There have been a lot of changes in the second Trump administration, as we all know. But there was one change from the very beginning that hasn&#8217;t gotten nearly as much attention as it should. It&#8217;s when Trump stood up during his inauguration speech and invoked the idea of Manifest Destiny, which is of course deeply rooted in the idea of American exceptionalism.
For the first time in many generations, a U.S. president felt no shame in proclaiming that America is the greatest nation on the planet. And crucially, Donald Trump didn&#8217;t make this proclamation as a platitude. He wasn&#8217;t seeking to get a quick sound bite out of it, by reminding people of history class when they heard terms like &#8220;Manifest Destiny&#8221; and American exceptionalism. Instead, Trump meant it, in a practical sense. We&#8217;re the best nation, he said. And therefore we can do what we want. We can impose tariffs and force everyone to the negotiating table. We can deport criminals and ignore corrupt judges who tell us otherwise. In a matter of weeks, we can eliminate bureaucracy, talk about acquiring Greenland, and become energy independent — which is no small thing when the entire continent of Europe teeters on the verge of a blackout.  We can do all of these things because, in very real terms, we are unique. Period. We have a fighting spirit that no other nation on the planet can match.
If you attended college in the last 50 years, you&#8217;ve probably been conditioned not to say things like this. You&#8217;re told it&#8217;s gaudy, or a relic of colonialism or something like that. But it happens to be true. And every day, we&#8217;re reminded it&#8217;s true. We can see, right out in the open, that other nations are inferior to our own. Look closely enough, and you&#8217;ll see that they&#8217;ll admit it. They are preoccupied with their own destruction.
Let&#8217;s start with the UK, which is allegedly one of our closest allies. A couple of weeks ago, you might remember, we <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg3G_P1jO_c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">talked about</a> the Netflix show &#8220;Adolescence,&#8221; and how it&#8217;s essentially taken over the entire country. 
&#8220;Adolescence&#8221; is a mini-series in which a white 13-year-old boy named Jamie stabs a girl to death after the girl rejects his advances. The &#8220;hook,&#8221; if you can call it that, is that the show blames online culture for the killer&#8217;s actions, at least to some extent. The victim had bullied the 13-year-old boy on Instagram, for example. He had been called an &#8220;incel&#8221; and so on. The point of the show is that &#8220;male rage&#8221; is fueled by online misogyny and bullying, and that children are liable to become murderers at any moment, even if they live in a loving, stable two-parent household. That&#8217;s the message the showrunners wanted to convey, even though it flies in the face of common sense and every data point we have. Beyond that, there wasn&#8217;t anything very interesting about the show. The cameraman is doing more interesting things than any of the actors, since everything is supposedly shot in one take.
So it was reasonable to assume that, after the initial hype died down over this mini-series, that the UK would move on pretty quickly. That&#8217;s the normal trajectory that shows like this tend to follow. And indeed, that&#8217;s what many in my audience said would happen. I received dozens of comments on my last monologue on &#8220;Adolescence&#8221;, where several people who live in Britain explained that, actually, the show isn&#8217;t that popular over there to begin with. Additionally, as we discussed, there was an infamous interview broadcast on the BBC, where the anchors grill a conservative politician about the fact that she hasn&#8217;t seen the show. They were stunned, for the entire interview, that she hadn&#8217;t watched it. And no matter how much the politician tried to explain to these anchors that the show isn&#8217;t real, they kept doubling down. When we played that footage two weeks ago, it seemed like it was safe to assume that the obsession over this show had officially jumped the shark. It seemed too absurd to continue. Everyone, even fans of the show, would certainly walk away slowly and find something else to fixate on.
But that hasn&#8217;t happened in the UK. Instead, &#8220;Adolescence&#8221; isn&#8217;t simply dominating political discussions anymore. Now the show is being used to justify new legislation that would dramatically curtail free speech rights in the country — almost as if that was the point of the show all along. In fact, the show&#8217;s creators just testified in parliament to demand this new legislation. Yes, the government held an entire hearing on a fictional television show, in which the show&#8217;s writer testified as an expert before the government&#8217;s &#8220;Women and Equalities Committee.&#8221; That is the very dire and hopeless state of the so-called United Kingdom at the moment.
We&#8217;ll start at the beginning of the hearing, when a member of parliament named Sarah Owen begins questioning Jack Thorne, who&#8217;s the creator and executive producer of &#8220;Adolescence.&#8221; And this member of parliament is very interested in knowing more about Jamie, and why he snapped and decided to kill a girl. But there&#8217;s a bit of a snag, because the politician clearly doesn&#8217;t understand what the creator of the show was getting at, which leads to this mildly amusing exchange. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 Discussing fake character" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SlPhT8p7xqU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There&#8217;s a couple of layers of embarrassment here. First of all, of course, they&#8217;re talking about a fake person as if he&#8217;s real. He&#8217;s saying it would take him &#8220;nine years&#8221; to unpack the brain of a fictional character named Jamie, who, because he doesn&#8217;t actually exist, does not therefore have a brain, or a history, or emotions. And for her part, the politician — who apparently chairs this committee in parliament — keeps pressing for more information about this fictional individual. She&#8217;s really determined to understand what makes him tick, even though he doesn&#8217;t exist. This went on for something like two hours, by the way. The hearing was full of moments like this.
As it went on, it became clear that Jack Thorne is especially concerned about &#8220;conspiracy theories,&#8221; as he calls them. And at one point in the hearing, Thorne elaborated on the term &#8220;conspiracy theories.&#8221; It turns out that — stop me if you&#8217;ve heard this one before — a conspiracy theory is something that&#8217;s completely true, but highly inconvenient for the political Left. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 conspiracy" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_pNtI0EQBpg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That&#8217;s his response, when he&#8217;s asked about the race-swap in &#8220;Adolescence.&#8221; He&#8217;s asked about a conservative politician who pointed out that, unlike what you see on Netflix, white kids from stable households are not stabbing many people in the UK. That&#8217;s the truth. It&#8217;s kids from broken homes, along with jihadists, who are doing most of the damage. And in response to that point, which is obviously true, Thorne states that the conservative politician must be &#8220;consuming&#8221; the wrong content online. The implication, of course, is that anyone who tells the truth about knife crime in the UK — and violent crime in general — should be censored. You&#8217;re required to think that it&#8217;s young white kids from loving two-parent households that are knifing everyone, and you&#8217;re supposed to ignore the literal jihadist with an Al Qaeda training manual in his backpack who murders young girls at a dance studio.
Again, this is the state of the UK — a country that we once had a lot in common with. But this is what they&#8217;re reduced to. I want to show one more clip from this hearing, because it just kept getting more and more comical as it went on. Eventually Jack Thorne left, and he was replaced by a bunch of self-described &#8220;experts&#8221; and government officials who — supposedly — would provide some hard evidence in support of more online censorship. 
But then, a funny thing happened. 
When they were asked for evidence that misogyny is on the rise in the UK, they didn&#8217;t have any data. They couldn&#8217;t point to any objective, verifiable information about all the young white men who are going out and killing women because of Andrew Tate or whatever. Instead — and I&#8217;m not making this up — the experts turned around and cited the show &#8220;Adolescence,&#8221; and the testimony from Jack Thorne. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 Experts cite show" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8KCdtC9tgIU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
So they don&#8217;t have any data, actually. They just have the show &#8220;Adolescence,&#8221; and the testimony from its &#8220;executive producer.&#8221; According to the government expert, that qualifies as &#8220;evidence&#8221; in the UK. Time to pass a law eliminating free speech on the internet, I guess. But the point here is not to mock the UK, as entertaining as that would be. The point is that this kind of embarrassing spectacle is not very surprising for them. There aren’t very many people left in that country to speak out against it. There isn’t much of a &#8220;right wing&#8221; in the UK, or almost anywhere else in the western world outside of the United States.
And if you don&#8217;t believe that, look at the election that just <a href="https://barsoom.substack.com/p/post-mortem-for-the-canadian-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">took place</a> in Canada. After ten years of destroying Canada&#8217;s economy and opening the borders to hordes of foreign nationals, the Liberal Party was just re-elected. Voters once again handed the Liberal Party control of government, even after the Liberals froze the bank accounts of peaceful protesters, arrested journalists in the street, trampled old ladies with horses, disarmed the entire population, and effectively banned independent journalists from posting their content on social media platforms. Canadians saw the government declare martial law over a bunch of truckers who didn&#8217;t want to be compelled to take an experimental shot, and they said, &#8220;we want more of that.&#8221; And also, of course, they want more taxes so that they can stop the weather from changing.
I&#8217;m not going to pretend to be an expert on the ins-and-outs of Canadian politics. If you&#8217;re interested in a more granular breakdown, there&#8217;s a Substack <a href="https://barsoom.substack.com/p/post-mortem-for-the-canadian-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> from someone named John Carter that goes into some detail about what happened in this week&#8217;s election. Here&#8217;s how it begins.
<blockquote>Have you ever noticed how election results are regularly broken down geographically, as well by the demographic categories of age, sex, and – depending on the country – race, yet we almost never see the results separated into taxpayer vs tax-eater status? &#8230; It is absolutely no surprise that Ottawa voted solidly for the Liberal Party of Canada, whose base consists of three primary groups: migrants, public sector workers, and baby boomers, all of whom are regime client groups, and all of whom are tightly packed into the nation’s capital. Perhaps it’s that it’s tax season and I’m in a grumpy mood because I just got the bad news, but I can’t help but wonder about how electoral politics would change if only taxpayers were allowed to vote.</blockquote>
That&#8217;s a useful framework to look at what just happened in Canada, especially as you hear a lot of people blaming Donald Trump and tariffs and so on. In Canada, very few young people can afford homes. There aren&#8217;t many good jobs. The only really viable aspects of Canadian society are the public sector — which is sustained through taxes and borrowed money — and retirees. The public-sector employees are the ones who celebrated when truckers were beaten by the police in Ottawa a few years ago. They resent the working-class. Their only interest is seeing their pensions vest. Meanwhile, older Canadians have made their money, and they don&#8217;t seem to care about what happens to their country going forward.
Take a look at this chart, which is making the rounds:
<div id="attachment_914325" style="width: 692px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-914325" class="wp-image-914325 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/e5df823e-f7b0-4335-ad69-cdc16a1a914e_1240x1048-682x576.webp" alt="Abacus Data. Substack, John Carter." width="682" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/e5df823e-f7b0-4335-ad69-cdc16a1a914e_1240x1048-682x576.webp 682w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/e5df823e-f7b0-4335-ad69-cdc16a1a914e_1240x1048-300x254.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/e5df823e-f7b0-4335-ad69-cdc16a1a914e_1240x1048-768x649.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/e5df823e-f7b0-4335-ad69-cdc16a1a914e_1240x1048.webp 1240w" sizes="(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px" />Abacus Data. Substack, John Carter.</div>
It shows the &#8220;most important factors&#8221; in people&#8217;s votes, broken out by age. It&#8217;s from Abacus Data, which is a Canadian polling firm. Notice that, for most young people under the age of 44, &#8220;reducing the cost of living&#8221; is the top issue. But for Canadians over the age of 60, the top issue was &#8220;dealing with Donald Trump.&#8221;
In other words, Canadian seniors are not even pretending to be interested in the internal affairs of their own country. They&#8217;re not concerned about the fact that young people are overdosing at increasing rates, or that many of them are well into their 30s, sharing tiny apartments with roommates just to make ends meet. What they care about, instead, is &#8220;dealing with Donald Trump&#8221; — an elected official from a different country, who hasn&#8217;t caused a single ounce of the misery that Canada has been enduring for the past decade.
In this country, by contrast, older voters were mostly <a href="https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/government-elections/info-2024/election-analysis-older-voters.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concerned</a> about the economy in the last election. In Michigan, for example, the AARP found that &#8220;24 percent of older voters cited the economy and jobs, and another 24 percent cited inflation, as top concerns.&#8221; So nearly half of these voters are interested in things that every American should be interested in — which is creating a stable and functioning economy so that people can buy homes and raise children.
But in Canada, as in the UK, the priorities are different. That&#8217;s why these countries are spending their time talking about Netflix shows, and electing globalists who promise to send mean tweets to Donald Trump or whatever.
It&#8217;s a sobering realization, but it&#8217;s true: These countries, which are supposed to be great allies who we have a lot in common with, do not have a functioning conservative movement at all. One that respects the sanctity of life from the moment of conception, one that values the importance of economic growth for everyone, and one that understands the distinction between fiction and reality. With every election that takes place in Canada, and every humiliating hearing on &#8220;Adolescence&#8221; that the UK is subjected to, the truth becomes clearer by the day. It&#8217;s time to admit it, because it&#8217;s unavoidable at this point: The future of conservatism, and thus of Western civilization, is in our hands — and our hands alone.

“Adolescence” Special Screening – Arrivals

UK Parliament Hosts Incredibly Embarrassing Hearing Over Netflix Show ‘Adolescence’

England

Great Britain

Matt Walsh

Migrants

Netflix

Opinion

Stabbing

Teenagers

Woke Culture

It’s not an exaggeration to say that conservative shareholder engagement is changing the corporate game. For years, Left-wing activists controlled the agendas at our largest companies, using not only their leverage as stockholders but their perpetual devotion to activism to get in the ear of America’s boards and directors. The result? Leftward drift in virtually every major company. But now conservative shareholders, from ordinary investors to major conservative nonprofits, are stepping into the game — and their engagements are bearing major fruit. The latest proof? IBM.
IBM’s track record on corporate bias and activism is notorious. The company was a member of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), a group created by the World Federation of Advertisers that worked to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-daily-wire-addresses-the-ad-industry-following-the-fall-of-garm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">keep ad revenue away</a> from conservative news sites like the Daily Wire to free speech-centric platforms like X. And that’s before all the DEI concerns surfaced. After IBM CEO Arvind Krishna was caught on a <a href="https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1734374423124176944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1734374423124176944%7Ctwgr%5E42e55266e59ec08d85550be6ab044097866bd072%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdallasexpress.com%2Fbusiness-markets%2Fceo-of-tech-corp-ibm-enshrines-dei-hiring%2F">hot mic</a> discussing how the company uses quotas of ‘underrepresented’ minorities in determining their executive pay — in Krishna’s words, execs have “got to move both [race and gender] forward by a percentage point” in order to get a higher bonus. That means DEI. That means quotas. Following these snafus, the reputational, ethical, and (in the case of the Missouri AG who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/missouri-attorney-general-sues-tech-giant-ibm-alleging-discrimination-against-whites-asians-men" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> IBM) legal scrutiny was swift in coming.
IBM’s motto since its early years has been “THINK,” referring to the innovative spirit with which the company solves problems. Yet when it came to political bias, that motto was missing in action — and shareholders took notice. In January, the firm I work for, Bowyer Research, began <a href="https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-foundation-expands-efforts-hold-corporate-america-accountable-end-its-discriminatory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">work</a> with the Heritage Foundation to hold IBM accountable for the DEI quotas that Krishna described. The argument? Simple — use of non-meritocratic quotas based on race and gender aren’t just bad for reputation, but illegal on their face and bad for business. Shareholders, from major nonprofits to ordinary mom-and-pop investors, shouldn’t have their business returns impacted by IBM’s belief in identity politics.
As the shareholder engagement heated up on the internal front, pressure from <a href="https://lunduke.locals.com/post/5515346/the-ibm-red-hat-leaks-what-weve-learned-so-far" target="_blank" rel="noopener">journalists</a> and <a href="https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1910425361034383545" target="_blank" rel="noopener">influencers</a> like Robby Starbuck increased on the external front. That pressure built and built — and the release began earlier this month, when IBM announced the end of many of its DEI initiatives and related goals, including the elimination of its diversity council, the phaseout of its supplier diversity initiatives, and no longer participating in surveys put out by radical corporate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-radical-intolerance-behind-woke-corporate-activism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">activist groups</a> like the Human Rights Campaign, which pressures companies to cover puberty blocker access for employees’ children in the name of “health care access.”
That would have been news enough — until several days ago, when IBM also <a href="https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-foundation-secures-commitment-viewpoint-neutrality-ibm-encourages-company" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agreed</a> to include viewpoint neutrality as part of its advertising policy in response to Heritage’s shareholder engagement. That means that biased, activist-driven, political censorship that ad cartels like GARM perpetuate is now explicitly banned under IBM corporate policy. IBM listened to its shareholders, its employees, and its customers — and the result is another company willing to make commitments to political neutrality. This is what happens when authentic shareholder advocacy, championing political neutrality, merges with external pressure to drop corporate bias: change happens, and happens in the form of concrete policy commitments, not just boilerplate PR statements. It’s a praiseworthy step.
But is the scrutiny over? Absolutely not. IBM needs to demonstrate that they’re committed to actually staying the course on being politically-neutral and quota-free. Outstanding questions remain. During our engagement on behalf of Heritage, the company <a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/corpfin/no-action/14a-8/heritageibm3325-14a8.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notably claimed</a> to the SEC that they couldn’t give a definition of DEI as grounds to ignore shareholder concerns — so how did they go from not knowing what DEI is to getting rid of it? (You can probably guess how.) The company holds its annual meeting of shareholders today, and if they’re savvy will make a point of focusing their messaging on business, not activism.
Achieving the commitment to neutrality at IBM was the result of a myriad of groups, from shareholders like Heritage to <a href="https://adflegal.org/press-release/sec-sides-with-adf-denies-absurd-attempt-from-govt-contractor-ibm-to-hide-from-shareholders-on-dei-proposal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legal giants</a> like Alliance Defending Freedom to the courageous IBM employees willing to speak out about the bias behind the scenes. And it’s going to take all of those groups to be vigilant now — not paying attention to our boardrooms is what got us into the woke mess in the first place.
This is the next phase of rooting out bias and wokeness from corporate America — watching tirelessly to see whether companies that commit to ditching DEI are actually willing to put their messaging and money where their mouths are. Smart companies will be willing to commit to change. Foolish ones will hope to either avoid scrutiny altogether or reintroduce the same tired DEI policies under the guise of <a href="https://www.shrm.org/executive-network/insights/time-to-add-b-for-belonging-to-workplace-dei-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phrases</a> like “belonging.” It’s our job, as shareholders, as customers, and as Americans, to keep up the pressure for accountability with the leverage that we’ve been given. And above all, to make the case for what truly makes every company successful: the courage to resist activism and the fortitude to focus on business.
* * *
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.

Traders On The Floor Of The New York Stock Exchange As Fed Chair Powell Holds New Conference

IBM Rolls Back DEI, Commits To Political Neutrality

Business

Diversity

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Dow Jones

GARM

Heritage Foundation

Human Rights Campaign

Robby Starbuck

Stock Market

Wall Street

You may have noticed that most of the headlines right now revolve around President Trump and the Republicans. It&#8217;s almost as though the Democrats don&#8217;t exist.
That’s because they don&#8217;t. They have almost lost the will to resist, as you have Bernie Sanders and AOC taking private jets to large venues.
Democrats are struggling for what their message ought to be, so they have unleashed a new term.
It is “Dark Woke,” which is going to go about as well as “Dark Brandon” did.
Just a few years ago, at a NASCAR race, people started chanting “F*** Joe Biden” and a woman who was covering that race then suggested the crowd was actually chanting, “Let&#8217;s go, Brandon!”
Republicans started using the slogan “Let&#8217;s go Brandon” to imply “F*** Joe Biden.” And then the Biden administration, trying to seize the language back, put out memes of old Joe Biden with laser eyes calling him “Dark Brandon.” Or they put up memes of him with his sunglasses, grinning, and they called it “dark.”
It didn&#8217;t go well because he then physically died in the middle of the race and dropped out. In fact, it went very poorly.
So now they&#8217;re trying “dark” again. They think that just by adding the word “dark” to things, that makes it cool.
Dumb.
They&#8217;re obviously trying to copy the Elon Musk memery of “Dark MAGA.” And so now they have “dark woke.”
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2184-member-exclusive?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/style/dark-woke-democrats-jasmine-crockett-trump.html">According</a> to The New York Times, “There was a time last summer when the Democratic Party was cool.”
That was a really, really short period of time. (There was a point in time when I was significantly closer to weighing 150 pounds. It was a moment, and then it went away.)
The Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/style/dark-woke-democrats-jasmine-crockett-trump.html">continued</a>:
<blockquote>Kamala Harris had just stepped in as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in the waning days of Brat summer. She went on the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy.” Tim Walz’s outdoorsy drip led to a Chappell Roan-inspired camo trucker hat. The mems were flowing, and the party’s mood was high.</blockquote>
You&#8217;ll recall that even by the end of Brat summer, it was pretty much over for Kamala Harris. The “Call Her Daddy” appearance was a giant failure and cost her a bunch of money.
Tim Walz was never a bro. Nobody ever saw Tim Walz as a bro, unless the bros were hanging out at a high school musical production using jazz hands.
But now, apparently, Democrats are in search of a new memery. The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/style/dark-woke-democrats-jasmine-crockett-trump.html">writes</a>:
<blockquote>As liberals try to get their groove back, some party insiders say Democratic politicians have been encouraged to embrace a new form of combative rhetoric aimed at winning back voters who have responded to President Trump’s no-holds-barred version of politics. It’s an attempt to step outside the bounds of the political correctness that Republicans have accused Democrats of establishing. And it requires being crass but discerning, rude but only to a point. Online, it has a name: “Dark woke.”
“Republicans have essentially put Democrats in a respectability prison,” said Bhavik Lathia, a communications consultant and former digital director for the Wisconsin Democratic Party. “There is an extreme imbalance in strategy that allows Republicans to say stuff that really grabs voters’ attention, where we’re stuck saying boring pablum. I see this as a strategic shift within Democratic messaging — I’m a big fan of ‘dark woke.’”</blockquote>
What exactly is “dark woke?”
The Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/style/dark-woke-democrats-jasmine-crockett-trump.html">again</a>:
<blockquote>During a meeting of the House Oversight Committee last May, Representative Jasmine Crockett, Democrat of Texas, found herself in a spat with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, after Ms. Greene made a jibe about “fake eyelashes” that the chair, Representative James Comer, Republican of Kentucky, declined to prosecute under the committee’s rules on decorum.
“Mr. Chair, a point of order,” Ms. Crockett said. “I’m just curious, just to better understand your ruling. If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach blonde bad built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?”
Ms. Crockett’s moment became a meme. It was printed on T-shirts. It got her an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. And now, Democratic strategists say, it has become a perfect example of “dark woke.”</blockquote>
Democrats are very much in love with this sort of stuff.
And it ain’t gonna get them out of their morass.

Bernie Sanders And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Hold “Fighting Oligarchy” Rally In L.A.

The ‘Dark Woke’ Rises — And Trips Over Itself

Ben Shapiro

Democrats

New York Times

Republicans

Controversy has reared its head again in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) in California. The district recently convened a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwPu4CQ_rZk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">special board meeting</a> to deliberate on its Ethnic Studies curriculum and the potential renewal of a contract with Community Responsive Education (CRE). <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-a-new-ethnic-studies-curriculum-promotes-anti-semitism-in-california">As I reported last month,</a> the State of California previously rejected the draft Ethnic Studies curriculum co-authored by CRE founder and director Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, which was deemed to promote antisemitism and neo-Marxist ideology.
Though the district’s multi-stage contract with CRE was canceled in 2023 amidst the controversy, Tintiangco-Cubales’s ideas live on. No wonder many are concerned that PVUSD is considering a renewed contract with CRE.
The meeting made it clear that PVUSD was fully aware of the nature of CRE’s philosophy when it was previously considered for the Ethnic Studies curriculum. Assistant Superintendent Claudia Monjaras argued in her presentation to the board that CRE did not develop the curriculum — that the district’s staff developed the curriculum with only support from CRE. Yet the reality is that the core ideas and philosophy of CRE remain central to the curriculum. 
Ms. Monjaras’s characterization of the curriculum as being primarily a product of her team is akin to an individual arguing in traffic court that an external influence, namely alcohol, had little bearing on their reckless driving. Similarly, the philosophical underpinnings of CRE are deeply interwoven into the curriculum and cannot be dismissed as incidental or superficial contributions.
The special <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/pvusd/Board.nsf/files/DEXVZ7831F15/$file/Special%20Board%20Mtg%20Packet.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">board meeting packet</a> and <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/pvusd/Board.nsf/files/DEXW2N835755/$file/3.28%20ES%20Special%20Study%20Session%20(1).pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PowerPoint presentation</a> referenced at the meeting makes the goal of Ethnic Studies clear: “The vision of Ethnic Studies in Pajaro Valley Unified School District is to provide rich learning that centers experiences, stories, and knowledge of Ethnic Studies groups while also shaping a lens to understand and critique dominant power structures, ultimately to eliminate racism and intersectional forms of oppression. Ethnic Studies will provide a culturally and community-responsive education values the F.I.E.L.D.S in and of Pajaro Valley.” This may be laudable in certain contexts, but I fail to see how these lofty aims relate to the mission of any school district.
Throughout the meeting, CRE supporters among both staff and public commenters repeatedly used terms such as “solidarity,” “oppression,” “systems of power,” “dominant narratives,” “intersectionality,” “lived experience,” “white supremacy,” and “critical consciousness” — all of which are hallmark concepts of neo-Marxist Critical Race Theory (CRT). It is concerning that these loaded ideological terms are being introduced surreptitiously without clear acknowledgment of the underlying philosophy and its appropriateness for K-12 education.
The adoption of such ideology promotes a backward-looking worldview, which both lacks a constructive vision of the future and fails to recognize that significant social progress has been made over the past several decades. Instead of fostering hope and optimism, this framework is mired in grievances that suggest a cultural regression of a century ago.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-907565 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Pajaro-Valley-II.png" alt="" width="258" height="287" /></div>
In its “Ethnic Studies Framework &amp; Guiding” document (board meeting packet), PVUSD borrows the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_fist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clenched black power fist</a> rising out of a book with a pencil in hand as its logo. This clenched fist has most recently been associated with the <a href="https://www.capitalfm.com/news/black-lives-matter/blm-black-power-fist-symbol-meaning-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Black Lives Matter (BLM)</a> movement in 2020 and also closely associated with the struggle for Black civil rights. However, the <a href="https://www.rd.com/article/history-behind-the-clenched-first-and-the-symbol-for-black-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clenched symbol</a> also has historical significance in 19th century Europe, where it represented revolutionary courage against European monarchies. The symbol ties in perfectly with neo-Marxist thought of revolution to overthrow what are perceived to be dominant power structures of oppression in current day America.
The state of California <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB101" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mandates</a> only a single semester-long course of Ethnic Studies for students to earn a high school diploma, whose current model curriculum could have adequately served as the foundation for PVUSD’s ethnic studies efforts. While the mandate is reasonable, PVUSD’s approach of embedding Ethnic Studies seen through a CRT lens into a multi-year endeavor in English courses crosses into the territory of indoctrination rather than education. Investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a curriculum tied to CRE and neo-Marxist ideology, which had been rejected by the state because of its controversial nature, represents both a financial and educational misstep.
Given PVUSD’s current English and math achievement challenges, prioritizing Ethnic Studies to this degree is misaligned with the district’s most pressing needs. During the 2023-2024 school year, only <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/pvusd/Board.nsf/files/DDK29600FC8D/$file/2024_SARC%20Pajaro_Valley_High_School_20250123.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">25%</a> of students met or exceeded state standards in English, while only 18% achieved the same in mathematics. The funds already spent — and those proposed on Ethnic Studies — would have been better utilized to enhance student academic performance. The purpose of K-12 education is to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive as contributing members of society, not to cultivate the next generation of social activists. Teaching social activism should never take precedence over academic achievement.
California school districts must learn from PVUSD’s missteps and focus on their fundamental mission: educating students. The integration of divisive ideologies into the curriculum undermines this mission, shifting the focus away from preparing students for productive futures. The PVUSD board should reject controversial influences and return to the state-provided model as a guide that emphasizes balanced, inclusive education.
Ethnic Studies should aim to educate students about diverse histories and cultures in a way that fosters unity and forward-looking ideals, rather than perpetuating divisive rhetoric and outdated grievances. The focus must remain on education, not indoctrination, ensuring that students gain both historical awareness and the tools to envision a brighter, more connected future.
* * *
Walter Myers III is a Senior Fellow at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute and an adjunct faculty member at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology.
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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Graduation day

‘Systems Of Power’: CA Ethnic Studies Program Continues To Radicalize Students

'Systems Of Power': CA Ethnic Studies Program Continues To Radicalize Students

Anti-Racism

California

Education

Ethnic Studies

Intersectionality

Marxism

Oppression

School Boards

White Supremacy

If there’s one thing that puts me in a worse mood than politics, it’s Hollywood, which never fails to disappoint in its stupidity and its arrogance.
I watched the new preview for “Superman” from director James Gunn. As you may know, I’m not a huge James Gunn fan. His work on &#8220;Guardians of the Galaxy” is fine, when he engages in ridiculous, gonzo humor. But elsewhere?
Back in the day, Gunn’s old jokey and ugly tweets were resurfaced. Based on those old tweets, he was actually fired by Marvel. I publicly supported the idea that he should be rehired because people shouldn&#8217;t be canceled based on jokes they made back when Twitter was a jokier platform.
But now he&#8217;s directing the new “Superman” movie and the preview sucks. It&#8217;s bad. It’s terrible.
In the preview, Superman is wounded and lying on the snow, then whistles for Krypto, the Superdog, who arrives and then proceeds to beat the living hell out of him for over a minute. He&#8217;s screaming in pain as Krypto jumps on him and continues to fight him.
I don&#8217;t see the purpose of this; it’s not dramatic. It&#8217;s just silly and ridiculous.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2173-fallout-stock-market-drops-trump-pushes-on-member-exclusive?row=2&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
Finally, Krypto figures out that he needs to take Superman back to the Fortress of Solitude. Every James Gunn joke is a Monty Python gag that lasts three times too long. So now Krypto is dragging Superman&#8217;s prone body through the snow back toward the Fortress of Solitude, which arises from the Arctic. And it&#8217;s a cool-looking Fortress of Solitude.
But don&#8217;t worry, it gets worse.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Superman | Sneak Peek" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xFU8U4UVUBs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Once Superman is brought inside, a team of robots, presumably of Kryptonian origin, starts to handle him and then they have one of the most nonsensical exchanges in any James Gunn movie. They say robots have no feelings, and then the female robot starts giggling like a little girl.
The entire attitude is wrong. The gold standard for a “Superman” movie remains the original “Superman” from 1978, by far the best “Superman” movie. It was significantly better than “Man of Steel” because it understood in the first half that there&#8217;s a solemnity to Superman, that he is supposed to be the embodiment of America, and then the second half of the movie shifted into a more comic-book, humorous mode. The color palette was very rich and very bright.
In “Man of Steel,” they basically desaturated the entire film so the entire color palette was grayscale and kind of ugly and dark and the entire character of Superman was much darker.
The attitude of the preview is totally wrong. It&#8217;s just “Guardians of the Galaxy” in a Superman suit, and it ticks me off, it really does. As a lifelong fan of the Superman brand, it&#8217;s not that hard to get Superman right. He&#8217;s supposed to be the embodiment of everything cool and heroic about America. And of course, he&#8217;s supposed to be charming as well. That&#8217;s the whole shtick.
So you don&#8217;t need full-scale James Gunn. He makes Superman the same as Chris Pratt&#8217;s character in “Guardians of the Galaxy” and all the jokes are the same as the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies. It&#8217;s silly and stupid and bad. Two thumbs down.
Then I discovered that for Greta Gerwig&#8217;s Netflix adaptation of “The Magician&#8217;s Nephew” — the first book in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series — the person who they are thinking about casting as the voice for the lion Aslan — who is obviously a metaphor for Jesus — is Meryl Streep.
This makes no sense at all on a character level. On a metaphorical level, it&#8217;s one of the dumbest things you could possibly do. If you want to alienate the entire C.S. Lewis audience, this is exactly what you should do. Meanwhile, Charli XCX is apparently in talks for the role of the White Witch.
Why are they doing this??
Just adapt the story straight. It&#8217;s not that difficult. It’s a great book. Adapt it straight.
This is the same as that ridiculous suggestion a while back that Cynthia Erivo was going to be cast in “Jesus Christ Superstar” as Jesus.
Stop with this stuff. Stop it. Just stop. It&#8217;s stupid and it&#8217;s insulting and it&#8217;s gross and you would never do this with any other religion. You wouldn&#8217;t.
It&#8217;s ridiculous and annoying and demonstrative of how Hollywood spits on people who don&#8217;t believe the things they believe, and then takes classic intellectual property from those spaces and uses it against them.

CinemaCon 2025 – Warner Bros. Pictures Presentation – Inside

Superman, Jesus, And Hollywood Stupidity

DC Studios

Entertainment

Hollywood

James Gunn

Movies

Superman

Late-Night TV may never be the same.
HBO’s John Oliver, host of “Last Week Tonight,” is facing a <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/01/media/healthcare-exec-sues-john-oliver-for-defamation-over-toilet-hygiene-rant/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new defamation lawsuit</a> from health care executive Dr. Brian Morley who claims the comedian slurred him “for ratings and profits.” 
In an April 2024 telecast, Oliver played an alleged audio clip of Morley at an administrative hearing <a href="https://ew.com/john-oliver-sued-by-healthcare-official-he-called-out-on-last-week-tonight-11708201" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a>, “People have bowel movements every day where they don’t completely clean themselves and we don’t fuss over [them] too much. People are allowed to be dirty … You know, I would allow him to be a little dirty for a couple of days.”
Oliver’s immediate on-air response: “F*** that doctor with a rusty canoe! I hope he gets tetanus of the balls.”
Morley’s lawyer claims the recording was altered by the program.
Suing comedians for telling the wrong jokes seems an uphill legal battle at best. The First Amendment allows for plenty of creative embellishments, although Oliver’s comments proved highly specific and potentially damaging to the doctor’s reputation.
The courts will have the final say on the matter.
Should Dr. Morley emerge victorious it could have a much larger impact. Yes, “Last Week Tonight” would take a sizable hit, but consider the big picture.
What if other satirical comics have to watch what they say moving forward? Will they require fact-checkers on set? Should Stephen Colbert run his anti-Republican rants by CBS Legal before hitting the stage each night?
Comedians have considerable leeway when it comes to political satire as opposed to everyday citizens. Those wide guardrails matter, allowing for satirists to skewer elected officials without fear of political ramifications.
How far is too far, though? Thanks to the sorry state of modern late night TV, the question matters more than ever.
<div id="attachment_903043" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-903043" class="size-large wp-image-903043" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2176959872-864x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK CITY - OCTOBER 8: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and guest Vice President Kamala Harris during Tuesday's October 8, 2024 show. (Photo by Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2176959872-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2176959872-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2176959872-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2176959872.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images</div>
The hosts in question, however, bend the truth so regularly it’s often unrecognizable. It’s not a bug but a feature. Yes, Legacy Media outlets warp reality in damning ways, too. The list of Fake News narratives continues to grow in the Age of Trump.
Colbert and co. often walk in lockstep with their journalist pals.
Look no further than the Russian Collusion Hoax™. Yes, the media fed that narrative beast for far too long, but late-night hosts parroted even the most extreme collusion talking points while assuming they had the goods on President Donald Trump.
They didn’t.
CBS’s Colbert hit the lowest low when he called President Donald Trump Vladimir Putin’s <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/you-cant-say-television-colbert-edition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BLEEP holster.</a> in one incendiary monologue. He also played up the Fake News story known to many as the Trump “pee-pee tape.”
The litigious world leader could have had something to say about that.
Colbert and fellow far-Left host Jimmy Kimmel also defended President Joe Biden from accusations, later confirmed, that he was suffering from dementia-like conditions during the 2024 presidential campaign. Both comedians had seen Biden up close during separate fundraising events.
They must have witnessed his diminished state firsthand. They didn’t share what they saw with their audiences, and Kimmel took that a step further. He used his “Jimmy Kimmel Live” bully pulpit to call anyone who said Biden froze up during his <a href="https://www.tvinsider.com/1140442/joe-biden-freezing-video-fundraiser-jimmy-kimmel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fundraising effort a liar</a>.
The projection was strong that night.
Other hosts have taken the media’s warped baton and run with it. Take the host of NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” The “Saturday Night Live” alum skewered President Trump in 2017 for <a href="https://time.com/4705083/seth-meyers-trump-meals-on-wheels-budget-cuts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gutting</a> the “Meals on Wheels” program.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fake-news-did-trump-just-kill-meals-wheels-not-ben-shapiro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Except Trump didn’t.</a>
Meyers also played down the rampant violence spreading in Portland in 2020, as did some press outlets, in ways that felt like propaganda, not satire. And he wasn’t alone.
<div id="attachment_903053" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-903053" class="size-large wp-image-903053" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1248172738-864x576.jpg" alt="LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS -- Episode 1405 -- Pictured: (l-r) Comedian John Oliver during an interview with host Seth Meyers on March 13, 2023 -- (Photo by: Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1248172738-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1248172738-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1248172738-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1248172738.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty Images</div>
Oliver also downplayed the ongoing violence swirling around parts of Portland, <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/john-oliver-media-portland-violence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serving up this epic distortion</a>.
“Protests had been mostly peaceful there… it’s about one block that was actually starting to see fewer confrontations between protesters and police before federal agents moved in.”
Fake News? It’s beyond debate. But is it worth suing over? That’s where the conversation gets sticky.
What about late-night alum Amber Ruffin? She briefly hosted an ill-fated talk show on Peacock and has written for “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” Ruffin recently cited the serially debunked <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amber-ruffin-dropped-white-house-correspondents-dinner-response_n_67eb51c2e4b0ff137ab490b4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Very Fine People” hoax</a> anew during a late-night chat to smite President Trump.
Said hoax claims Trump praised Neo Nazis following a 2017 Charlottesville rally which left one woman dead. The lie proved so brazen even Snopes called it out (albeit several years after the lie gained cultural ground).
It’s not just late-night comedy, of course. Comedians use their considerable platforms to spread lies that could be seen as libelous.
Take <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-burr-goes-full-ahole?row=0&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;author=Ben+Shapiro&amp;title=Bill+Burr+Goes+Full+A**hole&amp;category=News" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill Burr</a>, who insinuated Kyle Rittenhouse was a White Supremacist during his Netflix special “Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill.”
<div id="attachment_903055" style="width: 730px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-903055" class="size-large wp-image-903055" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1428254659-720x576.jpg" alt="BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 27: Comedian Bill Burr performs at the Bob Golub Stand-up For Deaf, Hard Of Hearing Fundraiser at Flappers Comedy Club and Restaurant Burbank on September 27, 2022 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images)" width="720" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1428254659-720x576.jpg 720w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1428254659-300x240.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1428254659-768x614.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-1428254659.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" />Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images</div>
Rittenhouse shot three people, killing two and injuring one during a 2020 fracas tied to the BLM protests. A court of law found him innocent, agreeing with his self-defense explanation. Elements of the press and the Left insisted his actions were racist, even though his victims were white and they couldn’t pin any racially-charged comments to the young man.
Burr picked up that false narrative, saying Rittenhouse was a <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/bill-burr-kyle-rittenhouse-white-supremacist/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">White Supremacist.</a>
“You gotta drop me off like two blocks away so my other racist friends don’t see my mommy drove me,” he cracked in the special, channeling Rittenhouse.
Comedians have more leeway when it comes to politicians, but no one elected Rittenhouse to elected office.
There’s a better solution here, one that doesn’t require legal challenges for First Amendment squabbles. A healthy, robust press would let viewers know that much of what’s said on late-night TV just isn’t true.
Journalists routinely regurgitate late-night jokes. They do the same with “Saturday Night Live” skits. That’s all well and good, but that practice is hollow if it doesn’t include fact checking when appropriate.
If comedians knew they’ve be held accountable for twisting the truth into so many pretzels, they might crack smarter gags that actually speak truth to power.
* * *
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.

76th Primetime Emmy Awards – Show

The People Versus John Oliver: The Murky Ethics Of Modern Comedy

Comedy

Humor

John Oliver

Lawsuit

Media Bias

President Trump

Satire

U.S. Politics

Christian Bale pulled a Rachel Zegler before anyone knew the young actress’ name.
Everyone recalled Bale’s work from the “Dark Knight” trilogy, so when director Ridley Scott cast him in 2014’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings” it mattered. Who wouldn’t want the Oscar winner in their next project?
Then Bale dubbed Moses a “<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/christian-bale-says-moses-could-be-considered-a-terrorist/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terrorist</a>” in publicity interviews for the film.
&#8220;If you&#8217;re not religious, you can look at it as one man&#8217;s freedom fighter is another man&#8217;s terrorist,&#8221; he said of Moses.
<div id="attachment_899039" style="width: 792px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-899039" class="size-large wp-image-899039" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-460174862-782x576.jpg" alt="GOOD MORNING AMERICA - Christian Bale is a guest on &quot;Good Morning America,&quot; 12/5/14, airing on the Walt Disney Television Network. (Photo by Fred Lee/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images)" width="782" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-460174862-782x576.jpg 782w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-460174862-300x221.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-460174862-768x566.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-460174862.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 782px) 100vw, 782px" />Fred Lee/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images</div>
Religious audiences, otherwise curious to see a movie featuring Moses, weren’t amused. The film, despite the talents of Scott and Bale, tanked.
Sound familiar?
By now, everyone knows how Zegler helped crush Disney’s “Snow White” at the box office. She’s not alone, though.
Stars routinely damage their own projects with ill-advised comments. That mostly involves stars getting hyper-political on publicity tours, stoking partisan rage. Many movie goers refuse to see movies made by two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn, for example, due to decades of charged comments.
Just look at Robert De Niro. He has spent nearly a decade savaging President Donald Trump from every available platform. His latest film, “The Alto Knights,” opened to a disastrous $3.1 million despite his gravitas in gangster movies and tackling not one but two mobster roles in the film.
Was it something he said? It can’t be ruled out.
The Zegler fallout, though, is different. And it could be the final warning for stars to heed when they talk to the press moving forward. Anger potential fans at your peril.
<div id="attachment_899013" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-899013" class="size-large wp-image-899013" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2205296417-864x576.jpg" alt="LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 15: Rachel Zegler attends the World Premiere of Disney's Snow White at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2205296417-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2205296417-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2205296417-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2205296417.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney</div>
“Snow White’s” slow-moving car crash began two years ago when <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/rachel-zegler-viral-backlash-snow-white-disney-live-action-rcna99848" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zegler trashed the iconic source material</a> on the red carpet.
“I just mean that it’s no longer 1937 … We absolutely wrote a ‘Snow White’ that &#8230; she’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love; she’s going to be dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave and true.”
<div id="attachment_610047" style="width: 690px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-610047" class="wp-image-610047 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/GettyImages-1243085976-copy1.jpeg" alt="D23 EXPO 2022 - The Ultimate Disney Fan Event presented by VISA - brings together all the worlds of Disney under one roof for three packed days of presentations, pavilions, experiences, concerts, sneak peeks, shopping, and more. The event, which takes place September 9, 10, and 11 at the Anaheim Convention Center, provides fans with unprecedented access to Disney films, series, games, theme parks, collectibles, and celebrities. (The Walt Disney Company via Getty Images) Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot" width="680" height="504" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/GettyImages-1243085976-copy1.jpeg 680w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/GettyImages-1243085976-copy1-300x222.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" />The Walt Disney Company via Getty Images. Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot.</div>
A separate interview found her mocking the story’s male hero, the prince who saves Snow White with a kiss.
“Weird,” she infamously called him, reframing his affection as a “stalker.”
&#8220;It&#8217;s really not about the love story at all, which is really, really wonderful.&#8221;
Tell that to adults who grew up adoring “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the 1937 animated film that helped launch Disney into the pop culture stratosphere. Chances are they introduced the classic story to their children and grandchildren.
That’s the opposite of weird.
Zegler opened her mouth and inserted both feet. Enter an army of YouTube personalities who ran with Zegler’s quotes.
Had she opined in the past, the quotes would have circulated in the press and faded to black. In our digital age, they only got more attention as the months wore on. It got worse when she started braying, “Free Palestine” on social media, another deeply divisive message.
It didn’t help that her co-star, Gal Gadot, is Israeli and served in the IDF.
Then, before the film’s belated March 2025 opening, Zegler raged against President Donald Trump and, more specifically, his supporters. She hoped they would “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disneys-snow-white-actress-attacks-trump-voters-tells-people-to-leave-x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">never know peace.”</a>
Now, we’re seeing the fruits of her warped words. “Snow White” opened to a dreadful $43 million at the U.S. box office, the worst showing to date for a Disney live-action update. The film had other issues, like Disney disavowing dwarfs as problematic before backpedaling and adding CGI little people.
Zegler’s comments made the most noise, to the film’s detriment.
It’s not enough that Zegler helped sink her own film. The industry called her out for doing just that. Variety ran an <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/snow-white-death-threats-zegler-social-media-guru-1236347433/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exhaustive autopsy</a> on the film’s failure, letting anonymous Disney sources trash the young star. An executive from a different studio also chimed in, “You can’t say that a live-action remake of the most iconic film in the vault that cost [$270] million and has been reshot multiple times opening to $50 million is OK. The math does not work.&#8221;
Media outlets couldn’t hide how damaging her comments had been to the film’s box office potential, even though reporters have yet to connect De Niro’s box office tailspin to his anti-Trump diatribes.
<div id="attachment_899055" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-899055" class="size-large wp-image-899055" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2206051478-864x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 20: Actress Rachel Zegler is seen leaving &quot;Good Morning America&quot; on March 20, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2206051478-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2206051478-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2206051478-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/GettyImages-2206051478.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Raymond Hall/GC Images</div>
Even Jonah Platt, son of “Snow White” producer Marc Platt, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2025/03/27/rachel-zegler-snow-white-marc-platt-jonah/82686271007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weighed in</a> against Zegler.
&#8220;My dad, the producer of (an) enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to fly across the country to reprimand his 20 year old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for … This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film&#8217;s box office.&#8221;
Those Platt quotes also got magnified by legacy media outlets.
Will the Zegler Effect change Hollywood? It could.
Hollywood can&#8217;t afford more “Snow White” debacles. The box office is down, again, this year, and 2024’s numbers suggest pre-pandemic levels of movie going may be gone with the wind.
We&#8217;ll never go back to the Golden Age of Hollywood where the studios controlled what the actors could and couldn&#8217;t say. No one wants or encourages that level of control.
Still, it doesn’t take years of media training to understand a simple policy. Don’t alienate potential audiences when promoting your film or TV show. That shouldn’t be complicated, but apparently it is for some stars.
The Zegler fallout may make some actors think twice before trashing their own films or the people they need to watch them.
* * *
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.

World Premiere Of Walt Disney Studios’ “Snow White”

The Real Cost Of The Rachel Zegler Fallout

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NPR chief exec. Katherine Maher is being likened to “the blonde version of Robin DiAngelo” after an exchange between her and a Texas Rep. went viral on Wednesday, revealing old tweets claiming that &#8220;America is addicted to white supremacy&#8221; and &#8220;How white of me.&#8221;
Maher appeared flustered as Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) confronted Maher with several tweets from before her tenure at NPR during a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/anti-american-airwaves-gop-lawmakers-grill-nprpbs-execs-over-institutional-bias">congressional hearing</a> on Wednesday, one of which where she claimed to have taken time off to read &#8220;The Case for Reparations,&#8221; a 2014 essay by woke activist, Ta-Nehisi Coates.
When pressed about the contents of the text, Maher appeared flustered and said, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve ever read that book, sir.&#8221;
&#8220;You tweeted about it. You said you took a day off to fully read &#8216;The Case for Reparations.&#8217; You put that on Twitter in January of 2020,&#8221; Gill countered, to which Maher responded, &#8220;I apologize. I don&#8217;t recall that I did. Okay. I&#8217;d no doubt that your tweet there is correct, but I don&#8217;t recall that.&#8221;
The hearing revealed an extensive backlog of controversial tweets from Maher; when questioned about a tweet claiming &#8220;America is addicted to white supremacy,&#8221; Maher acknowledged making the statement but claimed, &#8220;much of my thinking has evolved over the last half-decade.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Catching a Liberal White Lady tweeting in 2020 that she took a day off to fully absorb a v. important book about reparations, and making her admit under oath she probably didn&#39;t read it after all is an all-timer of Liberal White Lady moments. <a href="https://t.co/ErGUfVVN23">https://t.co/ErGUfVVN23</a>
&mdash; Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) <a href="https://twitter.com/mkhammer/status/1904966542712000942?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Gill pressed on with Maher’s greatest hits, with Maher doing her best to deflect: &#8220;I grew up feeling superior. How white of me&#8221; and another supporting reparations that read: &#8220;Yes, the North, yes, all of us, yes, America, yes, our original collective sin and unpaid debt, yes, reparations, yes, on this day.&#8221;
The exchange intensified when Gill questioned Maher about her views on looting during the 2020 protests. Though she eventually acknowledged looting is &#8220;morally wrong,&#8221; Maher initially described it merely as &#8220;counterproductive&#8221; and had previously tweeted, &#8220;It&#8217;s hard to be mad about protests not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression.&#8221;
NPR receives approximately $30 million annually in federal funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with taxpayers contributing to an organization now led by an executive whose past statements have raised questions about objectivity in public media.
The congressional hearing revealed Maher appeared unprepared for questions about her digital footprint despite her leadership role at a major media organization.
When confronted with her own words supporting the controversial concept of reparations, Maher attempted to reframe her past advocacy.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe that was a reference to fiscal reparations, sir,&#8221; Maher testified when presented with her tweet explicitly supporting reparations.
&#8220;What kind of reparations was it a reference to?&#8221; Gill pressed.
&#8220;I think it was just a reference to the idea that we all owe much to the people who came before us,&#8221; Maher responded, prompting Gill to call her explanation &#8220;a bizarre way to frame what you tweeted.&#8221;
Right-wing commentators praised Gill on X, with Megyn Kelly <a href="https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1904986433581969533">saying</a> that she “could not love this any more,” and Christopher Rufo <a href="https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1904933514635862132">dubbing</a> Maher the “the blonde version of Robin DiAngelo.”

Trump Says He Would ‘Love’ To Defund Broadcasters NPR, PBS

In Classic ‘Liberal White Lady Moment,’ NPR CEO Mocked For Old Tweets: ‘How White Of Me’

In Classic 'Liberal White Lady Moment,' NPR CEO Mocked For Old Tweets: 'How White Of Me'

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If 2014 was a “<a href="https://manhattan.institute/event/the-great-awokening" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Great Awokening</a>,” then 2020 was the start of a second wave – a movement that’s led the entire nation to wrestle with questions around race, diversity, and our origin story.
But what will 2026 – the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence – bring? Some hope it’ll be a time to celebrate and commemorate the American story. But others – including many influential organizations – stand in opposition, seeking instead to fundamentally transform Americans’ understanding of our history.
Foremost among these activist organizations is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, our <a href="https://monumentlab.com/monumentlab-nationalmonumentaudit.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“nation’s largest supporter of the arts and the humanities.”</a>
In 2020, Mellon placed <a href="https://www.mellon.org/news/mellon-foundation-announces-transformation-its-strategic-direction-and-new-focus-social-justice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social justice at the center of its grant-making initiatives</a>. Since then, it’s issued <a href="https://www.heritage.org/american-history/commentary/the-mellon-foundations-assault-american-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">numerous and sizeable</a> grants supporting anti-racist and pro-LGBTQ+ programs.
Notably, it gave <a href="https://www.mellon.org/grant-details/gender-and-lgbtq+-history-20450131" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$150,000 to the New-York Historical Society</a> in 2021 to support a “Gender and LGBTQ+ History Fellow.” In 2023, that same society <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/10/06/somethings-queer-colonial-williamsburg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">partnered with Colonial Williamsburg</a> to host a teacher chat on “Queer History and Methodologies” and a workshop on “Best Practices for Teaching Queer History.” This course, open to educators from preschool to college level, was officially approved by New York state as qualifying toward public educators’ continuing education requirements.
In 2023, the Mellon Foundation joined the Alice Walton Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and Pilot Philanthropy in a “<a href="https://www.mellon.org/news/new-investments-for-more-diverse-leadership-in-art-museums" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leadership in Art Museums” initiative</a> that committed over “$11M in funding to museums to increase racial equity in leadership roles…” at museums.
This program is in addition to the <a href="https://www.nationalparks.org/news-and-updates/press-releases/mellon-foundation-grants-over-13m-to-the-national-park-foundation-to-support-thirty-postdoctoral-fellowships-in-the-humanities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Park Service Mellon Humanities Fellowship</a>,” which funds postdoctoral fellows at national parks to research “how the parks are impacted and/or informed by issues related to gender and sexuality equality, the legacy of the civil rights movement, and the history of labor and productivity.”
One of these fellows, placed at James Monroe’s Highlands (his home from 1799 to 1823), wrote <a href="https://clioandthecontemporary.com/2023/10/31/engaging-different-communities-highland/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that 2020 marked</a> a “racial and social” reckoning at museums, which she described as “preservers of white supremacist versions of the past.”
In 2022, Mellon <a href="https://www.nationalparks.org/news-and-updates/press-releases/mellon-foundation-grants-over-13m-to-the-national-park-foundation-to-support-thirty-postdoctoral-fellowships-in-the-humanities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expanded this post-doctoral program</a>, committing over $13 million for 30 new fellows at our national parks. Another Mellon fellow remarked that this program “has the potential to transform the stories told at many of the country’s national parks.”
Words like “transform” and “reimagine” are often indicators of post-modernist mischief.
For example, the Mellon Foundation has committed <a href="https://www.mellon.org/article/the-monuments-project-initiative" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$500 million to transforming</a> our nation’s monuments landscape, in part because it saw a lack of “U.S.-born Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, or self-identified LGBTQ+ people” in the list of top 50 individuals most frequently memorialized.
This sort of transformation seeks primarily to achieve equity of identity characteristics rather than recognition for meritorious deeds that all Americans can claim as part of our history. Ultimately, this approach favors inclusivity over accuracy.
As was previously noted, the Mellon Foundation has been partnering with the National Park Service on some of its initiatives. The National Park Service and Foundation are currently making changes to the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, to be completed by this spring and the 250th anniversary, respectively.
Work at the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/thjework.htm?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=experience_more&amp;utm_content=small" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jefferson Memorial will include</a> “expanded and reimagined exhibit space” and “new state-of-the-art exhibits” that will provide “more perspectives as it shares Thomas Jefferson’s multi-faceted story.”
<a href="https://www.nps.gov/wamo/planyourvisit/undercroft.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">At the Lincoln Memorial</a>, new exhibits “will highlight the construction history of the memorial and discuss how the Lincoln Memorial has become the nation’s foremost backdrop for civil rights demonstrations.”
Both of these efforts have been enabled by donations from philanthropist and businessman David M. Rubenstein, who funded the exhibits on slavery at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and <a href="https://www.heritage.org/progressivism/commentary/understand-montpeliers-leftist-turn-follow-the-money" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Madison’s Montpelier</a>.
Americans can hope that the new exhibits at two of our foremost national memorials will be informative, balanced, and accurate. But the ones funded by Rubenstein at Montpelier are decidedly not.
There are currently <a href="https://www.montpelier.org/visit/galleries-and-exhibits/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">no exhibits at Montpelier focused on James Madison</a> and his contributions. And the ones on offer contain <a href="https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/report/tale-three-presidential-houses-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many distortions, “gotcha” efforts, and at least one factual error</a>.
This raises concerns for the memorials both of Thomas Jefferson, Madison’s close friend and ally in the cause for human freedom, and for Abraham Lincoln, who urged us to give all honor to Jefferson—to the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document, an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times.
Today, a visible divide exists between those who want to commemorate our first 250 years of history and dedication to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and those who want to transform and reject it.
In this moment, perhaps we should turn to Abraham Lincoln, who began his famous <a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/house-divided-speech-3/">House Divided speech</a>, “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.”
Anniversaries are times to reflect, assess, and resolve a way forward. More, they are cause to celebrate, remember, and demonstrate gratitude.
America is indeed exceptional. This free country has granted us, its current posterity, the opportunity to continue in the work we are in, to prove to ourselves, and the world, that the noble ambition of a self-governing nation can indeed be kept.
* * *
Brenda M. Hafera is the Assistant Director and Senior Policy Analyst at The Heritage Foundation&#8217;s Simon Center for American Studies.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Note: This article has been edited for clarity.

New Dawn over Washington

Post-Modern Mischief At America’s National Parks And Museums

Post-Modern Mischief At America's National Parks And Museums

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1Reagan – TCS – 1×1 (1) copy

How Long Should A Woman Wait For A Ring Before Walking Away?

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This week, Arizona State University (ASU) found itself among a list of institutions under federal investigation for violating Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act — a provision designed to prevent discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in federally funded programs. That should be non-controversial. And yet, what we are seeing in universities across the country is systemic discrimination disguised as social justice, perpetrated under the umbrella of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
How do universities get away with this? Simple: they lean on the Marxist dialectic of “oppressor vs. oppressed” — or, in contemporary academic jargon, “privileged vs. marginalized.” This framework allows them to justify racial discrimination by claiming that “marginalized” groups need extra resources to correct past injustices. And here’s where it gets absurd: how do they determine who is an oppressor? By skin color, sex, and — if they can figure it out — religion.
ASU, for instance, requires employee training in DEI that explicitly teaches about the dangers of “whiteness” and “heteronormativity” — casting these as inherent oppressor categories. This training asserts as fact — not as one perspective among others — that America has always been a white supremacist nation. The administration presents this as unassailable truth, not open for debate. And they expect faculty and staff to accept it uncritically. I am currently suing ASU to stop this required DEI training, and instead of acknowledging its discriminatory nature, the university is defending it in court.
ASU explains its practices by referring to its charter which emphasizes “inclusion.” A state university should be inclusive. Yet, when we see what ASU programs mean by “inclusion,” it is the opposite of inclusion. It means including some, the oppressed and marginalized, more than others, the oppressors. And how do you determine who is who? Skin color, sex, and religion. ASU’s inclusive charter has become the Marxist dialectic that teaches students to hate the United States and Christianity.
This is not education; it is indoctrination. Yet, you will find such professors saying, “you cannot discriminate or be racist against white people because they are the oppressors.” One event told me that it is time for white men to be taken down a notch. And they want to teach this to your children and have you pay for their salaries.
<h3>The Ph.D. Project And ASU’s Title VI Violation</h3>
The specific program triggering the Title VI investigation at ASU and 39 other universities is The Ph.D. Project — an organization that offers networking and career opportunities for doctoral students, but excludes participants based on race. This is open racial discrimination, yet the project defends itself with the same Marxist reasoning: historic injustices require present-day racial preferences. As Ibram X. Kendi (who was paid and given an award to speak at ASU) said, fixing discrimination requires more discrimination.
But that defense is legally and morally bankrupt. The Department of Education’s statement on the matter is clear: “The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination.”
Universities, which have long positioned themselves as guardians of civil rights, are now being called out for violating those very principles. The irony would be amusing if it weren’t so destructive.
<h3>ASU And The Title VI Anti-Semitism Investigation</h3>
But ASU isn’t just under investigation for racial discrimination — it is also one of 60 universities under federal investigation for anti-Semitism. This is particularly rich coming from the same academics who spent the last decade yelling that “Trump is Hitler.” And yet, the Department of Education itself now says:
“The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year. University leaders must do better.”
Professors support Hamas, leave their Jewish students open to harassment, and yet get on social media to denounce Elon Musk as the Nazi. They need to look in the mirror. Maybe the Department of Education will help them do so.
University administrators who implemented these discriminatory DEI programs should issue a public apology — not just to Jewish students but to all students who have suffered under their racially charged policies and to the public who pays for it all. If they fail to do so, it tells us one thing: they have not changed their minds. The most likely response will be bureaucratic rebranding — repackaging the same DEI policies under a new name and continuing as usual.
<h3>The Solution: Exposing The Intellectual Fraud Of DEI And The Oppressor/Oppressed Dialectic</h3>
The only way to stop this cycle is to intellectually dismantle the oppressor/oppressed dialectic in all its forms. The Marxist framework that underpins DEI must be shown for what it is: a pseudoscientific ideology that justifies discrimination while masquerading as justice. It sides with the enemies of the United States. Parents, students, and faculty must demand transparency and refuse compliance with discriminatory programs.
The Department of Education’s investigations are a step in the right direction, but they are not enough. It is time for universities like ASU to be held accountable — not just legally, but intellectually. Let’s require transparency in what professors teach in the classroom, especially from public universities. These are government employees and should be held responsible for their conduct like any other government employee. Perhaps a letter from DOGE: “reply to this email with five ways you countered DEI propaganda in your classroom this week.”
The woke university system has long relied on the veneer of moral authority. That illusion is collapsing. Under its “moral” watch, the grossest forms of discrimination have occurred. The ones who have cried the loudest are the most guilty. The question is: will we seize this moment to ensure real change, or will we allow these institutions to continue their cynical games under a new name?
* * *
Dr. Owen Anderson is a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Arizona State University. He is an internationally known scholar, theologian, and a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu instructor. With a Ph.D. in Philosophy, he has authored numerous books, including “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Arguments-Showing-eternal-revelation/dp/057826384X/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_w=E8EGL&amp;content-id=amzn1.sym.bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&amp;pf_rd_p=bc3ba8d1-5076-4ab7-9ba8-a5c6211e002d&amp;pf_rd_r=133-8344803-2786917&amp;pd_rd_wg=jqvhK&amp;pd_rd_r=a47f545b-2e79-448f-9f6d-366fdd467528&amp;ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Twelve Arguments</a>” and “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Declaration-Independence-God-Self-Evident-American/dp/1107088186" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Declaration of Independence and God</a>.”
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

ASU campus Tempe AZ Sun Devil Football Stadium aerial view

As DOE Cracks Down On Campus Discrimination, Title VI Comes For Arizona State

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For more than four decades, the federal government has controlled American education, and the results speak for themselves: declining test scores, skyrocketing costs, and millions of students left behind. Since its creation in 1979, the Department of Education has burned through more than <a href="https://committeetounleashprosperity.com/hotlines/trump-is-right-federal-education-department-a-trillion-dollar-failure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1 trillion</a> in taxpayer dollars. What do we have to show for it?
The latest data from the Nation’s Report Card paints a bleak picture. <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/mathematics/2024/g4_8/?grade=8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mathematics</a> and <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g4_8/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reading</a> scores for 13-year-olds are at their lowest in decades. Barely a third of elementary school students can read at grade level. <a href="https://gizmodo.com/u-s-students-post-lowest-reading-scores-in-decades-2000557027" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Low-performing</a> students are faring even worse. And despite the government throwing more money at the problem — per-pupil spending has surged by more than <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2572941/test-scores-have-barely-risen-since-1970-despite-245-spending-increase/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">245%</a> since the 1970s — outcomes have only gotten worse.
Meanwhile, the cost of college has exploded by <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/college-tuition-cost-rise-loans-administrative-bloat/#:~:text=Between%201980%20and%202023%2C%20the,News%20and%20World%20Report%20found." target="_blank" rel="noopener">155%</a> since the Department of Education’s founding. Students are graduating with crushing debt, only to land jobs that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/college-degree-jobs-unused-440b2abd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">don&#8217;t</a> even require degrees. We have seen funding fall by <a href="https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/the-pork-barrel-politics-the-department-education" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50%</a> for career and technical education while Democrats continue to spend money on woke nonsense. Funding for Indian education has also declined by 27% alongside impact aid for schools serving military families which has dropped by 41%. Instead of fixing these problems, the Biden administration made things worse. Our kids deserve better.
Under Biden, the Department of Education wasted <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/granted/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1 billion</a> on grants pushing radical ideologies and <a href="https://edworkforce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=411780" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rewrote</a> Title IX to let men compete in women’s sports. Bureaucrats in Washington are drowning schools in regulations, adding <a href="https://regrodeo.com/?year%5B0%5D=2024&amp;year%5B1%5D=2023&amp;year%5B2%5D=2022&amp;year%5B3%5D=2021&amp;agency%5B0%5D=Education" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$3.9 billion</a> in costs. Even a simple task like simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) proved <a href="https://budget.house.gov/imo/media/doc/fafsa.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">too much</a> for Biden’s team.
Enough is enough.
President Trump is delivering the reform America needs. His administration has already canceled <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-cancels-divisive-and-wasteful-grants-under-comprehensive-centers-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$226 million</a> in woke grants which forced divisive agendas like race-based discrimination and gender identity ideology onto states. But that’s just the beginning. By dismantling the Department of Education, we will return power to where it belongs: states, parents, and teachers.
The Constitution never envisioned a federal role in education — it’s a responsibility reserved for the states. Yet for decades, the Department of Education has smothered schools with regulations, diverted resources to ideological crusades, and undermined teachers, parents, and students. Thanks to President Trump, taxpayers will no longer foot the bill for progressive experiments and obsolete programs.
This isn’t just about cutting costs — it’s about unleashing potential. Imagine empowering states to achieve educational excellence: going back to basics like math and reading — not divisive ideologies — and adopting <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-president-trumps-ten-principles-for-great-schools-leading-to-great-jobs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">patriotic civics lessons</a> that inspire pride in our nation’s history. Governors will be measured by student success, not by how well they comply with Washington’s bureaucratic demands. Education will be brought closer to the students and our system will be transformed.
The benefits will ripple outward. Teachers, freed from layers of red tape, will be able to do what they do best — teach. Parents will finally have a real say in their children’s education. And America’s schools will no longer be controlled by faceless bureaucrats or teachers’ unions pushing political agendas. The woke stranglehold on public education will be broken.
Critics will cry that eliminating the Department of Education will hurt students. But the truth is, Washington has failed them for generations. It’s time to try something new. President Trump’s vision trusts states and parents to deliver what Washington never could: an education system that works.
With President Trump’s leadership, we’re not just reforming education — we’re reclaiming it. The future of our children, and our nation, depends on it.
* * *
U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin represents the state of Oklahoma. He serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee; the Appropriations Committee; the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee; and the Indian Affairs Committee.
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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