Editor’s note: The following commentary is an excerpt from remarks presented before the Presidential Religious Liberty Commission on Sept. 8, 2025, with minor edits made for readability.
* * *
I never expected that pursuing my dream to help hurting children would lead to a legal battle for our most basic freedoms.
I graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a master’s degree in Art Therapy and Counseling in May 2022. I chose this path because God gave me a passion to fight for and preserve the innocence of children, especially those who’ve experienced deep complex trauma. Through art therapy, I’ve witnessed how expressive means can calm both body and mind and provide a mode of communication when words feel painful and impossible.
But while I was studying how to help others heal, I found myself betrayed by the very institution that was supposed to equip me for that mission.
My program was small — just 10 students—and we became very close. We would talk about being in each other’s weddings and supported each other like family.
But about a year in, something shifted. I came to Southern Illinois University thinking I was there to become a counselor. But I soon realized the university expected me to adopt and promote a specific ideology — one rooted in Marxism and critical race theory, even when it conflicted with my religious and professional beliefs.
When called on in class, I shared my perspective respectfully, asking whether these ideas served the best interests of our future clients.
Instead of respectful dialogue, my Christian and conservative beliefs were met with hostility — not only from classmates but even professors.
But I didn’t expect what came next.
The university issued three no-contact orders against me. You might wonder what a no-contact order is. I did, too. It’s essentially a restraining order, and it applied on and off campus. It meant I couldn’t talk to, sit near, or even be in the same coffee shop with the three classmates who had filed the complaints.
I was shocked. I asked what I’d done. The university said I hadn’t violated any policy. But without any communication or investigation, I received a threat of “disciplinary consequences” if I violated the no-contact orders. And they even copied a university police officer on each order to drive this threat home.
After this, I stopped speaking in class. I was isolated and scared — like I was in a relationship with abusers — trapped in a system that punished me for having different beliefs.
I thought back through every conversation I’d had with my classmates. I couldn’t think of anything I’d done that could be taken as offensive, let alone aggressive. I became afraid.
And with fear came a sense of powerlessness. I started having trouble sleeping. I lost my appetite. And I began to worry what might happen if my professors — who clearly disapproved of my views — decided to block me from graduating or finding a job.
I reached out to Alliance Defending Freedom, and they sent a demand letter to the university. Five days later, the university rescinded the no-contact orders. Two weeks later, it finally told me what the accusations were.
Three classmates had complained about some social media posts where I’d expressed my Christian and conservative views on current events. They claimed the mere expression of my views were “microaggression[s].”
One student said I was “threatening” because I couldn’t embrace critical race theory, which I had said failed to treat people with dignity regardless of race. She told the school I was threatening even though in the same conversation I had praised her for having a “beautiful heart” with a deep “compassion for children.”
Sadly, even after the no-contact orders were lifted, the attacks continued.
University officials refused to tell students that I hadn’t broken any policies. Instead, they e-mailed faculty, students, and alumni, implying that I had engaged in “oppressive acts” and “misconduct.”
The university held a “community meeting” where students publicly attacked my faith and accused me of being racist, oppressive, and creating a toxic learning environment.
Fellow students maligned my name in a school newspaper.
But one of the most painful moments came when a classmate and former friend created an art display titled The Crushing Weight of Microaggressions. It featured a personal text I’d sent her where I shared that, even if we might disagree on some things, I cared about her and that “[M]y personal beliefs are grounded in objective truth by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
I was heartbroken to see my words so misunderstood. I loved my classmates, including this girl. To this day, I wish we could have shared our diverse beliefs with mutual respect and kindness. But that was sadly not my experience.
I wasn’t punished for harming anyone; I was punished for having a different perspective, being a Christian, and asking honest questions. At a public university, which is supposed to be a marketplace of ideas, I was silenced for sharing mine.
I knew I couldn’t just walk away. I live by Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s quote: “Silence in the face of evil is evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak, and not to act is to act.”
I could not be silent knowing that what happened to me could happen to future students. Our freedoms are too precious not to defend.
So I filed a <a href="https://adflegal.org/case/dejong-v-pembrook/?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">lawsuit</a>.
After the university tried — and failed — to dismiss my case, it agreed to settle. It changed its policies to ensure all students, regardless of political or religious beliefs, are welcome. And it revised how no-contact orders are used so that they can’t be weaponized to punish simple differences of opinion.
But what weighs on my heart to this day: I should never have had to sue. Public universities have a duty to protect open dialogue, not punish it. They should welcome differences, not erase them. And no student should be shamed or silenced for their faith.
Looking back, I can see how what was meant to break me — God used to shape me.
Through the fear and betrayal, He gave me the courage to speak, even when my voice shook. He taught me to love even those who misunderstood or maligned me.
I’m so grateful to President Donald Trump and the Religious Liberty Commission for their bold work to protect our First Amendment freedoms — freedoms that belong to all of us regardless of faith, race, or creed.
The truth is: Freedom is fragile. Silence is costly. But courage is contagious.
* * *
Maggie DeJong obtained her master’s degree in Art Therapy and Counseling from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Students Collaborating and Studying in a Cozy Cafe Setting

Taking A Stand Against My University Took Courage — But Courage Is Contagious

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

American Universities

Christians

College

Education

Students

Woke Culture

President Donald Trump took a moment on Monday to cheer the cancellation of a planned award ceremony for Academy Award-winning actor and director Tom Hanks, saying that it was a step in the right direction for the United States Military Academy to step away from granting awards to “destructive, WOKE recipients.”
Trump touted the move in a post shared first on his Truth Social platform, where he also ripped into the Academy Awards and suggested that the annual award show broadcasts would likely achieve better ratings if they steered clear of woke culture as well.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://t.co/AUolU9INeB">pic.twitter.com/AUolU9INeB</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1965035149835534800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Our great West Point (getting greater all the time!) has smartly cancelled the Award Ceremony for actor Tom Hanks. Important move!” Trump crowed. “We don’t need destructive, WOKE recipients getting our cherished American Awards!!! Hopefully the Academy Awards, and other Fake Award Shows, will review their Standards and Practices in the name of Fairness and Justice. Watch their DEAD RATINGS SURGE!”
The ceremony, which was set to take place on September 25, was supposed to honor Hanks with the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award — given to an “outstanding citizen” based on their commitment to upholding the standards put forth by West Point: Duty, Honor, Country.
As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/06/tom-hanks-west-point/">reported</a> Saturday by The Washington Post, Army Col. (Ret.) Mark Bieger announced the ceremony’s cancellation in an email to faculty on Friday, saying, “This decision allows the Academy to continue its focus on its core mission of preparing cadets to lead, fight, and win as officers in the world’s most lethal force, the United States Army.”
The West Point Association of Graduates (WPAOG) announced that Hanks was to receive the award in June. At the time, WPAOG Board Chairman Robert A. McDonald, Class of 1975, said of the actor, “Tom Hanks has done more for the positive portrayal of the American service member, more for the caring of the American veteran, their caregivers and their family, and more for the American space program and all branches of government than many other Americans.”
Hanks, at the time, responded, “To have my first ever visit to the Academy be to accept such an honor as the Thayer Award is simply astounding. West Point’s legacy of leadership, character, and service to the nation is a powerful example for all Americans. To be recognized by an institution whose graduates have shaped our country’s history through selfless service is both humbling and meaningful.”
The actor has not yet responded to the news that the ceremony has been canceled, and it was unclear in the initial reports whether Hanks might still receive the award at a different time. Previous Thayer Award recipients include former President Barack Obama (2024), former President George W. Bush (2017), actor Gary Sinise (2015), former President Ronald Reagan (1989), and famed World War II Army aviator James Doolittle (1983), among others.

Tom Hanks

‘Important Move!’: Trump Crows As West Point Axes Award Ceremony For ‘Woke’ Tom Hanks

'Important Move!': Trump Crows As West Point Axes Award Ceremony For 'Woke' Tom Hanks

Donald Trump

Executive

Military

Politics

West Point

A lot of people on the Right, in the center, and even on the Left are asking themselves this question: Is peak woke over? 
After all, we suffered through a decade of wokeness, the proposition that any disparity between groups was evidence of discrimination. The wokeness was manifested as DEI, the idea that the government had to constantly rig the system in the reverse direction.
So where does the Left go next? They&#8217;re going back to something old: what could theoretically be titled “economic wokeness.”
Economic wokeness mirrors exactly the same argument as racial wokeness or trans wokeness, except it applies to economic categories.
When I say this is an old argument, it is because it&#8217;s basically the argument Karl Marx made. And it seems the Democrats are moving more and more in that direction.
According to a memo penned by Kamala Harris campaign veterans, what people really want to hear from their favorite politicians is that rich people suck and they should be destroyed.
The reason I&#8217;m calling this economic wokeness is because in order to see the parallel to racial wokeness, all you have to do is replace one word.
The idea for racial wokeness is that disparities are, in and of themselves, signs of discrimination. The idea is that racial discrimination is the norm, not an aberration. It&#8217;s not people who are bad apples. It&#8217;s part of the entire system. And the system is designed purposefully by white people to discriminate against people of color. That is the basis of wokeness.
To get to economic wokeness, all you have to do is replace the word “racial” with “economic.” You simply say economic disparities are in and of themselves signs of economic discrimination. Economic discrimination is ordinary, not an aberration. It&#8217;s not just that there&#8217;s one price gouger out there, it&#8217;s the whole system that is designed for price gouging.
Who is it designed by, according to this theory? “Rich people“ instead of the “white people” of racial wokeness. Rich people who discriminate against the poor.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2274-it-will-never-die-democrats-unleash-new-brand-of-woke?elementPosition=3&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
The beauty of economic wokeness is that, unlike racial wokeness — which can be debunked by looking at group studies, pointing to a group that outperforms white people, whether they are Nigerians in America or Asians — there will always be some people who are poorer than other people.
But here’s the salient point: People move in and out of these categories. This is why it is a mistake to talk about the “poor” and the “rich.”
There are many people who are poor now who will one day become rich. There are many people who are rich who will one day become middle-class or poor. 
There is tremendous economic mobility in the United States, according to the available studies. If you are born into the bottom quintile of income earners in the United States, there&#8217;s a better than 60% chance that you will not end up there, that you will end up in a higher bracket in terms of income by the time you are an adult. 
With that said, this sort of economic populism is rooted in grievance, and it&#8217;s a real problem because it does have a popular appeal. It is one thing to claim that America is racist or that America is transphobic. Most people look at that and say, “I don&#8217;t know that many racists.” I really don&#8217;t know that many people who are sitting around all day long thinking about whether a man is a woman; that&#8217;s because it&#8217;s basic logic to know the difference. 
But when it comes to economic status, people have an amazing way of dissociating the rich people they personally know from “rich people” in general. Most people in America know somebody who&#8217;s wealthy. I would bet that the vast majority of people who know people who are wealthy also know good people who are wealthy and bad people who are wealthy. I would also bet they know a lot of poor people, some of whom are good and some of whom are bad, because people come in all shapes and sizes and all sorts of moral qualities.
When it comes to how people think of their own economic performance, the easiest pitch you can make to somebody if they are having a tough time economically is to say it can be fixed by ripping down that billionaire over there.
The only thing that is preventing the advent of people like Bernie Sanders is continued economic growth. If we get continued economic growth, then economic wokeness doesn&#8217;t apply. If people feel pretty good about their direction in the economy, then economic wokeness won&#8217;t help because people won&#8217;t feel discriminated against.
If, however, as we are seeing in the polling data, people do feel that they are stuck, that they don&#8217;t have economic mobility and they have an entire legacy media infrastructure pushing this lie as well as people on both the Right and the Left, that you can&#8217;t get ahead in America, no matter what you do; if you have politicians telling you that so they can garner more power, people believe it.
And if they believe it, they start tearing down the very systems that generated prosperity, such as free markets, private property, and capitalism in the first place. 
I understand the art of gaining power in politics requires getting elected, and getting elected often leads to dissimulating, dissembling, and saying things that are not true. Many politicians are willing to say untrue things in order to garner that power.
That doesn&#8217;t make it moral or good.
Any sort of populist notion that capitalism is “stacked against you” falls flat in a country that is the richest country in literally all of human history, and in which people who are at the bottom of the economic ladder (after income and wealth transfers, because we have massive welfare programs in this country) are earning about $45,000 to $50,000 a year — which is about the same as the median household income in Germany or France.
When you point that out, people get mad. But it happens to be the case.
And that&#8217;s why economic success is absolutely necessary. It&#8217;s also why we need to make a robust defense of things like private property and free markets. Why is private property good? Private property is good because you ought to retain the fruits of your labor, because you are an individual human being with creative capacity, and it is immoral for people to steal the things you create.
Private property is an outgrowth of basic individual autonomy. Free markets are an outgrowth of private property, because if I own the fruits of my labor, I can then alienate them, meaning I can trade them, or I can sell them, and we can trade. And both of our lives get better because I traded something I want for something that you want.
That is the predicate of a free market economy. And that right does not begin with the government. That right begins with God, because God made us in a particular way, with creative capacity.
Man has the capacity to create. Man has the capacity to cultivate the garden, to labor. And so keeping the fruits of our labor is something that human beings want.
This is why communism always fails. That’s because if you tell people they don&#8217;t get to keep what they earned, that they basically should be treated as disposable labor widgets, and all of the fruits of their labor will be taken away and redistributed, people won&#8217;t work. They&#8217;ll just stop. It&#8217;s why communism always ends with coercion.
The free market is not rooted in some sort of peculiar institution created by rich people. It is rooted in basic human notions of autonomy and individual worth.
That&#8217;s why it was disturbing to hear Virginia Democrat senator Tim Kaine, who was the vice presidential nominee with Hillary Clinton back in 2016. He said in the Senate the other day that rights come from the government, declaring:
<blockquote>You state and this is a quote from Secretary Rubio, our rights come from God, our creator, not from our laws, not from our government. I find that very, very troubling. I&#8217;m a devout person. I was a missionary in Honduras. We&#8217;ve got other devout folks in this room Christian, Jewish, Muslim-American. 
The notion that rights don&#8217;t come from laws and don&#8217;t come from the government, but come from the creator, that&#8217;s what the Iranian government believes. It&#8217;s a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Shia law and targets Sunnis Bahais, Jews, Christians and other religious minorities. And they do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their creator. So the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.</blockquote>
That was a gigantic softball over the middle of the plate for Texas GOP senator Ted Cruz, who knows the words of the Declaration of Independence. He responded:
<blockquote>That radical and dangerous notion, in his words, is literally the founding principle upon which the United States of America was created. And if you do not believe me, and you made reference to this, Mr. Barnes, then you can believe perhaps the most prominent Virginian to ever serve, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator,” not by government, not by the Democratic National Committee, but by God “with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”</blockquote>
This is a fundamental reality.
This is why capitalism and free markets are good things: morally good. You own the product of your hands. You have a right to your own labor.
It&#8217;s time for lions, for people who actually believe in the success of the United States, to robustly defend the free market. This is not something to apologize for.
You are not immoral if you&#8217;re a billionaire any more than you&#8217;re immoral if you are impoverished.

Senate Hearing Held For Foreign Ambassador Nominees

It Will Never Die: Democrats Unleash A New Brand Of Woke

Ben Shapiro

Bernie Sanders

Billionaire

Democratic Socialism

Democrats

Economics

Opinion

Poverty

Tim Kaine

Recently, some of you may have noticed the Cracker Barrel restaurant and gift store chain changed its logo. They removed the picture of the so-called “Old Timer,” who was meant to represent the chain’s southern-style comfort food and old-fashioned country store feeling, and left that space blank to represent the pit of fiery eternal damnation loud with the shrieks of the condemned into which the chain had fallen by supporting child sex changes, drag shows for children, and racist hiring practices.
The move was supposed to help the struggling chain’s finances by ensuring that no conservative customer entered one of their venues ever again. Those alienated customers would be replaced by large numbers of imaginary progressives just waiting for an old-fashioned, down-home, southern-style restaurant catering to pedophilia-adjacent homosexuals with a hankering for crunchy fried chicken.
But Right-wing activists loudly protested the logo change, and when it turned out the new imaginary customers were paying for their imaginary meals with imaginary money, Cracker Barrel was forced to replace the Old Timer in the empty space, in the hopes they could keep their usual customers and avoid the eternal shriek-filled pit of sin-tortured souls the empty space represented.
Now, at this point, the flaming shriek-filled pit of sin-tortured souls known as the American news media, began to express their opinions, which were all the same opinion, because all the American news media’s opinions are decanted from a single brain, which is kept on a lightning-lashed altar in the fog-shrouded cave-dwelling of Chernabog, who was the demon from Bald Mountain in Disney’s Fantasia, before he left to take a job in Disney’s animation department.
The opinion of the news media was that conservatives were oh-so-very silly to make such a big fuss over a meaningless logo change at a failing chain restaurant, and how far, oh how very far, American culture had fallen from those golden days when real intellectuals like Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley exchanged sparkling ideas by screaming slurs and threatening to punch each other in the face, while the Left swarmed over our institutions like locusts, devouring everything from Christianity to the First Amendment. Just how stupid could these Fox-News-Watching Neanderthals be that they would waste their energies trying to cancel an innocent restaurant that was simply trying to take their customers’ money to fund actions their customers found contemptible?
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show">WATCH: The Andrew Klavan Show</a></h3>
And I thought to myself: Oh, American news media, how right you are! Who cares about these little meaningless changes in the culture? In fact, just for fun, I would like to suggest a few meaningless cultural changes of my own.
For instance, how about conservatives buy the rights to the gay situation comedy “Will and Grace” and reboot the show, but this time, Will embraces Catholicism, and hilarity ensues as gay Will struggles with his physical desires in order to live a life in keeping with his faith. I’m sure the elite news media wouldn’t mind a meaningless little culture change like that one tiny bit.
What about color-blind casting? The current rules are, it’s okay to have Jesus Christ portrayed by a black woman, but it’s very bad to have a deaf character portrayed by an actor who can hear. So how about, as a change of pace, we have Jesus Christ portrayed by a Jewish actor who’s deaf, and when the left says, “Hey, he’s supposed to be a black woman,” the actor can say, “What? I couldn’t hear you! I’m deaf!” I’m sure the media wouldn’t complain about that at all.
Or, I know. Let’s reboot the hit 1970’s slavery drama “Roots,” only in this version, instead of a white man heading into the African interior to capture slaves, the white slaver just waits in his ship like in real life until the black Africans bring their black slaves to him so he can take them to a country where hundreds of thousands of white men will ultimately die to free them, about fifty years before white imperialists force their African colonies to free their slaves as well. I’m sure the news media would love that fresh, original take on an old favorite. 
In fact, just for giggles, let’s change all the Left’s favorite franchises so that they represent something the Left truly despises: the American people.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Cameron-Winter-Mysteries/dp/1613166869/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EGZUC370LG46&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y_NI0mDOKeowShheDQTVx5NH-fAeimJoCD56_T0Acpl8C0mup7uJf-nGGSRLEItaaekoDnvS2vWLMa4Zd2UBXQ8Y-g-P502jOWz-Y8IX3ZQsdlO7WMLrg1xIhNoKmjCorSWUR4C2l_RbiZ7apJ1MfPzGOrrEf7AdAXX6xwnJRVP_XqUfWuMuVthTWscaU3P4vgmS86-96n-721enHfX12CFQWTajqFbVnrsDkexfUf4.6_gTH6h1Bb9Pn375QdF_VAVZSayDvjQBBKGXE-MTiFo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=klavan&amp;qid=1754049918&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C80&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After That, The Dark,</a> is now available for Pre-Order. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>
The views expressed in this satirical article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Cracker Barrel Redesigns Its Logo

The Easy Way To Ensure No Conservative Will Ever Visit Your Store

Andrew Klavan

Corporations

Cracker Barrel

Humor

Leftists

Legacy Media

Restaurant

Satire

As someone who grew up going to Cracker Barrel on road trips, I, along with millions of Americans, heaved a sigh of relief when I heard the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cracker-barrel-thought-the-logo-u-turn-would-be-enough-it-wasnt?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Cracker+Barrel+Thought+The+Logo+U-Turn+Would+Be+Enough.+It+Wasn%E2%80%99t.">old logo</a> would remain.
But while we won’t have to endure the Soviet-style brutalist-inspired logo redesign, the new minimalist décor and proposed architectural plans for new stores are still on the menu.
If you aren’t familiar, these architectural plans look suspiciously like those at new Taco Bells (where the current Cracker Barrel CEO was before) — and they’re indistinguishable from those of a small industrial warehouse.
This is yet another example of the push for a Woke Generica from those trying to erase familiar symbols of American art and architecture. But their movement targets more than just symbols — it’s a movement against the entire pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit that defined and built America.
American history is filled with people seeking to fill in the blank edges of the map and build the impossible. For centuries, we’ve been a nation that stood out for our accomplishments. Now, though, we have a corporate culture that overwhelmingly views blending into the crowd as an accomplishment.
One of our greatest entrepreneurs, Henry Ford, warned of this kind of latent unimaginative culture when he said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” There’s a reason it’s cliché to say that innovators and entrepreneurs expand our horizons.
The most groundbreaking and quality-of-life-uplifting innovations — whether an invention such as the computer, or a business model such as Amazon’s logistical empire — almost always stem from the kind of pioneering risk-taking that is so core to the American identity.
But the new Cracker Barrel redesign is a case study in a futile attempt to simply make a faster horse. And while blandly blending into the background can feel safe, it’s a clear road to stagnation.
In part, what we are seeing is a business world losing perspective with what they actually sell. Only part of a product is its material, functional, form. Whether you call it the vibe, style, or aesthetic, part of the service that people want is what inspires the mind and the soul.
One of the many failings of Eastern European communist societies was their focus on the tangible practicality of things. It was an overtly Marxist pursuit, but it was also — inadvertently — a movement focused on draining artistry out of the ordinary experiences of life and on assaulting our sense of rootedness and belonging.
The man they tried so casually to take off the Cracker Barrel logo isn’t just a generic old man. He’s Uncle Herschel — the real-life uncle of Cracker Barrel founder Dan Evins. He’s also a kind and friendly face, welcoming you into not just the eatery, but the environment that is a Cracker Barrel &#8220;Old Country Store.&#8221;
That environment conjures the spirit of the pioneering West and the ideal of a rural farming community’s gathering place and grocery supplier — featuring a favorite of mine, a wall of a dozen or so unique types of root beer.
But more importantly, that environment reminds us of a crucial and unique piece of our shared national spirit and identity.
Steve Jobs gave warnings about just this sort of thing — about the danger of a business replacing the people who created the product with people focused simply on marketing it without a deep respect for the richness of the product or brand.
Sadly, Cracker Barrel is only the latest in what is now a long line of businesses that have abandoned their purpose and history.
The most stunning example is, perhaps, the Greek tragedy that Disney has turned into — an existence that, over the last 10 years, has cost them the respect of most of their long-time fanbase and 20% of their inflation-adjusted market cap.
The Disney story presents a set of roadmaps that would be useful for Cracker Barrel and, indeed, the broader corporate world today to study.
After the sudden death of Walt Disney in 1966, the company largely lost its sense of soul and purpose and languished for 18 years.
When Michael Eisner came in as CEO in 1984, though, he oversaw the next 15 years of what is now called the Disney Renaissance, featuring “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” cruise lines, overseas theme-park expansions and many of the things that we now think of as the height of Disney art and culture.
Disney’s stock soared more than twenty-fold in inflation-adjusted terms during this period. But this is more than a simple business success story.
On day one, Eisner went to visit the Disney Imagineers — the people who knew Walt and still embodied the spirit of his vision.
Eisner ignored pressure to pursue what was seen as standard and safe — the pressure to radically depart Disney from its heritage. Instead, he sought to re-embrace that heritage and to rebuild the company in its truly unique style. That made all the difference.
Today, Disney’s current woke stagnation is the product of the last generation or so of abandoning those principles and following the same crowd that brought Cracker Barrel to take the barrel, and Uncle Herschel, off the logo.
Will we sheepishly go down the road of the brutalist logo and woke live action remakes? Or will we go the way of the Disney Renaissance — and reclaim the way of the rugged American pioneer and entrepreneurial innovator?
For now, the market has spoken and saved Cracker Barrel’s logo. But the question remains — and the nation as a whole must answer.
* * *
Richard Stern is Acting Director of the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation and Director of its Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Trump Says Cracker Barrel Should Restore Old Logo After Backlash

From Uncle Herschel To Mickey Mouse: Cracker Barrel’s Disney Dilemma

Disney

Heritage Foundation

Woke is on the run.
The cultural scourge has stifled free thought, promoted hard Left extremism and corrupted the arts. Now, the pendulum is finally starting to swing in the opposite direction.
As Justine Bateman eloquently <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/justine-bateman-feels-she-breathe-135914542.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAL59qaEAl5oQrn9Sbhjt_qu8fKo-iKLly0Qx1-59i0ZovkUgRNIkxBmkeb-90BXJs3RGFTKYXYPTw_0PpiYQZ4TC2vvcuf68E0zkXRjgeC_GgEgtbOqvca4Zg9u6iEw0q-H7gvODkFclXkVCbMI5yfWMT2bU8ni8NIdlhYRwH5Zd">put it</a>, it’s like we can all breathe again.
Woke may have been destined to crash and burn on its own. It’s antithetical to the American spirit and goes against basic biology. Plus, it’s often meted out in a cruel, hypocritical two-tier fashion.
Hunter Biden <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/06/08/hunter-biden-repeatedly-called-his-white-lawyer-the-n-word-texts-show/">repeatedly texts</a>  the &#8220;n-word&#8221; — zero punishment. Morgan Wallen calls a white friend the “n-word” in a private moment caught on tape – his career implodes overnight. 
Yet, over the past decade we&#8217;ve witnessed a number of brave souls stand up to the woke onslaught. While there are many on team sanity who deserve a shout out — including the voices at The Daily Wire — here are seven culture warriors who hastened woke’s demise and deserve a curtain call.
<h3>Robby Starbuck</h3>
<div id="attachment_901451" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-901451" class="size-large wp-image-901451" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Untitled-design-32-1024x576.jpg" alt="Conservative influencer Robby Starbuck prior to an interview in New York, US, on Wednesday, March 5, 2025." width="1024" height="576" />Bess Adler/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
The filmmaker/activist became the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-robby-starbuck-joins-heritage-foundation-to-continue-fight-against-woke-corporations?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Robby+Starbuck+Joins+Heritage+Foundation+To+Continue+Fight+Against+Woke+Corporations">one person</a> woke companies fear more than anyone else. Starbuck’s crusade to expose corporate shenanigans, like excessive DEI policies, proved shockingly effective in recent years.
Just ask <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/11/27/robby-starbuck-influencer-dei-walmart">Walmart, Target, John Deere, Harley Davidson</a> and more.
A single social media post from Starbuck could send company executives into damage control mode. Sunlight remains the best disinfectant.
Starbuck brings the receipts, too. His recent <a href="https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1958868634287161604">exposé on Cracker Barrel</a>, coming on the heels of the brand’s calamitous logo “update,” proved he isn’t done spotlighting woke on steroids.
<h3>Jennifer Sey</h3>
<div id="attachment_457893" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-457893" class="size-large wp-image-457893" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-384x576.jpg" alt="" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/seyspring2022-0562-2-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Courtesy of Jennifer Sey</div>
The former gymnast defied her woke overlords at Levi’s and lost, if only on the surface. Sey left her job as Global Brand President after speaking out against pandemic school closures. The woke company demanded she toe the line and not share her opinion publicly. She refused.
She could have licked her wounds or stayed silent. Not Sey. The Colorado resident rolled up her sleeves and kept fighting. She assembled a team to create a documentary detailing just how punishing lockdowns proved for millions of kids, even as we weren’t always allowed to admit it aloud. That upcoming documentary, “Generation-Covid,” is just part of her anti-woke agenda.
She also created XX-XY Athletics, a clothing brand designed for women, not biological men living as women. Her company speaks out against trans women in women’s sports, helping strike a blow against a movement that often shames citizens into silence.
Now, the tide is turning on the subject, with more Americans allowed to speak their minds. Sey helped make that happen.
<h3>Elon Musk</h3>
<div id="attachment_902957" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-902957" class="size-large wp-image-902957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2180240111-864x576.jpg" alt="A portrait picture of Elon Musk photographed in Krakow, Poland on January 22nd, 2024 and X, former Twitter, logo are screened for illustration photo in Krakow, Poland on October 25, 2024." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2180240111-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2180240111-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2180240111-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2180240111.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images</div>
He may be “frenemies” with a certain world leader these days, but Musk struck a mighty blow against woke by buying Twitter. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-bought-twitter-over-free-speech-concerns-media-groupthink-2022-12">Partly inspired</a> by the platform’s attack on The Babylon Bee and other free speech punishments, Musk took over and restored many censored accounts. His new, streamlined X let free speech reign anew. Suddenly, users didn’t have to self-censor for fear their unwoke opinions could cost them their digital voice.
The platform is far from perfect, but under Musk’s control, it’s a vastly superior product and a woke-free zone.
<h3>Christopher Rufo</h3>
<div id="attachment_877257" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-877257" class="size-large wp-image-877257" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Untitled-design-33-1024x576.jpg" alt="Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist and New College of Florida trustee, walks through protestors on his way out of a bill signing event featuring Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who signed three education bills on the campus of New College of Florida in Sarasota, Fla. on Monday, May 15, 2023." width="1024" height="576" />Photo by Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post via Getty Images</div>
Starbuck may be corporate America’s worst nightmare, but Rufo offers a similar service for academics gone wild. Rufo’s relentless pressure campaigns, and fact-based measures, proved highly effective in recent years.
Rufo helped expose former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/claudine-gay-who-resigned-due-to-plagiarism-allegations-to-teach-reading-and-research-class-at-harvard-in-fall">plagiarism scandal</a>, but that’s just a fraction of his recent activism. Here, he describes why he <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/conservative-activist-christopher-rufo-on-his-push-to-scrutinize-higher-education">focuses his attention</a> on Ivy League institutions.
“They&#8217;re promoting from their central administrations racial discrimination, scapegoating and even segregation.”
In some cases, they “were” promoting all of the above. Rufo gets results.
<h3>J.K. Rowling</h3>
<div id="attachment_913089" style="width: 828px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-913089" class="size-large wp-image-913089" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/JK-Rowling-818x576.jpg" alt="JK Rowling" width="818" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/JK-Rowling-818x576.jpg 818w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/JK-Rowling-300x211.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/JK-Rowling-768x541.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/JK-Rowling.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 818px) 100vw, 818px" />Samir Hussein/WireImage via Getty Images</div>
Many celebrities, even the biggest stars in the galaxy, stand down under intense woke pressure. Remember how <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/07/rub-and-tug-tv-show-our-lady-j?srsltid=AfmBOooqto0TGS1QBSZKn_jSJCQPHkCoAhh3bv_wnxbTxhD4YsIThjEW">Scarlett Johansson buckled</a> rather than accept a role playing a trans character?
Not Rowling. The “Harry Potter” author, an old-school progressive, began <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/j-k-rowling-hilariously-shreds-transgender-activist-over-bra-fitting-boast">questioning</a> elements of the trans agenda in 2020. That put her squarely in the Left’s cross-hairs, and she’s remained there ever since.
Death threats. Endless cultural cancelations. Serial attacks from the same Legacy Media outlets that once praised her ability to inspire young readers.
And Rowling refused to back down. That posture, combined with the work Sey has done on trans matters, allowed others to speak out against biological men in women’s sports.
<h3>Joe Rogan</h3>
<div id="attachment_909823" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909823" class="size-large wp-image-909823" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-1024x576.jpg" alt="Screenshot: Joe Rogan Experience #2303. Dave Smith and Douglas Murray. PowerfulJRE. YouTube.com" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/MixCollage-18-Apr-2025-04-07-PM-2073-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Screenshot: Joe Rogan Experience/YouTube.com</div>
Rogan&#8217;s relentless curiosity, eagerness to let so many voices share his platform, and his dedication to an open, long-form conversation has given free speech a major boost. 
Even more important, Rogan had a change of heart regarding one potential guest. Two years ago, Rogan seemed disinterested in chatting up former President Donald Trump.
Then, as he watched the Democratic Party stifle speech across the culture, he realized his platform could give Trump a boost in the 2024 presidential campaign. It’s likely why other rebel comics did the same with the Trump-Vance ticket, from Andrew Schulz to Tim Dillon.
<h3>President Donald Trump</h3>
<div id="attachment_942191" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-942191" class="size-large wp-image-942191" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2222437639-865x576.jpg" alt="President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One outside the White House on July 1, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2222437639-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2222437639-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2222437639-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2222437639.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images</div>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIF2rdXnpMo">“Everything woke turns to s***,”</a> The 45th and 47th president once said, slicing through the noise to make perfect sense. He’s right, of course, and he helped make woke retreat to its current, cornered state.
The president’s frank talk, blustery persona and eagerness to speak sans filter did more than burnish his brand. He gave us permission to do the same, to shoot straight and take the consequences.
Plus, he used his executive orders to protect female athletes against biological male competitors and doubled down on Rufo’s efforts to rein in woke colleges. His anti-DEI initiatives will be part of his legacy, no doubt.
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Woke is far from gone, despite the work of these culture warriors. Some companies and schools are using sleight-of-hand techniques to keep on discriminating on the basis of race and gender.
The disgraced Gay is still teaching students at Harvard.
Hollywood will keep making movies about five-foot-nothing women beating up men double their size. Gender and race-swapped stories won’t fade to black like 3D movies and found footage shockers.
Still, woke has taken body blow after body blow. And these powerful figures threw some of the heaviest punches.
* * *
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.

Robby Starbuck

Seven Culture Warriors Who Put Woke On The Run

Christopher Rufo

Elon Musk

J.K. Rowling

Joe Rogan

Twitter

For so many Americans, Cracker Barrel is a convenient and consistent place to go for hearty meals, kitschy decor, and Southern hospitality. That is, until this week, when one trend-chasing executive decided to greenlight a logo revision, unleashing a backlash across the nation.
Cracker Barrel, <a href="https://investor.crackerbarrel.com/news-releases/news-release-details/cracker-barrel-says-goodbye-founder-dan-w-evins">founded</a> in 1969 by the late Dan Evins, came to symbolize American heritage. The original logo of an elderly gentleman sitting on a chair while leaning against a barrel epitomized that heritage. By removing the nostalgic imagery, the company seemingly put the final nail in the coffin of a treasured piece of Americana.
When current CEO Julie Felss Masino — who previously served as president of Mattel and Taco Bell — <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cracker-barrel-blasted-for-rebrand-that-scraps-beloved-logo-crime-against-humanity">announced</a> the logo change, she explained that her goal was to get Cracker Barrel out of people’s “<a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/cracker-barrel-ceo-julie-felss-masino-new-logo-controversy-what-know">rearview mirror</a>” and to &#8220;make sure that it was something that really resonates with everybody of today and for tomorrow.&#8221; On paper, that may seem like a good idea, especially as the company is facing declining sales and trying to appeal to a younger demographic. In practice, it’s been an absolute disaster that has <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cracker-barrel-cbrl-stock-down-200-million-loss-new-logo-change/">cost the company $100 million</a> in market value after the rebrand. 
It would be too easy to chalk up Cracker Barrel’s mistake as just another company gone woke. But the truth seems to be more complicated than that. As Andrew Beck, founding partner of brand consultancy <a href="https://beckandstone.com/about/">Beck &amp; Stone</a>, said during an email interview with The Daily Wire, Masino’s flub was likely the result of heeding bad advice. 
“She clearly values the brand and the customer’s feelings about it,” he said. “I do not think her insights are wrong—but I highly suspect the ‘outside help’ she describes as being brought in advised her team to turn left to ‘modern’ instead of right to ‘nostalgia’ at the fork in the road that every company must: what do we keep, what do we kick?”
Beck added, “It takes deep cultural understanding and tactical skill to actualize such an insight, and when I see who was tasked with the redesign—the firm ‘Prophet’—who tattoos their progressive cultural values on their sleeve, I just can’t see them sharing the Cracker Barrel cultural context enough to execute Julie’s vision skillfully.”
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That disconnect is not unique to Cracker Barrel. In fact, it fits a growing pattern. Companies chasing sleek, modern branding often leave their loyal customer bases behind. It’s enough to inspire eye rolls whenever a company strips its logo of personality to introduce a slick, minimalist iteration that&#8217;s easily lost amongst a sea of similar corporate logos.
“It is a byproduct of a general decline of the customer experience in the Western world for these middle market service companies,” Beck explained. “These rebrands are meant to signal a positive change, but because of the lack of imagination and ingenuity on the part of their consultants who are supposed to be ‘experts’ on these matters, the sanitized, sterile aesthetics of their environments and communications become reminders to the customer that the company’s better days are behind it.”
This is especially true for a brand like Cracker Barrel, whose entire identity is built on nostalgia and authenticity. Strip those away, and what remains? 
“As I tell our corporate [clients] with legacy American brands. ‘Be who you are. If you are American, be American.’ Problems arise when those being relied on to advise the company do not value their client’s heritage,” Beck said. “Often these are folks who come in and want to impose their own vision on a brand, rather than taking up the company’s historic values as their own. It is difficult to not see ideological influence in these decisions,” the strategist said.
For longtime employees, the decline has been obvious. Erik Russell worked for nearly a decade at Cracker Barrel. He says he did every job in the restaurant and even met his wife there. To him, it was more than just a place to work, and he said the customers felt the same way. 
“Cracker Barrel was more than a restaurant to them, it was home. A place where they felt they still belonged, even as the world changed around them,” Russell <a href="https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1958602832111685663">told</a> media personality Benny Johnson in an interview.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
EXCLUSIVE: Cracker Barrel Insider Breaks Silence on the Woke Destruction of an American Institution
Erik Russell spent nearly 10 years working at Cracker Barrel. He’s done every job in the restaurant. Erik even met his wife there. To Erik, Cracker Barrel was a place where… <a href="https://t.co/YDolLTs3dW">pic.twitter.com/YDolLTs3dW</a>
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1958602832111685663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
But Russell says the business he once loved unraveled after leadership changes. He described how small changes added up to something big, like when brown menus were replaced, uniforms got more relaxed, and alcohol was introduced despite the founders’ conviction that staying dry preserved the family atmosphere. 
“The logo and store redesign is simply the last step in total brand destruction by corporate vandals who seemed to despise the Cracker Barrel core culture,” Erik said.
He said the antiques on the wall were once curated from estate sales to reflect real Americana, but the remodeled stores are using generic reproductions instead. 
“I felt like I was part of something truly American, full of nostalgia and tradition. Now all of that’s being torn down and replaced with just another bland, soulless corporate chain,” he said.
That sense of loss goes beyond new décor. It’s about what Cracker Barrel symbolized for countless Americans. “Cracker Barrel built up decades of goodwill across the country,&#8221; Russell continued. &#8220;We often referred to ourselves as ‘America’s front porch’ after the iconic long storefront filled with rocking chairs and checkerboards where guests would wait to be seated. Each store I worked in felt slightly different, a reflection of their communities.”
For Beck, the lesson here is for businesses not to confuse modernity with progress. “All management is change management. A business must deal with change constantly. What is valuable and what is not? Misidentifying those value propositions, often because of a cultural blindspot on the part of brand ‘experts’ is often at the heart of the failure to manage change,” he said.
When asked if he thinks Cracker Barrel is having a “Bud Light moment,” Beck disagreed, saying the better comparison is Jaguar. 
The legacy car brand recently rebranded with an ultra-modern, futuristic aesthetic and was mocked mercilessly for it. 
“Bud Light became a meme based on a single can,” he said. “The larger business itself was strong and remains so. Jaguar was a disaster from a business POV. A struggling company with a storied brand but neglected product going through big changes jumping the shark, sealing a fate that was not inevitable, rather than changing it.”
“I fear this is another Jaguar unless there is a course correction on the aesthetics and communications across the board,” Beck said. “Right now it is only confirming what the customer base already feared was happening, not exciting them at the prospect of a revived product. I have high hopes that Julie Masino, who has a good relationship with her board, sees this and will do what needs to be done.”
For now, the “America’s front porch” that Erik loved looks more like just another franchise trying to appease consultants instead of remaining a place where families gather to make memories. The food is different, the atmosphere sterile, and the iconic logo is gone. 
What made Cracker Barrel special is slipping away, and the backlash from customers is proof. The irony is that in desperately trying to get out of America’s “rearview mirror,” Cracker Barrel may have veered straight into a ditch.

Cracker Barrel Didn’t Go Woke With Its Rebrand, They Were Conned By ‘Experts.’

Cracker Barrel Didn’t Go Woke. They Got Conned By ‘Experts.’

America

Americana

Bud Light

Jaguar

In the past year alone, titles like &#8220;Assassin’s Creed: Shadows&#8221; (which featured a <a href="https://notthebee.com/article/new-assassins-creed-game-has-gay-black-samurai-kiss-theythem-character">romance</a> between a bisexual black samurai and a nonbinary Japanese character) and the remastered version of &#8220;The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion&#8221; (which <a href="https://steamcommunity.com/app/2623190/discussions/0/604154245960211414/">replaced</a> the “female” and “male” options from the original game with “Body Type 1” and “Body Type 2”) have drawn significant backlash. 

But forcing woke content into video games isn’t the only way progressives are trying to ruin the gaming industry.
Now, they’re coming for its business model. 
 
Recently, the American Economic Liberties Project (AELP), a <a href="https://www.economicliberties.us/about/#">think tank</a> stacked with progressives, <a href="https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/ninth-circuit-affirms-epic-games-victory-over-google-forces-monopolist-to-lift-app-store-restrictions/">cheered</a> a major court victory against Google’s app store that they aggressively pushed.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Epic Games’ case against Google was legitimate. Per the suit, Google forced developers into a rigid system with up to 30% fees, banning rival app stores and alternative payment methods, hurting both creators and consumers.
But don’t be fooled. AELP’s broader agenda has nothing to do with helping gamers or developers. Its antitrust crusade would shackle gaming — and every other innovative industry — under permanent bureaucratic control.
For example, AELP was the <a href="https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/ftc-must-pursue-administrative-case-against-unlawful-microsoft-activision-merger/">loudest cheerleader</a> for the <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/cases-proceedings/2210077-microsoftactivision-blizzard-matter">Biden-era push</a> to block Microsoft from acquiring Activision-Blizzard — a case the Trump administration just killed.
Biden’s FTC, egged on by AELP, claimed Microsoft would make &#8220;Call of Duty&#8221; and Overwatch Xbox exclusives, supposedly “suppressing competitors” in consoles and cloud gaming. They wouldn’t have. Microsoft committed to keeping &#8220;Call of Duty&#8221; <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/16/microsoft-and-sony-sign-deal-to-keep-activisions-call-of-duty-on-playstation.html">on PlayStation</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/02/21/microsoft-signs-call-of-duty-contract-with-nintendo-pressuring-sony-and-regulators/">bringing it to Nintendo</a>.
Courts saw through the AELP’s claims. A federal U.S. judge <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/11/microsoft-activision-ftc-decision/">rejected</a> the FTC’s suit in 2023, and by May 2025, Trump’s FTC wisely <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trumps-ftc-walks-away-from-microsoft-activision-merger-fight-started-by-biden-131433987.html">dropped</a> the case. Even the ultra-liberal European Union <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/eu-antitrust-regulators-clear-69-bln-microsoft-activision-deal-2023-05-15/">approved</a> the Microsoft-Activision deal.
Liberal activists like those at AELP may not want to admit it, but the truth is that gaming is a fiercely competitive industry. It doesn’t need Washington activist groups or government bureaucrats picking winners and losers. 
 
Consider the very video game example that AELP loves to harp on — &#8220;Call of Duty.&#8221;
Yes, it’s a mega-blockbuster franchise that has sold over 500 million copies since 2003. But it is far from unstoppable. When &#8220;Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare&#8221; launched in 2016, its <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeF3UTkCoxY">reveal trailer</a> was ratioed with 4 million dislikes to 667,000 likes. 
Four days later, video game developer DICE <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7nRTF2SowQ">unveiled</a> &#8220;Battlefield 1&#8221; — a rival shooter with a World War I setting — and its trailer’s likes outnumbered dislikes 37-to-1. &#8220;Infinite Warfare&#8221; only <a href="https://www.vg247.com/call-of-duty-infinite-warfare-was-the-best-selling-game-of-2016-despite-all-your-protests-but-battlefield-1-was-hot-on-its-heels">outsold</a> &#8220;Battlefield 1&#8221; because it bundled a remaster of &#8220;Modern Warfare.&#8221; Activision learned its lesson and abandoned the futuristic setting.
Market dominance in gaming seldom lasts. AELP <a href="https://www.economicliberties.us/media/vertical-merger-scrutiny-needs-an-upgrade-after-microsoft-activision/">argues</a> that video game consoles “rely on unique intellectual property that cannot simply be replicated,” but that’s simply not true. Blockbuster franchises are frequently copied, challenged, and displaced.
For example, &#8220;Guitar Hero&#8221; ruled the mid-2000s until &#8220;Rock Band&#8221; split the market — and soon after, both faded into irrelevance.
Yet, if regulators used AELP’s &#8220;Call of Duty&#8221; logic, perhaps they would have treated &#8220;Guitar Hero&#8221; like an untouchable monopoly, freezing the industry in place while gamers missed out on the next wave of competition.
Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft have spent decades battling to build their own “killer apps.” Players bought Xboxes for &#8220;Halo,&#8221; PlayStations for &#8220;Uncharted,&#8221; and Nintendo consoles for &#8220;Zelda.&#8221; If Microsoft ever made &#8220;Call of Duty&#8221; exclusive, the proper response from Sony wouldn’t be to run to regulators, it would be to make something better. That is how markets are supposed to work.
Instead, AELP and the far left’s vision appears to be to turn antitrust into a permanent chokepoint for the entire economy, swapping innovation for bureaucratic control.
Unfortunately, the Microsoft-Activision case was just a warm-up for them. After celebrating victory with Epic, AELP continues to push crackdowns on everything from <a href="https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/ain-vetoing-anti-algorithmic-rent-fixing-bill-gov-polis-sides-with-corporate-landlords-over-colorado-renters/">dynamic pricing</a> to <a href="https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/dot-greenlights-united-jetblue-partnership-deepening-airline-consolidation-crisis/">airline partnerships</a> that help travelers redeem miles across carriers.
If AELP succeeds in locking its mindset into law, it won’t just be gamers who lose — it will be every industry that depends on competition and creativity to thrive.
Gamers don’t need Washington lawyers and think tank activists deciding what they can play, and neither does any other sector caught in AELP’s crosshairs. What the market needs is the freedom to build, compete, and win without having to beg permission from the same professional regulators who mistake every successful product for a monopoly.
If AELP gets its way, innovation won’t just stall in gaming — it will stall everywhere. That would be bad news for everyone.
The Trump administration should continue to stand its ground and fight AELP’s agenda tooth and nail. We’ll all be better off for it.
* * *
James Skyles is a legal policy analyst and the principal of Skyles Law Group. He has written for some of the largest legal publications in the United States, including Law.com and Law360.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Friends shouting and cheering while playing the game battle on the playstation

It’s More Than Woke Storylines Ruining Video Games

It's More Than Woke Storylines Ruining Video Games

Blizzard Entertainment

Gaming

Microsoft

Progressivism

Video Games

Trent Sweeney, the brother of actress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/american-eagle-refuses-to-cave-doubles-down-in-response-to-sydney-sweeney-ad?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=American+Eagle+Refuses+To+Cave%2C+Doubles+Down+In+Response+To+Sydney+Sweeney+Ad">Sydney Sweeney</a>, celebrated a promotion he received from the U.S. Air Force with a crack about &#8220;good jeans&#8221; — a reference to an ad featuring his sister that has gained the ire of leftists.
On Thursday, Trent posted to his Instagram stories about recently earning his promotion to staff sergeant. In the story, Trent quipped, &#8220;It&#8217;s them good jeans,&#8221; according to a screenshot <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/sydney-sweeneys-brother-makes-cheeky-good-jeans-joke-following-his-air-force-promotion">obtained</a> by Fox News.
Sweeney recently took on an avalanche of hate from the Left for posing in an American Eagle Outfitters ad campaign about “good jeans,” which uses a play on both good genetics and a good pair of blue jeans. Critics said the ad was Nazi-coded and racist, since Sweeney is white and has blonde hair and blue eyes.
The actress has refused to buckle under the criticism, and American Eagle has stood by its campaign.
The Right has championed the campaign for shaking off &#8220;woke&#8221; messaging, and praised Sweeney for not caving to unreasonable critics on the Left.
Trent, 29, also published a general post to his Instagram account about the promotion. &#8220;I&#8217;m excited for this next step in my career and thank everyone that&#8217;s been a part of it so far,&#8221; he wrote.
His sister &#8220;liked&#8221; the post.
<div id="attachment_959063" style="width: 950px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-959063" class="wp-image-959063 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-09-at-9.38.34-AM-940x576.png" alt="" width="940" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-09-at-9.38.34-AM-940x576.png 940w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-09-at-9.38.34-AM-300x184.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-09-at-9.38.34-AM-768x470.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-09-at-9.38.34-AM-1536x941.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-09-at-9.38.34-AM-2048x1255.png 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px" />Instagram: Trent Sweeney</div>
In the wake of the Left&#8217;s backlash toward Sweeney, left-wing site BuzzFeed <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/yes-sydney-sweeney-registered-republican-131433446.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on the actress&#8217; apparent political party affiliation as a Republican.
The Daily Wire reviewed records that show a Sydney B. Sweeney is a registered Republican in Florida. The middle name of Sweeney, the actress, is reportedly Bernice.
Additionally, the date of registration is June 2024, the same time it was <a href="https://pagesix.com/2024/06/06/lifestyle/sydney-sweeney-buys-13-5m-oceanfront-florida-mansion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the actress Sweeney purchased a 13.5 million dollar home in Summerland Key, Florida. The registration reviewed by The Daily Wire named Summerland Key as the city.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING &#8211; Leftists claim to have dug up Sydney Sweeney’s 2024 voter registration, which lists her as a registered Republican. <a href="https://t.co/OizbACfW32">pic.twitter.com/OizbACfW32</a>
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rightanglenews/status/1951457004280750345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
When President Donald Trump was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-delighted-to-learn-sydney-sweeney-is-a-republican-now-i-love-her-ad">asked</a> about the report, he delighted in the news.
“She’s a very hot actress right now,&#8221; he said. “She’s a registered Republican? &#8230; Oh, now I love her ad.&#8221;
&#8220;Is that right? Sydney Sweeney?&#8221; he continued. &#8220;You’d be surprised at how many people are Republicans. That’s what I wouldn’t have known. But I’m glad you told me that. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leftists-melt-down-after-report-that-sydney-sweeney-is-registered-republican">Leftists Melt Down After Report That Sydney Sweeney Is Registered Republican</a>

“Echo Valley” European Premiere – VIP Arrivals

Sydney Sweeney’s Brother Celebrates Air Force Promotion With ‘Good Jeans’ Crack

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Air Force

Sydney Sweeney

As we pass the halfway point of the 2020s, it’s safe to say we’ve all had front row seats to what many people have described as the vibe shift. You don’t really have to pay attention to business to understand that something is changing in corporate America. You don’t have to be looking at stocks every day to realize that the balance of power is shifting away from the heights of wokeness we saw at the beginning of the 2020s. President Trump’s latest executive <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/08/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-guarantees-fair-banking-for-all-americans/">order</a>, prohibiting politicized debanking, is creating massive positive waves for conservatives concerned about losing access to their finances — and investors who don’t want the banks they invest in playing politics. This comes on the heels of other executive orders targeted at biased AI <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/preventing-woke-ai-in-the-federal-government/">programs</a> and divisive, discriminatory <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/">DEI policies</a>.
These big steps are the results of top-down exercises in executive power. And a frequent criticism I hear, as someone whose job it is to pay attention to business, is that Trump’s executive orders will just create a facade of non-wokeness, under which companies will resume their previous biased policies. As it happens, answering that criticism is a major part of my work in the world of corporate engagement. Because the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-year-the-dei-tide-turned?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=10&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Year+The+DEI+Tide+Turned">pushback</a> against ESG, DEI, &amp; corporate wokeness isn’t just coming from the White House. It’s coming from ordinary investors all across this country who want the businesses they invest in focusing on… well, business.
Let’s take debanking as an example. Months before Trump’s debanking executive order came down, banks like <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/major-win-jpmorgan-chase-ends-political-debanking?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Major+Win%3A+JPMorgan+Chase+Ends+Political+Debanking">JPMorgan Chase</a> &amp; <a href="https://x.com/IsaacWillour/status/1929918865842012351">Citigroup</a> adopted explicit guarantees: no more debanking based on clients’ political beliefs or affiliations. These banks weren’t just anticipating the regulatory and political shift coming from Washington — they were hearing from shareholders. Why? Because when businesses play politics, they don’t just incur the wrath of Republican politicians. These gambles with brand value and deviations from the core business model hurt ordinary Americans, who rightly expect Citigroup to create value for their kids’ college fund instead of opining on gun control through their lending policies.
When JPMorgan Chase debanked Ambassador Sam Brownback, investors took notice. And the investors I work with aren’t the type to sit back and take it. Shareholders like <a href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/my-bid-to-make-jpmorgan-less-woke-progressive-discrimination-conservatives-christians-shareholders-sec-banking-finances-583c7999?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAhg8WubEGKB7cvLlardDDcKkGeJqpUicqcbM1xoLBHMGeBHqpP1w-ZC4shMtQk%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68957d1d&amp;gaa_sig=hpzyOTrRxsQ-AO0cLmG4VpK0q2-FpzuLTXkXA0T73nZM0Iu73898-9shhfsDz68MpAEbFs9tDXU_DvlMbfl-Fw%3D%3D">David Bahnsen</a> and other ordinary <a href="https://investor.bankofamerica.com/regulatory-and-other-filings/all-sec-filings/content/0001193125-24-064529/d529855ddef14a1.pdf">investors</a> were attending annual meetings and putting pressure on these companies from the inside for years, not to be right-wing or give special privileges to conservatives, but to play it neutral: serve everyone, because everyone needs banks. And because banks have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders, there have been real arguments occurring between investors and company reps for years on the debanking issue. Add to this pressure from red state fiduciaries cutting ties with activist banks (turns out, pro-energy states don’t take kindly to banks demonizing the energy industry), and the supercharging effect of an executive order, and you start to see how corporate America is slowly shifting back towards normalcy. And that’s just the debanking issue.
If you had to sum up why the backlash to corporate wokeness is working in one sentence, try this one: the pro-sanity business ecosystem has become too big to ignore, and too committed to fail. Think about it as a coalition. One part is ordinary investors and institutions who invest for return — these aren’t professional activists, a dynamic that companies are only recently having to get used to. Another part is financial professionals, another part are legal advocates like Alliance Defending Freedom, working to make sure companies can’t just ignore their own shareholders (because they try — often). Another part is friendly journalists and X personalities like Robby Starbuck, putting millions of eyes on this issue. Another part is the countless advocacy groups providing the research &amp; data that fuel our ability to talk to these companies, such as Consumers’ Research and the 1792 Exchange. Effective corporate engagement happens when all these forces align on a single aim: getting companies out of politics &amp; back to business. 
And we’re seeing real results on a whole host of issues. Beyond the debanking issue, we’re seeing companies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/08/us-banks-quit-net-zero-alliance-before-trump-inauguration">ditch</a> anti-energy commitments in droves (turns out, net zero becomes a fantasy the minute you look at the energy demands of the real world.) We’re seeing companies commit to treating their religious employees with the same respect &amp; privileges afforded to non-religious ones, including through workplace affinity groups and inclusion in charity matching programs. We’re seeing companies like <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/pepsico-puts-out-viewpoint-neutral-media-buying-content-policy-website">PepsiCo</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ibm-rolls-back-dei-commits-to-political-neutrality?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=IBM+Rolls+Back+DEI%2C+Commits+To+Political+Neutrality">IBM</a> commit to not using their ad policies to discriminate against conservative news outlets like the Daily Wire. And we have good reason to believe that, as corporate engagement increases, more wins are coming.
So, what about that façade of nonwokeness? Aren’t companies just going to lie? As it happens, vigilance from actual investors is a fantastic way to safeguard against that. People generally have the biggest incentive to do something when it hurts to not do it. So, who has the biggest incentive to make sure businesses aren’t playing politics? The people who own the business: shareholders. The investors we represent have a clear incentive to be in the details — because the problem of corporate wokeness isn’t just a PR or branding issue. It’s an issue that affects the bottom line Americans depend on.
The vibe shift we’re seeing goes far beyond Washington, even though Washington matters. What’s happening in America, in real time, is conservative investors and institutions waking up and realizing that they’ve been leaving their financial influence on the table. And we truly have no blueprint for how much winning is possible when that influence is brought to bear. So, from Washington, to the halls of conservative institutions, to the ordinary mom-and-pop investors sitting at their kitchen table in West Texas — here’s to winning. The best is yet to come.
* * *
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.

Flag and Wall street sign

Why The Pro-Sanity Coalition Is Winning Again In Corporate America

Banks

Business

debanking

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

JP Morgan

Stock Market

Wall Street

Woke ideas, by definition, are fundamentally flawed. These include policies that can either be written off as unworkable — think high taxes, free health care, and open borders — or ridiculous impulses like gender confusion, environmental extremism, defunding the police, and critical race theory.
Over the past two years, the woke left has increasingly taken up a particularly alarming cause — antisemitism. Disturbingly, one of the most vocal proponents of this toxic ideology is perhaps the one best positioned to disseminate it where it does the most damage — in our children’s ears.
With astonishing regularity, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, the National Education Association (NEA), finds itself embroiled in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/antisemitism-and-the-teachers-union-education-students-k-12-44cd1fa7?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAio3c5Mt0_L59ZPcvOPJickL051h1PbFLp_tScFw0mRoqrmcVgMIOsA6nnyibM%3D&amp;gaa_ts=688aa84c&amp;gaa_sig=LzMqnMYY5GorvJeQbZTzYtBBy9PjR6F0UEtTrKy5NvNssT-_RRcxOWjxtSm_an-HMy0mXn6s6GiAbh0Hv5M_hQ%3D%3D">controversy</a> around its attitude towards Jews and the conflict in Israel.
In late July, the leaders of the 3-million-member union were forced to walk back a <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/07/08/gaza-war-adl-teachers-union-nea-vote">decision</a> made earlier in the month when its 7,000-member Representative Assembly voted to cut all ties with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization that has fought antisemitism and other forms of intolerance for over a century.
The body approved a measure stating that the NEA “will not use, endorse, or publicize materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), such as its curricular materials or statistics.”
It reasoned: “Despite its reputation as a civil rights organization, the ADL is not the social justice educational partner it claims to be.”
The hypocrisy is palpable.
A week after its July 6th gathering in Portland, Oregon, members of the union’s Jewish Affairs Caucus penned a <a href="https://www.neajacaucus.org/post/letter-to-nea-leadership">letter</a> to NEA President Becky Pringle, noting that individual Jewish delegates to the event were “vocally mocked, harassed, and threatened in ways that dishonor our union.”
The letter continued, “Most unfortunate of all was how the NEA’s official statement framed the situation, as if U.S. classrooms were an extension of the battleground in Gaza … Presenting human dignity as a zero-sum game is perilous for all minorities. History teaches us that when one minority is deprived of its humanity without comment, others will be, too.”
“Allowing the ADL to determine what constitutes antisemitism would be like allowing the fossil fuel industry to determine what constitutes climate change,” countered NEA delegate <a href="https://labornotes.org/blogs/2025/07/educators-union-rejects-anti-defamation-league-cuts-ties">Stephen Siegel</a> from the assembly floor.
Publicly, Pringle acknowledged the Representative Assembly’s action went too far, <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-education/2025/07/21/nea-halts-bid-to-cut-ties-with-jewish-organization-00465130">stating</a>, “After consideration, it was determined that this proposal would not further NEA’s commitment to academic freedom, our membership, or our goals.”
Within days, however, the union’s true feelings came to light again when it announced plans to promote a version of Holocaust remembrance that does not even mention Jews, instead referencing, “…victims of the Holocaust from different faiths” and teaching that Israel was founded through “forced, violent displacement and dispossession.”
This wording comes directly from the priorities outlined in NEA’s <a href="https://www.nea.org/">2025 handbook</a>, which the union publishes each year as a guide on the group&#8217;s priorities and strategic goals for its national and state leaders, staff, and members. It includes the NEA&#8217;s bylaws and is updated with any new resolutions and policy positions the union has endorsed.
These aren’t isolated incidents. As ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/antisemitism-and-the-teachers-union-education-students-k-12-44cd1fa7?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAjStdmE5Sn12J-E4JPH8q2Os8fljrQpHJrtRWhjqSbFGcFj3jvZuqRKWEX9bFM%3D&amp;gaa_ts=6890e11f&amp;gaa_sig=U7kbLb2MFLOViXFevR2KtAoLAxq3KPM9ZMb_XqIVIbO7hNpInieKcl1KH8QJS1WpqwlpKvfhq2REB_oFm2qzbQ%3D%3D">wrote</a> in the Wall Street Journal:
<blockquote>Local teachers’ unions in California have provided teachers with an anti-Israel script; in Minneapolis, they’ve labeled Israel as “apartheid.” In Chicago, the teachers’ union voted on anti-Israel resolutions and posted on social media that, “Zionists are not welcome.” In New York, the union representing City University of New York professors voted to divest from Israel. Others have gone so far as to prevent teachers from participating in mandatory antisemitism training. When the San Francisco Unified School District scheduled four such trainings for high school teachers, their union said they would support any educator who decided to skip the sessions.</blockquote>
Against this backdrop, Los Angeles District Court Judge Stephen Wilson, on July 21st, <a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2025/07/30/forced-representation-allows-haters-to-speak-on-behalf-of-their-victims/">dismissed a lawsuit</a> filed by seven Jewish teachers represented by United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) — an affiliate of NEA — alleging the union had engaged in a pattern of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist activity for years.
The Freedom Foundation, which is representing the teachers, plans to appeal Wilson’s ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sadly, it isn’t likely to be the last time the teachers&#8217; union’s politics of hatred are on display for a public that’s already had a bellyful of it.
* * *
Aaron Withe is the CEO of the Freedom Foundation.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

UTLA protest in Los Angeles, CA

When Unions Teach Hate: Inside The NEA’s Descent Into Antisemitism

When Unions Teach Hate: Inside NEA’s Antisemitism Problem

Anti-Semitism

Jewish

National Education Association

Teachers Unions

The following excerpt is taken from the new book &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Science-Thirty-Nine-Scientists-Scientific/dp/B0DWLP2VTZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22E4UEYSZLK9L&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7OpVlvjzAMkKLRoafpVC5BbfjWiiv_d1HNPN1kmFXABtw90xnU8oHEEAF-C1mFSw.m6gzq7MX5HeMeyZUsEzNWkKLTJiFGUtfa6NHjZv0eDw&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=the+war+on+science+lawrence+krauss&amp;qid=1754574679&amp;sprefix=the+war+on+sc%2Caps%2C111&amp;sr=8-1">The War On Science</a>,&#8221; edited by Lawrence M. Krauss (Post Hill Press, 2025), with contributions from Jordan B. Peterson, Niall Ferguson, Richard Dawkins, Gad Saad, and many more. 
* * *
<h3>The Archetypal Fate Of The Universities</h3>
The institutions of higher education in the West are administratively top-heavy, in precisely the manner allowing that very administration to prey upon the future earnings of the students they hypothetically serve. Furthermore, the faculty itself leans very heavily in the radical direction despite being the dubious beneficiaries of administrative expansion. Student-to-faculty ratios have increased dramatically. The status and autonomy of the faculty have been very badly compromised. None of this seems to have made the professors and researchers any more forthcoming in their resistance or any more skeptical about the self-righteous “progressive” ideals they advocate. Finally, the students themselves have been infantilized, as well as taught outright that progressive radicalism is identical to virtue. It is, therefore, very difficult to imagine anything approximating an across-the-board improvement in behavior at the universities, in consequence. There are no imaginable circumstances under which the extant Ivy League institutions, for example, would be likely to dispense with the 80 percent of administrative staff and a somewhat lesser but still high proportion of the faculty that would have to disappear for any real change in orientation to occur. 
There have been recent initiatives, most famously in the states of Texas and Florida, to push back against the diversity, inclusivity, and equity bureaucracy-mob, but a simple name change is no trouble for the serpentine Machiavellians of the radical fringe to manage. This means that the same old corrupt players can just change their ideational camouflage, and at the surface level, just as they did when the revelations of Communist excess became too self-evident to deny in the 1970s, and Marxism metastasized into the intersectional oppression idiocy of today. It is, therefore, highly possible that the academy in the West is rotting because it is, in fact, dead and cannot be revived in anything resembling its current form. In that case, the flame will have to be kept burning at new institutions, whether in the classic bricks-and-mortar and in-person guise, if that proves possible (and I doubt it), or electronically, if the major changes in the conceptualization of education and the technology necessary to offer mass higher learning prove capable of delivering on their obvious but by no means certain promise.
<div id="attachment_958091" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Science-Thirty-Nine-Scientists-Scientific/dp/B0DWLP2VTZ/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.uHHyjHn4r9-5D55ze0R9Gk-xy5AIFtAEK7qQ4oR-WpQLi51rBu79jgtR88ZY5U4VgKNq4guJpjpfz4JBsu0CN4ZKfzsmHlY2xOTX5ypfus0dPolpFU3YLRuD1JycE93FkmrEi8sJQT_-K9sN8c2aXpVu9KANTbLiCQ7kDTygeqz7Oh8iBp7BWNSPZkoE6i9QqlYnHbmAMe8OQScq8S7oi0FoZ5cX6CV4hwRSurj_rO8.zNhWL4XZiBpgI8rDMadnYyGjqoUHGwS4_vcJYlypv18&amp;qid=1754575409&amp;sr=1-1"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-958091" class="wp-image-958091 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-384x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Post Hill Press" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-07-Aug-2025-09-35-AM-9729-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Credit: Post Hill Press</div>
Is there a way out personally, psychologically, or conceptually? Or, more specifically, what is presently incumbent upon those who are currently or will in the future be engaged in the university teaching or research enterprise? We can turn, once again, to the Enuma Elish account to elucidate the archetypal pattern. It is always in the very darkest hour that the redeeming hero emerges. Deliverance comes to the faithless murderer-children of chaos and order in the story in question in the hero-form of Marduk, the Mesopotamian savior-son-of-God. After Cain and Abel, we are presented with the cataclysm of the flood, as well as the erection of the Tower of Babel, the totalitarian edifice which is a structure of value with the wrong value at its pinnacle. Those are the twin fates of the descendants of Cain, the parasites who will not sacrifice properly and who undermine what even they themselves most truly value and depend upon. What are these fates? The descent of the world into the primordial waters of chaos that reigned before the beginning; alternatively, the worship of the false idols of the Luciferian intellect that likewise produce disunity and confusion — in the latter case, the eventual inability of those who aim wrong to even understand or utter the same words. “What is a woman?” — indeed. What is the way forward in the biblical narrative — perhaps running parallel to the Mesopotamian story? 
Careless pride eternally comes before a fall, but the humility that is its medicament is the attention that leaves nothing out of its purview and can, therefore, perceive the proper course forward. We could consider the account of Jonah, the everyman alerted by his conscience to speak the words of truth that set society straight. He flees, initially, from the requirement — who wants to risk standing against the mob? — but upon encountering the abysmal consequences of maintaining silence when there is something that demands to be said, he reconsiders his cowardice, turns his voice over to the control of the divine, and redeems the corrupt city of his enemies. What is the moral of such stories for the timorous, ideology-addled professors of today — or for those who enable them through their silence or even “allyship”? What might be done by forthright and faithful believers in the redeeming quality of truth and sacrifice when the walls we relied on to protect us have been breached and the barbarians have entered the gates? And have they? Here’s a telling data point: it is none other than the despicable Michel Foucault, darling of the Luciferian radicals, who is by some accounts the most cited “scholar” in the world.
What might be done, indeed? We professors, scholars, and researchers could open the eyes and the mouths God has given us instead of continuing to take each of the thousands of small steps backward that have enabled the devouring ideologues at our institutions. We could forthrightly note the chaos that looms and identify and hold to account its purveyors and acolytes. We could do the duty required of us by the people who have charged the inhabitants of the academy with the responsibility of preserving and seeking the truth, and we could call out the frauds, hucksters, Machiavellians, and outright charlatan-psychopaths of the faux disciplines and idiot theories of oppressor and victim. We could, by so doing, speak the words of truthful magic that redeem the fragmented world and position the foundation back in its place. Alternatively, we could remain frozen in the corner like the petrified rabbits we have far too often revealed ourselves to be and let the parasitical rabble attain their temporary and inevitably self and society-destroying “victory.” What did the great Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn say so effectively in his all-out and eventually successful assault on the predatory tyrants and parasites of the envious and ideology-possessed radical world? ONE WORD OF TRUTH SHALL OUTWEIGH THE WHOLE WORLD. The protected professoriate pays for the opportunity and protection historically granted by the community to the academic endeavor with the vow to protect what is true, beautiful, and good. If we once again found the courage to be the standard-bearers of such value, the mad and ideological mob would be rapidly defeated. 
Will we do what needs to be done? We have failed so far, and it would take a mad bit of optimism to suggest that the course could be reversed. Nonetheless, the situation is far from hopeless. Here is another bit of traditional mythology to consider with regard to such a situation. When Abraham is informed by God of the latter’s decision to destroy the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the great prophet objects, making the case that wholesale destruction is no temperate and proper response to the sins even of the many (Genesis 18: 22–33). God agrees to spare the threatened cities if even fifty righteous people might still be found dwelling within their walls. Abraham persists in his objections, even after receiving such consideration from God, bargaining the divine down to forty-five, then forty, then thirty, then twenty — then ten. What does this strange story indicate? Nothing less than this: an entire polity, and all of its denizens, can be saved even from an impending, dire, and deserved fate if even a tiny number of its inhabitants remain willing to risk the great adventure of the truth.
The moral of the story for the current denizens of the academies of higher education? It would not take a great number of professors, researchers, and students even now to speak and turn the tide. The moral, even more specifically, even more personally? It is incumbent on each and every one of us engaged in such enterprise to risk being one of the redeeming ten. We should remember, too, when considering such things: it is indeed a risk to see what is in front of our eyes and to say what needs to be said. It is also true, however, that willful blindness and failure to speak when there is something to say are ventures with perils of their own. The ten in question may find themselves in trouble when they speak, but they are simultaneously saving themselves and all those around them from the invisible hand of doom, threatening the future. This is an existential fact, alluded to in the great story of Jonah. It is not by mere chance that the fleeing prophet finds himself drowning when he holds his tongue after being commanded to speak — and then, worse, devoured by the beast of the abyss. There is indeed a descent into hell that threatens, both psychologically and socially, when conscience is ignored. It is the wisdom of the ages that the risk of seeing and speaking, all things considered, is much less than the risk of hiding and silence. There may be a price that is to be paid for the former — but the price of the latter is both soul and society. The true spirit of the academy is the prophetic voice that redeems. We abandon that at our great peril and to the detriment of all that depends on education itself. 
See, therefore, and speak — or pay the inevitable price.
* * *
This excerpt is published by permission of Post Hill Press. “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Science-Thirty-Nine-Scientists-Scientific/dp/B0DWLP2VTZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22E4UEYSZLK9L&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7OpVlvjzAMkKLRoafpVC5BbfjWiiv_d1HNPN1kmFXABtw90xnU8oHEEAF-C1mFSw.m6gzq7MX5HeMeyZUsEzNWkKLTJiFGUtfa6NHjZv0eDw&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=the+war+on+science+lawrence+krauss&amp;qid=1754574679&amp;sprefix=the+war+on+sc%2Caps%2C111&amp;sr=8-1">The War on Science: Thirty-Nine Renowned Scientists and Scholars Speak Out About Current Threats to Free Speech, Open Inquiry, and the Scientific Process</a>,” edited by Lawrence M. Krauss. (Post Hill Press, July 2025).
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-role-of-the-holy-spirit-distinguishing-between-your-will-and-gods-will" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Jordan B. Peterson</a> is a clinical psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. From 1993 to 1998 he served as assistant and then associate professor of psychology at Harvard. He is the international bestselling author of “Maps of Meaning,” “12 Rules For Life,” “Beyond Order.” Be sure to order his newest book, “We Who Wrestle with God” (Portfolio/Penguin).
Lawrence M. Krauss is an internationally renowned theoretical physicist, bestselling author, and acclaimed lecturer. A passionate advocate for science and reason, and the public understanding of science, he is the author of twelve popular books, including the international bestsellers &#8220;The Physics of Star Trek, A Universe from Nothing,&#8221; and his most recent book, &#8220;The Edge of Knowledge.&#8221; He received his PhD from MIT and then moved to the Harvard Society of Fellows. He is currently President of The Origins Project Foundation, Chair of the Board of the Free Speech Union, Canada, and host of The Origins Podcast.

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