote of “no confidence” from a very sizable number of shareholders.
For comparison, in a 2024 <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/06/exxonmobils-victory-over-climate-activists-is-a-win-for-its-shareholders/">pressure</a> campaign against ExxonMobil, left-wing activist efforts successfully brought down vote counts by a single percentage point — to 95%. Exxon’s CEO, Darren Woods, lost maybe 1% percent of investor support over manufactured outrage. Cracker Barrel’s CEO lost around 20% percent investor support as a result of real outrage.
If you’ll recall, Cracker Barrel made the risky and seemingly unprompted decision to change its logo in August of 2025. In an attempt to reach a younger, less nostalgia-driven audience, they removed ‘Uncle Herschel’ from the classic logo that had been emblazoned on storefronts since 1969.
But that move didn’t proceed as anticipated. The rebrand <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/cracker-barrels-new-text-only-logo-how-you-destroy-brand-critics-claim">got</a> all the wrong attention, from ordinary customers to President Trump to a wide swath of conservative commentators, with Rod Dreher <a href="https://x.com/roddreher/status/1958293733092528218?s=20">deeming</a> the marketing shift “the New Coke of corporate logos.”
And Cracker Barrel, to its very limited credit, listened. After a flurry of negative X impressions and customer protests, the company walked back the rebrand. “We hear you,” Cracker Barrel <a href="https://www.crackerbarrel.com/allthemore">announced</a>, shortly before restoring their old logo, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/03/food/cracker-barrel-drops-design-firm">firing</a> their design firm, and embarking on one of the most embarrassing rollbacks in recent corporate marketing history. “We heard clearly that the modern remodel redesign does not reflect what you love about Cracker Barrel.”
And then, you might think, the story ends. On the business side of things, however, the apology isn’t the final salvo in any marketing fumble. Customers might forgive a brand — but there was a lot more than a logo change to forgive.
Actions have consequences. It’s one of the most foundational principles of business, economics, and politics. In Cracker Barrel’s case, however, an even more foundational principle is being played out in real time: ideas have consequences. Ideas, like allowing political bias to seep into our most prominent corporate institutions, have severe consequences — like a billion dollars&#8217; worth of largely avoidable brand damage. It’s very easy to look at the Cracker Barrel saga and conclude that it’s a non-issue, a side cultural issue invented to invent victimhood where it doesn’t exist. Yet it’s not true.
Cracker Barrel’s failure isn’t a MAGA-generated victim narrative, despite what MSNBC hosts like Jonathan Capehart might <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-host-says-hes-sick-snowflakes-slamming-cracker-barrel-logo-redesign">want you to believe</a>. The company’s struggles have hurt people of all political stripes. Using a historic, valuable brand to test pet marketing theories isn’t just a matter of X debate. It’s a threat to the financial futures of millions of Americans, including Cracker Barrel’s roughly 70,000 employees who depend on the company’s success.
Many of those Americans just made their opinions known, sending a clear sign: there’s serious trouble ahead at the Barrel. The rebrand was only the tip of a very large iceberg, and it’s not just going to be hand-waved away, least of all by the CEO and what’s left of the corporate board that allowed it to happen.
* * *
Isaac Willour is an award-winning journalist focusing on race, culture, and American conservatism, as well as a corporate relations analyst at Bowyer Research. His work has been featured at outlets including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Opinion, C-SPAN, and The Daily Wire. He is a member of the Young Voices contributor program and can be found on X <a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacWillour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@IsaacWillour</a>.
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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Barrel II

After Rebranding Fiasco, Cracker Barrel Takes It On The Chin In Latest Shareholder Meeting

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We’ve never had a pop culture force in the White House quite like President Donald Trump.
Yes, even the Gipper himself, President Ronald Reagan, didn’t grasp star power the same as Trump. Granted, Reagan’s Hollywood days gave him a unique take on culture and the arts and earned him the moniker, “<a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/permanent-exhibits/evolution-great-communicator">The Great Communicator</a>.”
President Trump understands that realm, too, along with our new social media age.
Now, Trump is using his leverage to make movies great again. Or, at least, one franchise in particular.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-pushes-for-rush-hour-comeback-and-hollywood-delivers-report">Reports say</a> Trump had a hand in the “Rush Hour” franchise revival at Paramount. The saga’s director, Brett Ratner — canceled during the MeToo movement for unproven sexual assault allegations — is also directing the upcoming Melania Trump documentary, &#8220;Melania&#8221; (January, 2026).
Those ties likely helped make a fourth “Rush Hour” film happen.
<div id="attachment_1008703" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1008703" class="size-large wp-image-1008703" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2248407527-864x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 25: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the 78th annual National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation in the Rose Garden of the White House on November 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump will pardon Gobble and alternate turkey Waddle, who were both raised in North Carolina and will live out the rest of their lives under the care of the Prestage Department of Poultry Science at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2248407527-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2248407527-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2248407527-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2248407527.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Heather Diehl/Getty Images</div>
In an era when Hollywood studios cast a wary glance at right-leaning audiences, President Trump is using his bully pulpit to shape pop culture.
That gives him a golden opportunity to do more than revive a stalled franchise.
So, which other film projects are deserving of a presidential nudge?
It’s cinematically sacrilegious to remake “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” but what about a sequel starring a middle-aged Ferris? The sequel could find Matthew Broderick’s character saddled with a mortgage, two ungrateful kids, and a marriage to Sloan that has long lost its spark.
Yet, for one glorious day, the older Ferris finds his inner teen, goes on a grand adventure, and realizes the beauty lurking within adulthood. The only issue could be if the John Hughes estate would allow it – the late Hughes wrote and directed the 1986 classic. It’s still worth a try, if merely for the Reagan-era nostalgia.
<div id="attachment_1008711" style="width: 383px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1008711" class="size-large wp-image-1008711" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Ferris-Bueller-poster-373x576.jpg" alt="Paramount Pictures. 1986. " width="373" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Ferris-Bueller-poster-373x576.jpg 373w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Ferris-Bueller-poster-194x300.jpg 194w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Ferris-Bueller-poster.jpg 520w" sizes=" (max-width: 373px) 100vw, 373px" />Paramount Pictures. 1986.</div>
The 1994 comedy “PCU” was both ahead of its time and, sadly, a box office misfire with <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0110759/?ref_=bo_se_r_1">under $5 million</a> from stateside theaters. The comedy skewered the growing “politically correct” movement in American universities, one that presaged a full-blown woke revolution 20 years later.
The comedy still landed some stingers, especially given the academia targets on display. Why not remake the film from today’s college prism? Could the material cover everything from absurd college courses on “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/01/02/taylor-swift-101-college-classes-about-singer/71976599007/">Swiftology</a>” to darker riffs on college antisemitism?
If a direct remake doesn’t make sense, what about a sequel to “Old School?” That frat-style comedy found grown men starting their own Greek-style fraternity. Maybe an “Old School” spin where characters try the same shtick today but run into a furious woke mob rebuffing their efforts to party like it’s 1999?
Comedy has struggled since woke took over Hollywood. Even Variety magazine <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/variety-accidentally-confirms-woke-killed-movie-comedies/">inadvertently admitted as much</a>. Signs suggest its stranglehold on the culture is waning. That gives Team Trump a chance to bring back bawdy, R-rated comedies to a film landscape in dire need of a laugh.
And while blockbuster films often struggle to make a profit due to their gargantuan budgets, screen comedies are infinitely cheaper to produce.
Trump is reviving Ratner’s career with the “Rush Hour” project. He also could reach out to “The Hangover” director Todd Phillips while he’s at it. Phillips famously said he stopped making comedies (he also directed “Old School” and “Road Trip”) <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/10/joaquin-phoenix-cover-story">due to woke’s censorious nature.</a>
Coax Phillips back into the comedy business and see what happens next.
We may not need-need a fourth “Rush Hour” film, but its existence is a thumb in the eye to the woke mind virus sufferers. The saga’s willingness to poke fun at cultural stereotypes typified a better time.
<div id="attachment_1006399" style="width: 997px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1006399" class="size-large wp-image-1006399" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Rush-Hour-987x576.jpg" alt="Rush Hour" width="987" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Rush-Hour-987x576.jpg 987w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Rush-Hour-300x175.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Rush-Hour-768x448.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Rush-Hour.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 987px) 100vw, 987px" />Hulton Archive via Getty Images</div>
If wisecracks about Asians and black people truly were offensive, stars Chan and Tucker might have said something mid-production, no? Earlier this year, USA Network got offended on behalf of those communities. The cable channel <a href="https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2025/7/4/rush-hour-trigger-warning">inserted a trigger warning</a> before the first “Rush Hour” feature:
<blockquote>We all love our buddy comedies, but this movie was created in a different time. FYI certain depictions, language and humor may seem outdated and at times offensive. </blockquote>
Do you understand <a href="https://tenor.com/search/do-you-understand-the-words-coming-out-of-my-mouth-gifs">the words</a> coming out of our mouths?
Which brings us to Phillips’ “Hangover” saga. Once again, the third installment showed the formula was wearing thin. Some franchises should call it a day, no matter how profitable they may be. That third “Hangover,” the weakest of the trilogy, made $362 million globally.
<div id="attachment_1009127" style="width: 399px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1009127" class="size-large wp-image-1009127" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Hangover-the-389x576.jpg" alt="Warner Bros. Legendary Pictures. Green Hat Films." width="389" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Hangover-the-389x576.jpg 389w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Hangover-the-202x300.jpg 202w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Hangover-the-768x1138.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Hangover-the-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Hangover-the.jpg 1382w" sizes=" (max-width: 389px) 100vw, 389px" />Warner Bros. Legendary Pictures. Green Hat Films.</div>
A revival would do more than give its studio a boost. It would signal the woke era’s official collapse. After all, the film followed four straight white males who drank too much, ogled women, found themselves in deep trouble on multiple fronts, but ended up living happily ever after.
No lectures. No Girl Boss characters dressing them down. No forced diversity measures – co-star Ken Jeong stole scenes on his own, thank you. Just R-rated high jinks, the kind that used to power endless dumb but hilarious comedies.
And, yes, the usual media suspects would tsk-tsk these projects, telling us how problematic they are and why no one should laugh at them. And most Americans would give those articles a shrug, at best.
Some might even laugh out loud while reading them.
No one person can lift Hollywood out of its current, sorry state. At the very least, President Trump could Make Hollywood Funny Again.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
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There’s this mic-drop line in the trailer for Leonardo DiCaprio’s new film, “One Battle After Another”: “It’s not that hard, they/them.” 
When my husband and I heard it in theaters, we couldn’t help but shoot one another a look. We weren’t outraged; frankly, we were exhausted.
That zinger was clearly written to earn brownie points from a woke crowd, but it landed like a prepackaged corporate slogan. Any potential hype from the action movie trailer tanked the way an advertisement does when it tries too hard to sound like a movement.
But that’s where we’re at now. Even Hollywood trailers have a virtue-signal quota that writers type into scripts as proof that the studio has passed ideological inspections.
We’re not the only ones tired of it, apparently, since the whole notion of non-binary identities appears to be collapsing in on itself.
Sociologist Eric Kaufmann recently published data on <a href="https://x.com/epkaufm/status/1978074195767480659">X</a> that went viral, showing that the number of young people identifying as a non-binary “gender identity” — and even those identifying sexually as “queer” — has dropped dramatically.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
1/ NEW: trans identification is in free fall among the young
(h/t <a href="https://twitter.com/fire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FIRE</a> data in particular) <a href="https://t.co/i0Z1BNcWG8">pic.twitter.com/i0Z1BNcWG8</a>
— Eric Kaufmann (@epkaufm) <a href="https://twitter.com/epkaufm/status/1978074195767480659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @epkaufm/X.com
Meanwhile, heterosexual identification quietly, and unfashionably, has seen a rebound.
That’s not political backlash, however. People are fatigued by a fading trend.
For years, “gender identity” meant more than personal exploration. Frankly, it felt like a public performance. The internet made it oh-so-contagious; Hollywood made it fashionable. Then corporations made it profitable.
But the more that identity became a virtue to pander or a brand to adopt, the less authentic it felt.
I can think of no better example than actress and singer Demi Lovato, as her story shows the emotional cost better than any statistic. Her struggles were, as many child stars’ are, very public and very difficult to watch: childhood trauma, addiction, near-fatal overdoses, long stretches of recovery, and then a relapse. But in 2021, amidst all that turmoil, Lovato “came out” as non-binary and deemed her pronouns “they/them.”
At the time, she described her new identity as freeing, one that made sense. But let’s be honest, freedom built on instability isn’t lasting. By the next year, she quietly started using “she/her” pronouns again and told interviewers she had become “exhausted” by constantly explaining herself. Focus on that word. She wasn’t just fatigued by correcting strangers, she was clearly weary of trying to rebuild her life through a faulty label based on fiction.
Kaufmann’s research suggests that Lovato’s identity arc clearly mirrors what’s happening on a larger scale. The boom in “trans” and “non-binary” identifications also happened to coincide with historic spikes in depression, anxiety, and loneliness — especially during COVID-19 lockdowns. But now, as self-reported mental health appears to have improved, those identities appear to be declining.
One may not have directly caused the other, but the overlap is worth pondering. For many, that “non-binary” label could have been a survival mechanism of sorts, a way they could name their inner chaos and get it off their chest in a culture that began looking down on traditional anchors like family and even faith. And once Lovato returned to “she/her,” she signaled to the public she was in recovery. This summer, she even <a href="https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/demi-lovato-s-case-study-and-why-women-are-more-prone-to-mimetic-desire">married</a> her Canadian beau, looking absolutely stunning in a traditional white wedding dress to boot.
<div id="attachment_988273" style="width: 843px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-988273" class="size-large wp-image-988273" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2171634394-833x576.jpg" alt="HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 12: Jordan Lutes and Demi Lovato attend the Los Angeles premiere of Hulu's 'Child Star' at NeueHouse Hollywood on September 12, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)" width="833" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2171634394-833x576.jpg 833w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2171634394-300x207.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2171634394-768x531.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2171634394.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 833px) 100vw, 833px" />Kevin Winter/Getty Images</div>
Even Hollywood gets the picture that the magic is wearing off. For years, Netflix and other leading platforms turned representation into their marketing strategies. They inserted gender lessons into everything from teen dramas to children’s cartoons.
The 2021 children’s animated show “Ridley Jones,” for example, had a talking bison come out as “non-binary” and ask his grandma to use “they/them” pronouns. The show was “quietly dumped” two years later, as <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11863181/Netflix-quietly-dumps-Ridley-Jones-bison-comes-non-binary-grandma.html">Daily Mail</a> put it, once that novelty wore off.
This show, and many other forms of pandering media, are storytelling failures. Audiences don’t want to watch a sermon or get lectured. They just want entertainment, and they instinctively recognize when something that once felt radical is now conventional.
So, we’re witnessing the rise and fall of a trend cycle. A movement went viral, institutions codified it, corporations co-opted it, and then … many followers moved on. It started as “liberation,” but it became the branding du jour, which always collapses under its own fickle weight.
Between the data points, I see something hopeful happening. People are quietly rediscovering that they don’t need to reinvent themselves to feel or be whole. To them, I say, “Welcome home.”
For years, authenticity was socially measured by how fluid you were willing to be, but now it matters more how anchored you can stay in the storm. We’ve spent a decade being told that “normal” is oppressive, but normalcy is looking hotter than ever.
And maybe people won’t want to admit they were wrong — I get it. No one likes to admit they had it all mixed up. But when my husband and I heard that “mic-drop” in the movie theater, we didn’t react with cynicism. We recognized that culture has reached a point where even the symbols of rebellion have become clichés.
That’s why this new data is less like a regression and more like a release. After years of confusion, people aren’t running backward, I promise. They’re running home to simplicity and to the peace of saying, “I’m fine with being me.”
* * *
Andrea Mew is the managing editor of IW Features, the grassroots storytelling arm of Independent Women, and a contributing writer for Evie Magazine.
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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London Premiere Of “One Battle After Another”

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Under War Secretary Pete Hegseth, America’s military is rediscovering its true mission of forging warriors, not social justice activists. He’s already purged divisive DEI and race-based admissions policies from our elite service academies, but one seemingly benign obstacle remains: academic accreditation. And like the wall on the training course, it must be overcome.
From West Point to the Air Force Academy, all five military service academies are accredited by a handful of private, unaccountable agencies with enormous influence over higher education. Unless the academies adopt these gatekeepers’ standards, their degrees may not be recognized when graduates pursue advanced degrees at civilian universities. That gives a handful of unelected, pro-DEI activists control over curriculum at schools founded to produce warfighters, including my alma mater, West Point.
That’s a serious problem.
West Point, established by Thomas Jefferson in 1802, along with the Naval Academy and the Merchant Marine Academy, are all accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which <a href="https://www.msche.org/standards/fourteenth-edition/">lists</a> “reflection on diversity, equity, and inclusion” among its “guiding principles.” That includes applying DEI to admissions targets, student assessments, and curriculum design. 
Never mind that the Supreme Court ruled race-based admissions unconstitutional in 2023, the commission insists that DEI reflection should “address disparate impacts on an increasingly diverse student population if discovered.” Its leadership reflects this far-left agenda, including commission president Heather Perfetti, a <a href="https://www.msche.org/president/">DEI champion</a>, and board members like Valerie Lehr, a professor of “LGBTQ politics” and author of Queer Family Values.
The Coast Guard Academy is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, whose standards also reference DEI <a href="https://www.neche.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Standards-for-Accreditation-2021.pdf">at least five times</a>. While the commission is reportedly considering ditching DEI in October, it remains under the control of a <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/01/10/169037364/300-college-presidents-call-for-guns-to-be-banned-on-campuses-other-steps">gun control extremist</a> who urged the Obama administration to ban “military-style assault weapons” and has praised the children of illegal aliens as embodiments of “<a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/opinion/opinion-dreamer-collegians-embody-america-promise/2PfaNiACsrc1EKNVTsWCNL/">America’s promise</a>.”
The same holds true for many of the military’s <a href="https://www.restorethemilitary.com/professional-military-education/">Professional Military Education institutions</a>, full of leftist ideologues and subject to the same diversity accreditation mandates.
It’s bad enough that these commissions push radical ideologies on civilian universities. But America cannot afford to waste resources indoctrinating the next generation of military officers, especially as <a href="https://restoration-news.com/is-america-prepared-for-a-war-with-china">China poses a rising threat</a>.
The military’s biggest problem isn’t meeting diversity quotas; it’s restoring a warrior ethos to military culture. For decades, political mandates imposed by Democratic presidents undermined unit cohesion and combat readiness, while leaving the U.S. military dependent on foreign manufacturing to supply critical equipment. 
The organization I lead, Restoration of America, has laid out a blueprint for reenvisioning the military at <a href="https://www.restorethemilitary.com/">RestoretheMilitary.com</a>. It includes legislative solutions for reforming our service academies.
Fortunately, President Trump is turning things around. Under his direction, the War Department is reinstating physical fitness standards. He’s also removing woke senior officers, such as Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent Joanne Nunan, an <a href="https://restoration-news.com/exclusive-service-academy-s-woke-leadership-removed">anti-Christian bigot</a> he fired in June. In July, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll <a href="https://restoration-news.com/west-point-leadership-thumbs-its-nose-at-the-trump-administration">blocked</a> the West Point superintendent from hiring Biden’s “disinformation” czar to head the Social Studies Department.
These are major victories that should be celebrated, but we cannot rest on our laurels.
The next logical step is removing all outside influence over academy curricula by withdrawing the academies from these accreditors. The service academies should either be accredited by a new War Department accrediting body or accreditation should be eliminated altogether. Accreditation exists to prevent fraudsters from issuing worthless degrees from a phony “college,” and to ensure that students know the basics.
West Point, Annapolis, and the others have nothing to prove. They’ve demonstrated their excellence on the battlefield, time and again. It’s time to let them make warriors, not quotas.
* * *
Doug Truax is a West Point graduate, former 4th Infantry Division Army Captain, Ranger, and successful entrepreneur. He is the volunteer, unpaid founder, and CEO of <a href="http://www.restorationofamerica.com">Restoration of America</a>.
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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The Secretary of War and the President of the United States spoke before hundreds of top U.S. military leaders on Tuesday.
This event had been touted for a few days in advance. The idea was to have all the top U.S. military brass gather at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia. 
There was a lot of speculation about the meeting. Was it going to be an announcement about Ukraine? Or China? Or was it going to be about Venezuela?
It turns out, it was going to be a speech from Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, and a speech from the President of the United States, about recalibrating our military approach, particularly internally.
Pete Hegseth has spoken about this a lot over the past few years. I recorded an episode of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhVMY0AxZd0">Sunday Special</a> with Pete Hegseth about a year ago. He had a new book out, “The War on Warriors,” in which he wrote about wokeness in the military, lowered standards in the military, and the fact that more militaries around the world were not fearing us as much because we had implemented all of these left-wing ideologies within the military. This has legitimately been a big bugaboo of Hegseth’s for years.
Well, now he has the opportunity to change all of that because, of course, he sits atop the Department of War.
The event, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/30/hegseth-military-meeting-trump-generals/">The Washington Post</a>, was organized by Hegseth&#8217;s team at the Pentagon. He summoned generals and admirals from command posts throughout the world to Virginia.
General Dan Caine, Trump&#8217;s hand-selected Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told attendees in his opening comments that the event was an unprecedented opportunity, and an honor for assembled senior officers and their top enlisted advisers to hear directly from the military civilian leadership. 
Hegseth was going after wokeness in the military again, and he railed against what he called “Fat dudes and men in dresses.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2290-warfighters-hegseth-trump-launch-assault-on-woke-military"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-974957 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
So, optically, yes, I understand the Left being very, very upset about it. But it happens to be something that the American people agree with, along with the people who enlist in our military. Journalists around the nation are very, very upset about what Pete Hegseth did yesterday because they believe the military should be a place for social engineering, as opposed to a place for warfighters.
Well, Secretary Hegseth was a grunt. He&#8217;s a person who served in the trenches, and on the front lines. And that means he is significantly more in touch with the feelings of people who actually serve in the military, than certainly the people in the world of journalism — and truthfully, more than many of these sorts of political generals who have spent the last 40 years rising in the ranks.
Which means that recalibrating along those lines is actually not a bad thing at all.
As Secretary Hegseth <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/defense-secretary-hegseth-addresses-senior-military-leaders/666410">said yesterday</a>:
<blockquote>Frankly, it&#8217;s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it&#8217;s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world. It&#8217;s a bad look. It is bad. And it&#8217;s not who we are. So, whether you&#8217;re an Airborne Ranger or a “Chairborne Ranger,” a brand new private, or a four star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards and pass the PT test.</blockquote>
This, apparently, was very upsetting to folks. 
He also went after what he called “Dudes in dresses,” which was a specific reference to the fact that under the Biden administration, there were legitimate videos of troops doing drag as an attempt to drive people into the military. I can&#8217;t think of anything that would drive the types of young men who want to join the military away from the military more than men in drag.
Honestly, that does not seem like a recruiting pitch for the U.S. military. And you can see it in the numbers. The Biden administration was having a very, very difficult time fulfilling its recruiting quotas. From literally the minute Pete Hegseth was announced as Secretary of Defense, those numbers began to rise.
Hegseth then <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/defense-secretary-hegseth-addresses-senior-military-leaders/666410">said</a>: 
<blockquote>This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department, to rip out the politics. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris. As I&#8217;ve said before and will say again, we are done with that sh**.</blockquote>
People are apparently angry about this. And there&#8217;s also a fair bit of gaslighting going on here. 
So the way that this works is that when the Left takes over an institution, they skew that institution. And then, when somebody who is not on the Left takes over the institution and says, “We&#8217;re going to unskew it,” the Left then says, “How dare you do this? How dare you politicize?”
They do this with so many institutions in American life. For example, take higher education, a domain once designed to actually create better American citizens, people who are supposed to be in touch with their civilization. They took an institution that was supposed to be at least titularly nonpartisan and made it highly partisan in favor of the Left.
And then people get into power who are not on the Left. And they say, &#8220;Let&#8217;s shift it back. Let&#8217;s shift it back toward the center.&#8221; And the Left says, “How dare you touch our hallowed institutions? How dare you attempt to change the underlying politics of that institution?”
The same thing in the military. There is an attempt by the Left to hijack the military and use it for a wide variety of social engineering causes, ranging from climate change to DEI to gender identity.
And now, when the Right takes over and says, “Hey, we&#8217;re not going to do any of that stuff, we&#8217;re actually going to go back to the status quo where the military was about winning wars,” the Left responds, “How dare you? How dare you politicize? How dare you intervene? How dare you get involved in politics?” This is an exercise in gaslighting.
The Left is perfectly willing to gut these institutions and wear their faces around like a mask from “The Silence of the Lambs.” But the minute the Right says, “Let&#8217;s restore those institutions to what they were before,” the Left then claims politicization.
It’s nonsense.

President Trump And Pete Hegseth Address U.S. Senior Military Leaders At Quantico

Hegseth To Top Military Brass: No More Dudes In Dresses

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“Not good riddance, but riddance.”
That was late-night host <a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/jimmy-kimmel-republican-viewers-lose-riddance-monologues-healthcare-gun-control-a8004011.html">Jimmy Kimmel’s reaction</a> way back in 2017 to a question about pushing his right-leaning fans away with his progressive transformation. This transformation only grew more pronounced during Trump 2.0.
It culminated in one of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/abc-pulls-jimmy-kimmels-late-night-show-indefinitely-after-charlie-kirk-comments?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=ABC+Pulls+Jimmy+Kimmel%E2%80%99s+Late+Night+Show+%E2%80%98Indefinitely%E2%80%99+After+Charlie+Kirk+Comments">ghastliest comments</a> ever uttered by a late-night host:
<blockquote>We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.</blockquote>
The public knew enough at that point to assume the killer targeted Kirk for his conservative views. More information came out the same day of Kimmel’s comments to seal the sad deal on the matter.
His lie ricocheted around social media and podcasts while legacy media outlets looked the other way. Then, some ABC affiliates balked, sending Kimmel to the bench, perhaps for good.
<div id="attachment_974611" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-974611" class="size-large wp-image-974611" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2235598843-864x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 18: Jimmy Kimmel is seen on September 18, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2235598843-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2235598843-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2235598843-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2235598843.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images</div>
It caps a tumultuous eight years for the ex-“Man Show” host, one whose rude and crude brand gave way to lectures, finger-wagging, and the occasional tear.
We still don’t know all the details behind Kimmel’s benching. Sinclair, the company behind many ABC affiliates, pulled the show and demanded a full-throated apology from the far-Left Kimmel. Nexstar also axed the show, at least for now.
ABC then followed suit.
The decisions came after FCC chair Brendan Carr excoriated Kimmel’s comments on “The Benny Show” and suggested action may be required. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/18/jimmy-kimmel-charlie-kirk-fcc-carr.html">Carr followed up on those opinions via CNBC.</a>
<blockquote>It was appearing to directly mislead the American public about a significant fact that probably one of the most significant political events we’ve had in a long time, for the most significant political assassination we’ve seen in a long time.</blockquote>
Carr has a legal leg to stand on, given ABC uses the public airwaves, but it still bears a whiff of danger to our collective free speech. The government shouldn’t get involved in speech matters, by and large. And First Amendment purists should watch matters closely, something the ACLU once did before becoming regretfully woke.
What’s obvious is how Kimmel abused his platform over the years, mocked others who got fired for sharing the “wrong” words, and embraced nuclear-grade hypocrisy.
Remember Roseanne Barr? The cranky mind behind the ABC sitcom bearing her name lost her job in 2018 after sending out one racially-charged tweet targeting a member of the Obama administration, Valerie Jarrett. Barr swiftly apologized and said she didn’t know Jarrett was black. ABC, owned by Disney, fired her anyway.
Kimmel’s response?
He joked that the <a href="https://x.com/TimcastNews/status/1968491997246730340">show should go on</a>, but this time focusing on her character’s husband, Dan, played by John Goodman. He couldn’t defend her or suggest ABC shouldn’t fire an employee for one awful post.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Never forget how Jimmy Kimmel misrepresented <a href="https://twitter.com/therealroseanne?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@therealroseanne</a> joke tweet and pushed for the network to take her show away. <a href="https://t.co/zok8WJN5nt">pic.twitter.com/zok8WJN5nt</a>
— Timcast News (@TimcastNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimcastNews/status/1968491997246730340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @TimcastNews/X.com
Some free speech hero. That would be a pattern.
When multiple social media platforms banned President Trump following the events of Jan. 6, Kimmel <a href="https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1968548319757480447">delighted in the news</a>. He used his then-Twitter account to share a cartoon of Trump unsuccessfully trying to access the site, a single tear dropping on his smartphone.
In 2021, Kimmel’s show shed announcer Dicky Barrett because the musician refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine, per ABC’s orders. Did Kimmel fight on his behalf? That remains unknown. He did not, however, fight for him in the public space, that’s for sure.
Kimmel’s COVID-19 commentary could be callous, if not downright cruel. When worries surfaced about having enough hospital beds to treat sick Americans, Kimmel suggested those who didn’t take the vaccine <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/jimmy-kimmel-says-unvaccinated-people-140553383.html">should be shut out</a>.
<blockquote>That choice doesn&#8217;t seem so tough to me … Vaccinated person having a heart attack? Yes, come right on in. We&#8217;ll take care of you. Unvaccinated guy who gobbled horse goo? Rest in peace, wheezy.</blockquote>
He also <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/04/jimmy-kimmel-coronavirus-protesters?srsltid=AfmBOorWrhw2rxRug6RyhOhwbZhnH5gg-uhaeltINk2VUx55WZjwz9Xj">mocked ordinary Americans</a> who protested the extreme lockdowns that threatened to shutter their homegrown businesses for good.
Later, when Fox News showed Tucker Carlson the door in 2024, Kimmel danced on the <a href="https://x.com/mazemoore/status/1968502145788809291">conservative’s professional grave</a>.
<blockquote>Tucker couldn’t be reached for comment. He’s already on a plane to Moscow to meet with his manager.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
2023. Jimmy Kimmel celebrates Tucker Carlson getting fired from Fox. <a href="https://t.co/KkvVRc4At6">pic.twitter.com/KkvVRc4At6</a>
— MAZE (@mazemoore) <a href="https://twitter.com/mazemoore/status/1968502145788809291?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @mazemoore/X.com
Perhaps his most egregious act as a so-called comedian came when he hosted a fundraiser for then-President Joe Biden last year. That move shredded whatever remained of his fair-and-balanced pose, but he made things much worse after the fact.
The fundraiser showed President Biden freezing up during the finale. Former President Barack Obama had to gently guide the addled leader off the stage. The moment was caught on video. We all saw it, and most already knew that Biden’s cognitive state was in question.
What did Kimmel do after the fact? He seemingly lied to his audience, telling them <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/jimmy-kimmel-biden-fundraiser-lie/">they couldn’t trust their eyes.</a>
Kimmel isn’t just a partisan. He’s so hard-Left that he greeted President Trump’s re-election last year with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jimmy-kimmel-literally-cries-over-trump-win-suggests-trump-voters-are-stupid">the tears of a former clown</a>.
<blockquote>[The election] was a terrible night for women, for children, for the hundreds of thousands of hard-working immigrants who make this country go, for health care, for our climate, for science, for journalism, for justice, for free speech.</blockquote>
A few months later, he made light of fellow progressives <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/03/20/media/jimmy-kimmel-gave-marching-orders-to-vandalize-teslas-scott-jennings/">attacking Tesla dealerships</a> over CEO Elon Musk’s political maneuvers.
More recently, he joked that some of his show’s female staffers <a href="https://www.tvinsider.com/1166115/jimmy-kimmel-luigi-mangione-hot-kiiller-monologue-video/">were crushing on Luigi Mangione</a>, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in cold blood.
Ha ha ha.
Even his infamous Kirk comments came before he mocked President Trump for mourning the wrong way over the younger man’s assassination. Just ghoulish.
Not riddance, Jimmy. Good riddance.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

The Walt Disney Company Emmy Awards Party – Arrivals

Jimmy Kimmel: Cancellation And Consequences

Charlie Kirk

Jimmy Kimmel

Trump Derangement Syndrome

Jimmy Kimmel&#8217;s show was suspended indefinitely on Wednesday.
The question is whether that is a result of organic pressure from the crowd, which, if so, is great. I&#8217;m on board.
Jimmy Kimmel is a schmuck. Jimmy Kimmel is the worst. Jimmy Kimmel has been trash for over ten years.
Jimmy Kimmel was the funny guy who used to tell jokes, going all the way back to his days on KROQ 106.7 in Los Angeles. When I was in high school, I was listening to &#8220;Kevin and Bean in the Morning&#8221; because my carpool mates refused to listen to anything else. Jimmy Kimmel was “The Sports Guy,” and he was funny and obviously very talented.
And then Kimmel somehow became a late-night host. He then decided it was incumbent upon him to become, as my friend Guy Benson has said,  the “Woke Pope of Late Night.” He would lecture you every night and be incredibly d***ish all the time.
That was his shtick. He would go on TV and lecture you and be terrible.
There are numerous times that Jimmy Kimmel should have been canceled, where he said things that were so egregious, terrible, and gross that he should have been done.
By the standards of the modern woke media, they should&#8217;ve just dug up his old stuff and gone after him. There&#8217;s old tape from “The Man Show with Adam Carolla” of Jimmy Kimmel simulating groping a woman without her permission and mimicking having sex with her from behind without her knowledge.
That didn&#8217;t get him canceled.
Jimmy Kimmel dressed up in blackface, back in the day. He dressed up as NBA star Karl Malone in blackface. That didn&#8217;t get him canceled.
Forget about his old stuff. He didn&#8217;t get canceled for saying on the air that people should die in hospitals if they took Ivermectin for COVID, stating, “Doctor Fauci said that if hospitals get any more overcrowded, they&#8217;re going to have to make some very tough choices about who gets an ICU &#8230; that choice didn&#8217;t seem so tough to me. Vaccinated person having a heart attack? Yes, come right on and we’ll take care of ya. Unvaccinated guy who gobbled horse goo? Rest in peace, Wheezy.” 
I&#8217;m very happy to see Jimmy Kimmel go, for whatever reason. He was a horror show. His morality is completely backward. His obvious, dripping disdain and hatred for anyone who disagrees with him are perfectly clear and have been clear every night for years. No one could more richly deserve being taken off the air than Jimmy Kimmel.
The question is whether the federal government had anything to do with him being taken off the air. Policy cannot be a blunderbuss.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2283?contentProgram=The%20Ben%20Shapiro%20Show&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Charlie Kirk was killed while advocating for free speech. He was killed while engaging in political debate. And one of the legacies that Charlie Kirk left us with is the necessity for such political debate, the necessity for free speech.
Again, that doesn&#8217;t mean speech without consequences. It means the necessity for debate. And what that requires is that the government not be involved, for example, in shutting down free debate.
So the question with regard to Kimmel is whether this is an organic outgrowth of natural outrage over Jimmy Kimmel, or whether it was forced by the federal government.
Kimmel had said in his monologue: “We had some new lows over the weekend, with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from and in between the finger pointing.”
By the time that Kimmel broadcast this on Monday night, it was perfectly clear that it was not true. We all knew. All the evidence shows that the shooter murdered Charlie because the shooter was in a gay relationship with a trans-furry, and had decided that Charlie was hateful because Charlie said that men were not women, etc.
We knew that already. So was Kimmel lying? I believe Kimmel knew he was lying.
I also know that there are a bunch of delusional people on the Left who are trying to pretend that either the shooter had no political motivations at all, which is totally crazy, or that the shooter was MAGA, which is even crazier.
Perhaps in his own head, Kimmel was part of that delusional crew who thought that because the shooter grew up in a MAGA house, that meant he was MAGA, despite the fact that all the evidence shows he was anything but.
So the question is whether these local affiliates canceled Kimmel because they were upset with him, or they canceled Kimmel because they came under pressure from the FCC. 
Nexstar ABC put out a statement:
<blockquote>Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXST), today announced that the company’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future, beginning with tonight’s show. Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC‑affiliated markets. &#8230; Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue. </blockquote>
The question is, was that natural, or was that a result of the fact that Nexstar is currently trying to push a $6.2 billion merger through FCC scrutiny and the fact that the FCC chair, Brendan Carr, seemingly threatened action against Kimmel, ABC, and Disney?
I like Brendan Carr. But the FCC should not be threatening action against ABC or its affiliates or Disney based on Jimmy Kimmel being a jackass. He&#8217;s been a jackass his entire career.
Social censure is perfectly appropriate. The blowback from the public is totally natural and good because Jimmy Kimmel is a schmuck who should have been taken off the air ten years ago.
But I do not want the FCC in the business of telling local affiliates that their licenses will be removed if they broadcast material that the FCC deems to be false.
Why? Because one day the shoe will be on the other foot. I know that we&#8217;ve gotten out of the habit of this. I know that a lot of people on the Right are saying, “The shoe will never be on the other foot, and if it is, the Left will just do it anyway.”
But preemptively breaking things because you believe that the Left is going to break the things still makes the things broken — and you can&#8217;t unbreak them. 
I&#8217;m an advocate of the idea that things that are not yet broken probably should not be.
If we are now in a world where we&#8217;re going to preemptively break the plate because we believe that the bad guy is going to break the plate, all the plates are going to get broken. And regardless of what you do, that&#8217;s going to get used against you. The shards will be used as weapons against you. I promise you, if the FCC is removing local affiliate licenses or threatening to do so, based on Jimmy Kimmel being a jackass, the next time a Democrat is elected, which will happen sooner or later, you will say the FCC should not be involved in this sort of stuff.
I&#8217;m not saying Kimmel shouldn&#8217;t be taken off the air.
I&#8217;m not saying the social sanction shouldn&#8217;t have forced him off the air.
I&#8217;m not saying any of these local affiliates shouldn&#8217;t have said they don&#8217;t want to air Kimmel’s show anymore.
I&#8217;m saying they should have done all that ten years ago. If, best case scenario, the public forces the local affiliates to react and take him off the air, totally legit.
But I do not like that the FCC muddied the waters here. I think it is bad politics, and I think it is bad policy. Because if Democrats win the presidency and you get a Democrat in charge of the FCC, you know which affiliates are going to get threatened.
Let the public be outraged, and let the public outrage organically drive for Kimmel’s ouster.
Legally, you&#8217;ve muddied the waters on First Amendment grounds in much the same way that the Biden administration was threatening Facebook with consequences if it did not remove certain material. 
If you wish to hand power back to the Democrats, what you do here is overreach or at least create the perception of overreach.
So two things can be true at once: I’m very, very happy that Jimmy Kimmel is off the air. He is a schmuck. He&#8217;s the worst. Don&#8217;t let the door hit him on the way out.
But also, the government should not be muddying the waters.
If they do, they put themselves at risk of significant overreach, and that could come back to haunt us.

UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation’s 28th Annual Taste For A Cure

Glad Kimmel’s Gone. But Don’t Overreach.

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