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THUNDERDOME RECAP: Ana Navarro Crosses a Red Line

Jorge Bonilla — Thu, 01 May 2025 06:57:08 +0000

THUNDERDOME RECAP: Ana Navarro Crosses a Red Line

A wild episode of The Thunderdome, more commonly known as CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, featured multiple heated exchanges of ideas. Most importantly, it saw bitter The View panelist Ana Navarro cross a bright red line.

After the obligatory opening segment on the GDP report with concomitant recession hype, the discussion shifted to reports of the Tesla board allegedly opening a search for a new CEO to replace Elon Musk. Scott Jennings, fresh from expressing his desire to acquire farmland during a Michigan Trump rally, recalled a Cabinet secretary (Bessent, if I had to guess but what do I know) citing the development of IT as the biggest DOGE development. This absolutely triggered former Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson:

Another Abby Phillip ref stoppage and warning after Scott Jennings triggers Gretchen Carlson over DOGE making IT improvements at an unnamed Cabinet agency (I suspect Treasury) pic.twitter.com/2fhvACDzJX
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) May 1, 2025

GRETCHEN CARLSON: Most Americans would agree that they want to get rid of fraud and waste. And now you're saying that the greatest accomplishment of DOGE…

SCOTT JENNINGS: No, It’s an accomplishment.

CARLSON: …is that they- that- they’ve solved IT problems?

JENNINGS: And I talked- and I spoke to another cabinet secretary yesterday who said this has been a, quote, “wonderful accelerant.”

CARLSON: So what?

JENNINGS: This continues the program continues.

CARLSON: Politicians say whatever they say, to be able to put on a good face.

JENNINGS: Why are you so angry?

CARLSON: I'm not angry. I’m- I’m frustrated.

JENNINGS: You look enraged. I don't understand.

CARLSON: I’m frustrated like most Americans, because we want to know where the cuts are.

ABBY PHILLIP: Gretchen. Gretchen. Let me just let me just hit pause here. I mean, look. People get worked up at this table, yourself included, all the time. Let's not call people angry when they're simply making a point.

JENNINGS: But she's very upset.

PHILLIP: I just have to say that because. Because I think.

CARLSON: No. I’m frustrated. Because you’re blaming it on IT.

PHILLIP: Let's deal with- let’s deal with the…

JENNINGS: I’m not blaming anything. I'm saying it was a good byproduct of what they did.

PHILLIP: Scott and Gretchen, just give me one second, OK? Let’s deal with the issues at hand. We don’t have to, you know, say you’re angry or, you know, this. She’s just making a point. Okay?

CARLSON: Thank you.

If you’re keeping score, that’s a ref stoppage and a scolding from Abby Phillip- as often happens when a liberal is on the ropes. Something that happens way too often. This closed out the segment and had Phillip teasing the next, on immigration. Most interestingly, her reference of MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego García as “that man that was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.” Interesting choice to drop the “Maryland”.

The immigration segment fell along familiar lines, with the panel liberals advocating for Abrego, and with conservatives arguing in favor of strong border security. Here, Jennings shone:

ANOTHER Abby Phillip ref stoppage as Scott Jennings schools the panel on Kilmar Abrego-Garcia and his tattoos. pic.twitter.com/72OqWxZOk1
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) May 1, 2025

JENNINGS: Several things. Number one, the children that you mentioned were not deported. They went with their mothers. Their mothers requested that the children come with them. So their mothers were deported because they were illegal aliens.

ANA NAVARRO: And they didn't get due process.

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: And so, and so they went so- so, so there's really two choices here. Split the family or keep the family together. The U.S. government's policy here was to let the mothers decide. The mothers decided to take the children. That's number one on the Garcia case. Effectively what you all are arguing for, passionately, and what Democrats are passionately arguing for is for the President of the United States to re-import a dangerous member of a transnational terrorist organization who has clear affiliations with a gang that commits heinous atrocities. That is not what he was elected to do. And whether you bring him back here or not, I'm just going to explain to you the politics of this through telling you what the Speaker of the House(SIC), Hakeem Jeffries, did today, which is that he told his members, “please, for the love of God, stop going to El Salvador and dying on this hill. The politics of this could not be worse for the left and worse for Democrats, because the president knows he was elected to protect us from MS-3. And that is what they are doing.

ANA NAVARRO: Yeah, but none of the things you just said have been proven.

JENNINGS: But what do you say about the tattoos?

NAVARRO: I say that what trump said yesterday was an absolute lie.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: Are you saying the MS-13 that Donald Trump claims are legitimate tattoos on this guy are true? Are you saying the photoshop is true?

JENNINGS: Are you- are you a tattoo truther? I mean, I don’t understand.

NAVARRO: Wait, are you a photoshop denier?

RAUL REYES: You're getting away from the issue.

PHILLIP: Hold on. Yeah, we are getting away from the issue. Scott. The- the- the picture of his knuckles does not say MS 13-

JENNINGS: The symbols.

PHILLIP: Okay. Yeah. Let me just explain to people what we’re talking about here.

NAVARRO: That has not been proven either. Scott. None of the things you have said.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: They have not said so in court.

PHILLIP: So let me just explain to people what we're talking about here. There are symbols on his knuckles. None of them say MS-13. However, this administration has decided that they symbolize something related to MS-13, which is disputed by a lot of people including gang--

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: I am going to move on. I’m going to move on. Because this is not a conversation about the tattoos.

Navarro and Jennings were going back and forth about the exchange on tattoos between President Trump and ABC’s Terry Moran, and whether the superimposed MS-13 on a photo of “Maryland Dad’s” hand is legitimate. Abby Phillip went in with another stoppage and wrapped the discussion up.

Still on immigration, Shermichael SIngleton tries to explain how “Maryland Dad” was found to be a gangbanger, but not being able to get in a word edgewise. He let Phillip have it.

WATCH: @MrShermichael is fed up with constant interruption, is interrupted AGAIN as he lays out the initial factual basis leading to Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be found a gang member. LET SHERMICHAEL COOK pic.twitter.com/tmdJVNCinL
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) May 1, 2025

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON: Can I…?

PHILLIP: No no no no no. Hold up.

SINGLETON: Why do we always have to play this game of interrupting people when they're talking?

PHILLIP: OK. But you're saying…

SINGLETON: What’s the point of me being on the show, if I can never finish my freaking point?

PHILLIP: Okay…

SINGLETON: This is getting really annoying, Abby.

PHILLIP: Hold on.

SINGLETON: Everyone else has made their statements. I have yet to say anything.

PHILLIP: Hold on a second. Okay?

SINGLETON: I mean, Jesus.

PHILLIP: Hold on a second.

NAVARRO: So angry. As Scott was saying. Ha ha ha.

SINGLETON: Because I have a point of view to make here as well.

PHILLIP: Everybody, hang on just one second. Shermichael, let me- let me ask you a question. The question is, has the government presented evidence in court that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13?

SINGLETON: And my response…

PHILLIP: ANd the answer is no. That has not happened in court. But it doesn't mean that they have not made those claims publicly. It doesn't mean that those claims are not. In police reports. It doesn't mean that they're not in police reports.

SINGLETON: In 2019,

PHILLIP: They're just not statements that were made in a court case.

SINGLETON: In 2019, the immigration judge at the time believed the Prince Georges County gang unit and the evidence that they presented before that judge at the time that Mr. Garcia did indeed belong to a gang. This is not my opinion. You can- people can Google this crap. They can Google this. CBS reported on this. If a judge believes it in 2019, is it now all of a sudden not true?

REYES: Judge granted him a withholding of removal.

SINGLETON: I acknowledge that fact. I acknowledge that fact.

PHILLIP: Which is a different issue. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

SINGLETON: But- but the point remains that a judge found the evidence to be credible that Mr. Garcia did indeed belong to a gang. So now all of a sudden, we're not not going to believe judges?

PHILLIP: Okay. The judge found-

SINGLETON: We can't have it both ways.

PHILLIP: I don't- I don't want to go too far down this rabbit hole, but my- my only point is that the government has not presented beyond the the the police report. They have not presented the evidence to prove that he belonged to this gang.

SINGLETON: So the police reports are not considered evidence before a court of law? Do judges not- do judges not consider police reports? What are we saying?

PHILLIP: Shermichael, what is- what was the- what was the original…

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: It is relevant…

PHILLIP: Hold on. I actually want Shermichael to finish the point.

SHERMICHAEL: It absolutely is relevant to the argument from the administration, which is that Mr. Garcia belonged to a gang, as one of the reasons of deporting him out of the country. You guys are sitting here saying there’s no truth to this, there’s no facts to this. That’s not true.

Credit to Singleton for quickly recovering after speaking up over the constant interruptions. And we learn that the reason for those interruptions is so Phillip can speak over Singleton and try to shut down any talk of evidence of Abrego Garcia being a gangbanger.

It was at this point shortly thereafter that Navarro reset her “days without cheapshotting Marco Rubio” counter to zero. What ensued afterwards was absolutely wild, as Singleton and Navarro get into a shouting match over which ethnic group had it worse:

THE PROBLEM WITH OVERTALK AT THUNDERDOME: Ana Navarro and Shermichael Singleton have a huge blowout over historic immigration vs slavery. Shermichael may not have heard Ana say "other than Black", but her condescending "act all indignant" was WAY over the line. pic.twitter.com/kUES1vO0fb
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) May 1, 2025

SINGLETON: We do not have unlimited resources…

PHILLIP: I think a lot of Americans…

SINGLETON: to take care of other people.

NAVARRO: There’s a hell of a lot of people, other than the Black people who were brought here as slaves, who came to this country illegally. There are a lot of different-

SINGLETON: They are not the same as Black people who were brought here against our will.

NAVARRO: That’s exactly what I just said. I said there is a lot of people...

SINGLETON: They decided to walk their butt across the border. There's a big difference.

NAVARRO: …OTHER than Black people.

SINGLETON: There is a big difference. There is a big difference, Ana.

NAVARRO: That’s exactly what I just said. That’s exactly what I just said, Shermichael.

SINGLETON: There’s a big difference.

PHILLIP: Shermichael and Ana...

NAVARRO: We’re gonna act indignant. That's exactly what I just said.

SINGLETON: It’s not about acting indignant.

NAVARRO: You just heard me say “other than the Black people who came as slaves.”

SINGLETON: You are- you are acting as though you have the moral high ground here.

NAVARRO: There are a lot of people, from many countries, that came here illegally.

PHILLIP: Shermichael, I think you actually misheard what she- think you misheard what she said.

NAVARRO: No, he purposely misheard it.

PHILLIP: She- she said…

SINGLETON: I purposely misheard. So now you're in my brain?

PHILLIP: Shermichael, listen to me for just a second.

SINGLETON: Is that where we're going?

PHILLIP: Shermichael, listen to me for a second.

NAVARRO: You think I would say- I, who have advocated for black people…

PHILLIP: Ana, please stop.

NAVARRO:.. my entire life and say something like that?

SINGLETON: Because you've advocated for black people. Great. Congratulations. Last time I checked, I'm black. You're not.

PHILLIP: Okay, Shermichael.

NAVARRO: That's right. I'm Latino, and my people are being racially profiled. And unfairly treated.

SINGLETON: And do I have to remind you of the history of my people? If you want to go there?

PHILLIP: Shermichael…

SINGLETON: Do you really want to go there?

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: We’re going to go to break. Raul Reyes, thank you for joining us. Everybody else hang tight. We’ll be right back.

By the time that Phillip realized the segment got away from her, it was too late. Navarro and Singleton were already at each other’s throats. The thing is, and upon review of the transcript, Navarro was right in that she said “other than” Black people and Phillip was right in that Singleton misheard Navarro.

It was dumb for Navarro to compare the risks and perils inherent to illegal immigration to the outright horrors of chattel slavery. But Navarro took it a step further by mocking Shermichael’s (misplaced) outrage, and then by suggesting that Shermichael intentionally misheard her- imputing ill will, and doing so the entire time with a condescending tone. The segment spiraled out of control and Phillip ended up throwing the towel and going to break. The whole thing could have been avoided had Navarro just shut up when Phillip said “Ana, please stop.”

By the way, I have to question the kind of standard that throws Girdusky off the set for making the pager joke to Mehdi Hassan, but allows Navarro to remain and probably return after that sordid exchange. As I explained on X, with regard to Navarro's reaction:

To understand Navarro's reaction to Singleton, you have to understand the creation of an artificial "Latino" identity on the basis of shared oppression, as a peer to Black identity. @Gundisalvus' scholarship here is essential: https://t.co/SzLKaGbrN5
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) May 1, 2025

The show ended with light bonding in mockery of Tampon Tim Walz, but the earlier avoidable fireworks hung thick in the air. Thunderdome, indeed.

Jorge Bonilla Thu, 05/01/2025 - 02:57

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THUNDERDOME RECAP: Ana Navarro Crosses a Red Line

NewsBusters Podcast: The Evening News War on Trump, Take Two

Tim Graham — Thu, 01 May 2025 02:09:20 +0000

NewsBusters Podcast: The Evening News War on Trump, Take Two

At the 100-day mark in President Trump's second term, it's apparent once again that the evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC are organized to cover Trump as negatively as possible. A new NewsBusters study finds coverage of Trump has been 92 percent negative. Four years ago, Biden coverage was 59 percent positive. Rich Noyes explains the difference.

Keep in mind that the amount of Trump coverage -- 899 stories making up 1,716 minutes -- translates into more voluminous negative coverage. Biden drew only 726 minutes in 2021. Trump has granted much broader access to the press -- and it looks like he has been punished for it. Biden did not suffer for hiding away from the press.

There is the same contrast in the 2017 study -- Trump drew 1,900 minutes of coverage, and 89 percent of it was negative. Remember that all the politician statements are excluded from the count, so it focuses on the more "objective" or "independent" sources like reporters, their experts, and average citizens.

Trump's most dramatic success -- securing the border -- barely moved the needle. Out of nearly four hours (233 minutes) of evening news airtime devoted to immigration, these newscasts spent just 3.5 minutes letting viewers know just how much Trump has reduced border crossings. “What was once a record influx, now a trickle,” NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez acknowledged on the February 7 Nightly News.

Trump's coverage was 92.2 percent negative, but his aides were also covered hypernegatively: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced 89% negative press, DOGE architect Elon Musk was slammed with 96% negative coverage, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth received a unanimous 100% bad press from the networks. This is only during Trump's presidency, not in the contentious preliminaries before the inauguration.

Musk drew a flood of negative soundbites from federal workers who had been laid off or were in fear of layoffs. “I thought, well, they’re going to take a scalpel to fraud, waste and abuse, not just hack off the entire limb,” a laid-off FEMA worker told NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez on March 10. Just one federal employee said something pro-DOGE.

Enjoy the podcast below, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Tim Graham Wed, 04/30/2025 - 22:09

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PBS News Hour Marks 100 Days of Trump: ‘A Path of Perfect Lawlessness’

Clay Waters — Thu, 01 May 2025 01:35:27 +0000

PBS News Hour Marks 100 Days of Trump: ‘A Path of Perfect Lawlessness’

Public television marked President Trump’s first 100 days in office with a dose of fear and loathing Monday evening, courtesy of the PBS News Hour’s most liberal reporter Laura Barron-Lopez and her guest, hostile presidential historian Mark Updegrove.

Barron-Lopez dutifully issued warnings.

Barron-Lopez: More than 140 executive orders signed, a record for the first 100 days, and tariffs on allies and adversaries alike, a growing deportation operation, and mass firings across the government, all at a pace that historian Mark Updegrove says has institutions struggling to keep up.

Mark Updegrove, Presidential Historian: There's a muzzle velocity, this flooding the zone of activity that has come since he took the Oval Office. There have been enormous gambles that he has taken. And we don't yet know what the ramifications of those gambles are.

The process of enforcing immigration law and student visa requirements were reduced to a “dragnet” by Barron-Lopez, and she lamented Trump was "invoking the 18th century Alien Enemies Act" that allowed the deportation of "Venezuelan migrants alleged to be gang members without due process."

Laura Barron-Lopez: A move that federal judges, including Republican-appointed ones, have described in rulings as “shocking” and “a path of perfect lawlessness, one that courts cannot condone….”

Updegrove: Donald Trump has shown that he has disregarded at certain points of his presidency constitutional and conventional norms. Will there be a continued defiance of court orders and what will that mean to our Constitution? What will that mean to the future of America?

The historian gave his ideological preferences away when he included USAID and the Department of Education (the latter founded in 1979 and threatened by Trump) as programs somehow “baked into American life.”

Barron-Lopez: And despite railing against what he called the weaponization of government against him, many say President Trump has made good on his promise of retribution, attacking all perceived enemies, stripping security clearances from former officials in his first administration and other political opponents, including Republicans, threatening law firms that worked on legal cases against him, punishing independent news organizations he disagrees with, and targeting institutions like Harvard University by halting billions in public funding. Are there historical parallels? Are there other presidents who attempted to go after their enemies in the same way that Trump is going after his?

Updegrove: Not to the same extent that we have seen from Donald Trump, no. We saw from Richard Nixon attacks on his enemies. He had an enemy list, but they were not -- that vengeance was not carried out to the same systematic degree that we have seen from the Trump administration.

Another, more recent presidential name was out there -- Joe Biden, under whose administration ridiculous charges were brought against Trump (i.e. "lawfare"), most of which were either dismissed or backfired against the Democrats. And of course Russiagate, which predated Biden, but showed that Republican presidents are not the only one's exacting political vengeance against their opponents.

Near the end Updegrove said:

Updegrove: Donald Trump campaigned on the notion of making America great again. We have seen him tear down much of what has made America great to this point. What will he build in its place and where will its greatness lie?

Updegrove is hardly an objective voice. In 2022 he appeared on ABC News coverage of then-President Biden’s speech marking the anniversary of the January 6 Capitol Hill riot: “Joe Biden needed to deliver a powerful statement about democracy today. This was FDR after Pearl Harbor. This is Lyndon Johnson after Selma. This is George W. Bush after 9/11."

This segment was brought to you in part by Raymond James.

A transcript is available, click "Expand."

PBS News Hour
4/28/25
7:24:02 p.m.

Amna Nawaz: President Donald Trump will hit his first 100 days in the White House on Tuesday, a key period of his second presidency, defined by its breakneck pace and the chaotic rollout of an agenda designed to expand his authority.

Laura Barron-Lopez has our report.

Donald Trump, President of the United States: So this is a big one.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Since retaking the Oval Office in January, Donald Trump has tested the limits of presidential power.

Donald Trump: We have rogue judges that are destroying our country.

Laura Barron-Lopez: More than 140 executive orders signed, a record for the first 100 days, and tariffs on allies and adversaries alike, a growing deportation operation, and mass firings across the government, all at a pace that historian Mark Updegrove says has institutions struggling to keep up.

Mark Updegrove, Presidential Historian: There's a muzzle velocity, this flooding the zone of activity that has come since he took the Oval Office. There have been enormous gambles that he has taken. And we don't yet know what the ramifications of those gambles are.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Impulsive and often controversial, just one month in, President Trump shocked the world…

Donald Trump: You don't have the cards right now.

Laura Barron-Lopez: … when he berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an explosive Oval Office showdown that forced allies to reckon with what could be the end of the transatlantic alliance.

Donald Trump: You're gambling with World War III. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country…

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President: I'm with all respect to you.

(Crosstalk)

Donald Trump: … that's backed to you far more than a lot of people said they should have.

J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States: Have you said thank you once this entire meeting?

Volodymyr Zelenskyy: A lot of times.

J.D. Vance: No, in this entire meeting, have you said thank you?

Laura Barron-Lopez: And now the administration is threatening to walk away from the peace negotiations. On immigration, Trump moved quickly to shut down the border in many legal pathways to enter the U.S., southern border crossings dropping to the lowest levels in decades, carrying out early raids in major cities.

Top immigration officials launched a P.R. blitz to highlight the deportations and pressure immigrants to self-deport.

Kristi Noem, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary: If you are considering entering America illegally, don't even think about it.

Laura Barron-Lopez: College students were also targeted in the dragnet, as the administration revoked visas from hundreds of foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian campus protests and has detained a growing number of legal permanent residents.

The targeting of undocumented and legal immigrants alike has set off a confrontation with coequal judicial branch. After invoking the 18th century Alien Enemies Act, until now only used during times of war, the administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants alleged to be gang members without due process.

Donald Trump: These were bad people. That was a bad group of, as I say, hombres.

Laura Barron-Lopez: A move that federal judges, including Republican-appointed ones, have described in rulings as shocking and a path of perfect lawlessness, one that courts cannot condone.

In an extraordinary response, the Supreme Court halted all future deportations under the Alien Enemies Act until courts can hear more arguments. And they ordered the administration to — quote — "facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was illegally deported to El Salvador, despite a court order expressly forbidding him to be sent there.

The White House taunting on social media that Garcia is never coming back.

Mark Updegrove:

Donald Trump has shown that he has disregarded at certain points of his presidency constitutional and conventional norms. Will there be a continued defiance of court orders and what will that mean to our Constitution? What will that mean to the future of America?

Elon Musk, Department of Government Efficiency: Do you have a pulse?

(Laughter)

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Acting with Trump's blessing, special government employee Elon Musk has exerted unprecedented influence inside the administration, while vowing to take a chain saw to the federal government. He's promoted Teslas on the White House driveway.

Elon Musk: It's zero to 60 miles an hour in two seconds.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, claims to have cut $160 billion in spending since Trump took office, nowhere near the $1 trillion promised by September.

Elon Musk: Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. So nobody's going to bet .1000. We will make mistakes.

Laura Barron-Lopez: And many of DOGE's — quote — "receipts" have been riddled with billion-dollar errors, deletions or falsehoods.

Donald Trump: When you look at the kind of money, billions and billions of dollars being thrown away illegally.

Laura Barron-Lopez: At the direction of Musk and his allies across the government, nearly 280,000 federal workers have been fired or put on leave. Most foreign aid spending has been eliminated, including the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, known as USAID.

And there have been major cuts at the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency and others, like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mark Updegrove: We have never seen the dismantling of government to this extent. These programs are baked into American life. And it's everything from the CDC to the FAA and to all these different things that we almost take for granted in our daily lives as Americans. And we have never seen an axe wielded to take apart government to this extent.

Donald Trump: My fellow Americans, this is liberation day.

Laura Barron-Lopez: And after promising to rein in inflation and lower the price of goods, President Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs on nearly all of the nations that trade with the U.S., before he backtracked, announcing a 90-day pause just hours before they were set to take effect.

Donald Trump: Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy, you know? They were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Still, Trump left in place an across-the-board 10 percent tariff on most imported goods and 25 percent levies on foreign autos, steel and aluminum. And he launched a bitter trade war with China, slapping 145 percent tariffs on most Chinese products imported to the U.S., prompting China to retaliate, all sparking chaos in the financial markets and, according to a majority of economists, raising the risk of recession.

Mark Updegrove: We have not seen tariffs used as a weapon in the manner that Trump has used them to this point. While this might seem like a good short-term solution to get nations to the bargaining table to get better deals from America, the long-term downstream effects of this remain to be seen, and it's an enormous gamble for America and for the world economy.

Donald Trump: They weaponized the vast powers of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies to try and thwart the will of the American people.

Laura Barron-Lopez: And despite railing against what he called the weaponization of government against him, many say President Trump has made good on his promise of retribution, attacking all perceived enemies, stripping security clearances from former officials in his first administration and other political opponents, including Republicans, threatening law firms that worked on legal cases against him, punishing independent news organizations he disagrees with, and targeting institutions like Harvard University by halting billions in public funding.

Are there historical parallels? Are there other presidents who attempted to go after their enemies in the same way that Trump is going after his?

Mark Updegrove: Not to the same extent that we have seen from Donald Trump, no. We saw from Richard Nixon attacks on his enemies. He had an enemy list, but they were not — that vengeance was not carried out to the same systematic degree that we have seen from the Trump administration.

Laura Barron-Lopez: President Trump has made clear he will move to enact his agenda with or without Congress. But the near-daily court setbacks continue, as the judiciary questions the legality of some of his actions.

Mark Updegrove: Donald Trump campaigned on the notion of making America great again. We have seen him tear down much of what has made America great to this point. What will he build in its place and where will its greatness lie?

Donald Trump: Thank you, everybody.

Laura Barron-Lopez: Whether the chaos of the president's first 100 days becomes a hallmark of his second term, Updegrove said, remains to be seen.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez.

Clay Waters Wed, 04/30/2025 - 21:35

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PBS Analyzes Trump's Chaotic First 100 Days: Fear, Loathing, and Challenges

'PUBLIC' TV Watch: PBS News Hour Reserves 'Controversial' Label for Trump and His Team

Tim Graham — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 20:15:07 +0000

'PUBLIC' TV Watch: PBS News Hour Reserves 'Controversial' Label for Trump and His Team

The word “controversial” is often a word used to signal to viewers that someone is politically radioactive. So naturally, the liberal minds in “public” broadcasting must use it in a tilted way.

To see if there was a biased trend, a Nexis search of PBS News Hour transcripts from November 1, 2024 through April 20, 2025 showed the adjective “controversial” was almost completely reserved for Donald Trump and his cabinet appointees in statements by PBS journalists. (We did not include a few uses of the word by guests.)

In 54 uses of the C-word on PBS in this study period, 45 of them (83 percent) were applied to Team Trump or the Republicans. For Democrats, President Biden drew one “controversial” on January 3 for his decision to block Nippon Steel’s attempt to buy US Steel – a position he shared with Trump! That’s 45 to 1. Put an asterisk on the 1.

Two other uses were about conservatism: New Zealand’s “most conservative” government was allegedly “rolling back” policies to aid the Maori minority, and Colorado banned “conversion therapy” to curb homosexual identity.

On the January 30 edition of News Hour on January 30 of this year used the C-word four times. Co-anchor Amna Nawaz opened the show: “President Trump's controversial picks to head national intelligence, the FBI, and Health Department all face tough questions in their confirmation hearings.”

A few minutes later, reporter Laura Barron-Lopez hit the mark again: “In another hearing room this morning, the fate of another controversial pick, Kash Patel, President Trump's nominee to head the FBI.”

Co-anchor Geoff Bennett then talked to congressional reporter Lisa Desjardins about a RFK Jr. hearing: “And there was another controversial moment today that centered on 9/11 and conspiracy theories? Tell us about that.” He then summarized with her: “So these three nominees today, RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, controversial by any normal standard, but we're not living in normal political times. I mean, will they have the votes?” They did.

So we decided to match that with PBS coverage of the incoming Biden administration four years ago, from November 2020 to April 20, 2021. Maybe the trend went in the opposite direction? No. There were only 17 uses of “controversial” in those transcripts. But even then, 10 of the 17 (59 percent) were applied to Trump or his team.

By contrast, Democrats had two. It was 10 to 2. There was one “controversial” for Neera Tanden on February 22, 2021 as her nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget began to crumble. Then on April 16, 2021, Jonathan Capehart said President Biden set a deadline for withdrawing for Afghanistan, which is “very controversial,” but Capehart added, “I give him credit for making a very tough decision.”

Back then, Trump drew two "controversials" on PBS for his pardons. In 2025, Biden's pardons were not "controversial."

Tim Graham Wed, 04/30/2025 - 16:15

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One Hour of Hate: CBS Evening Shows Go All-In on Trashing Trump at Day 100

Curtis Houck — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 19:44:00 +0000

One Hour of Hate: CBS Evening Shows Go All-In on Trashing Trump at Day 100

The liberal media greeted President Trump’s 100-day mark Tuesday with a torrent of negative coverage, so it was no surprise when CBS used both of its evening news shows — CBS Evening News and CBS Evening News Plus — to nearly go wall-to-wall in spewing disgust at the Trump administration, almost trying to conjure up a recession and economic ruin.

It started from the get-go with a pot-shot from Evening News co-anchor Maurice DuBois: “President Trump’s first 100 days have been largely about the trade deal, and, so far, there’s been more wheeling than dealing, especially with China.”

White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe was also glass half-empty in the lead-off report: “[Trump’s] touting his work on the economy and with tariffs. But as he marks the first stretch of his second term, people we spoke to here outside Motor City fear the economy could get worse.”

It continued with O’Keefe finding furloughed autoworkers and a grocery store owner to express fear about the future with one fearing “impending, looming doom” (click “expand”):

O’KEEFE: The news was cheered by the Big Three American carmakers, though, customers will likely still pay more for a new car. And it does nothing to cushion the economic pain of autoworkers Scott Doody and Tavathan Noble, who were furloughed just before Trump took office. What does that then cause you to have to worry about in terms of costs on a day-to-day basis?

SCOTT DOODY: Your food went up. Gas went up. Our wages went down.

TAVATHAN NOBLE: Utility bills have went up. Groceries have went sky high.

O’KEEFE: Both agreed tariffs could eventually bring more jobs to the U.S. Doody voted for Trump.

DOODY: I just think it’s going to take time for more to happen.

O’KEEFE: Noble voted for Kamala Harris and is more pessimistic.

NOBLE: Unemployment’s went up. Every day, somebody’s closing their doors because nobody’s going in to buy anything.

O’KEEFE: But that’s not the case at the Holiday Market just outside Detroit. Store director Erik Schneider says customers aren’t yet whining about higher prices, but they may soon pay more for goods like imported wine.

ERIK SCHNEIDER: We haven’t changed our prices, yes.

O’KEEFE: OK. But if it keeps up?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, that — yes, because wine, liquor, you operate on thin margins.

O’KEEFE: So far, Schneider says business is steady. The state of the economy here in Michigan is what?

SCHNEIDER: It has been pretty healthy, but, again, it’s kind of the wait and see.

O’KEEFE: Sort of this sense of something could happen, but nothing’s happening now?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, it’s impending, looming doom.

Co-anchor John Dickerson then reminisced about marking the first 100 days of the first Trump term with the President in Pennsylvania, but that too was negative with tariffs being the frame of reference: “[I]n 2017, he touted the National Association of Manufacturers, who were so optimistic about what he’s doing. If you look at their publications now, they’re worried about these tariffs And the other thing is that the Ames True Temper plant, the factory is closed And Bloomberg reports that it appears their products are now made in China.”

Speaking of China, the duo went onto openly admit they participated in the making of Chinese Communist Party propaganda by sending Hong Kong-based foreign correspondent Anna Coren to NIO, a Chinese electric vehicle company.

After DuBois called it “a look behind enemy lines,” Dickerson boasted: “But keep in mind, our Anna Coren was shown what the Chinese communists want her and you to see.”

Coren nevertheless indulged the Chinese commies by giddily taking flight in a driverless, flying car, adding “[i]t was the first stop on a media tour, where China wanted to show us how their economy is ready to move forward with or without the United States.”

“E.V. company NIO, an industry leader of Anhui province, was part of the tour. Its factory, with 97 percent automation, has the ability to produce 300,000 cars a year, selling on average for $40,000. While there’s no denying the trade war is going to hurt China’s economy, companies like NIO are proof that the country’s future growth and success is no longer pegged to the United States,” she gushed.

She even giggled with the co-anchors after the voice-overs: “Oh, look, it was an interesting experience. Over my career, I have had the good fortune of going up in a fighter jet and a Black Hawk, admittedly with professional pilots. But I thought, what the heck? What could go wrong?”

This went right into a Nancy Cordes segment arguing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has done little to improve the federal government’s finances:

Five news briefs and a commercial later, there was this wild segment about Catholic Charities and using the late Pope Francis to condemn Donald Trump as evil for his posture toward illegal immigration:

CBS took a pause for the weather before resuming the Trump bashing. This time, for the “Eye on America” segment, correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti went to Point Roberts, Washington to lament the fraying relations between the U.S. and Canada.

Why there? It’s only accessible by first crossing through Canada.

Watch below as Vigliotti found a struggling restaurant owner and then someone whose business — a packing and shipping shop — went out of business:

CBS Evening News proper ended with an honor for all-black, all-women 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion from World War II, so the Trump bashing only took a break for mere moments with Dickerson’s CBS Evening News Plus ready to carry forward.

He started with three news briefs, including one lamenting the “significant staff cuts” at the Peace Corps “after a review by the Trump administration’s cost-cutting DOGE team.”

The first full story was more fear-porn pom-poms about the auto industry, CBS polling claiming 69 percent of Americans don’t believe Trump is doing enough to lower everyday costs, and a negative data point about consumer confidence:

In a segment that aired on Wednesday’s CBS Mornings, Deep State correspondent Scott MacFarlane said the DOGE has struck Justice Department programs investigating police departments (as in, you know, ones accused of racism) and funding for the National Center for Victims of Crime hotline:

A segment, three news briefs, and a break later, correspondent Carter Evans reported more negative news for America. For this, he went to the Port of Los Angeles where they predict it and other ports will soon become ghost towns because of tariffs:

This too would air the next day on CBS Mornings.

The Trump hate finally came to a close with a lengthy, softball-filled interview with the National Urban League’s Marc Morial, who came loaded for bear and still livid the race hustler industry’s beloved Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs are going down the drain.

Because CBS News doesn’t take ethics seriously, it refused to disclose Morial is a deep, personal friend of CBS News given his wife is longtime CBS News personality and current CBS Saturday Morning co-host Michelle Miller.

If this were Fox News, you bet the so-called media writers out there would be having a conniption.

At any rate, here was that interview in all its absurdity, including Dickerson praising National Urban League for its work on “economic inequality” and defending the need for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Naturally, Morial painted a dark future that Trump would take America back to before the civil rights movement (click “expand”):

DICKERSON: The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division under President Trump has made a seismic shift in enforcement of equal protection laws in employment, housing, and education, leading to more than 100 lawyers resigning from the unit. Civil rights groups argue the reforms are a rollback of decades of racial and economic progress. For tonight’s interview, Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League, which has joined legal challenges of those executive actions. Marc, we’re going to get to those.

MORIAL: Hey, John, thank you.

DICKERSON: We’re going to get to those legal challenges in a minute. Just give us, though, the history of the Civil Rights Division in the past and why it’s been important.

MORIAL: So the Civil Rights Division was created in 1957 by a Civil Rights Act passed by the Congress after Brown v. Board, after the Montgomery Bus Boycott, with the very specific intent of enforcing the then Civil Rights laws. In 1964, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, it gained a much more vigorous, if you will, role with the Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing Law. Its mission is clear. Its mission is to protect those who’ve been historically locked out and left out in this nation. And what we see is an effort to flip that entire mission on its head.

DICKERSON: What changes worry you the most?

MORIAL: What worries me is to, in effect, allow racial discrimination to run free, unabated, unfettered, and giving people in this nation nowhere to go for redress. It also strikes me as what the administration is trying to do is it’s almost a misfeasance or a malfeasance. You didn’t go to Congress and ask them to change the law or change the mission. You’re unilaterally seeking to act. And that’s not what democracy is all about.

DICKERSON: Is that what the basis of your lawsuits are? And is that right?

MORIAL: Well, there have been 200-plus lawsuits that have been filed against Trump executive actions. We brought one against three diversity, equity, and inclusion executive orders. I think most of these challenge that these actions go beyond the power of the presidency. They trample people’s First Amendment rights to pursue their mission and to pursue their goals. And they otherwise are inconsistent with the principles of American democracy.

DICKERSON: Has there been any dialogue with the administration?

MORIAL: I think that there has not been any meaningful dialogue as of yet. I think that we would work to convince, to encourage the president and his people to reverse course. Already with the polling numbers, John, the public is weighing in. They don’t support. They don’t like. They don’t embrace this direction, particularly when it comes to civil rights. Most of the polling shows that when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion, the American people do support it. They believe it’s helpful. They believe it’s necessary.

DICKERSON: Have you seen — there’s obviously an effort throughout the administration to get rid of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Have you seen that affect the private sector and the way they approach it?

MORIAL: Some in the private sector have been — it’s had a chilling effect on many in the private sector. It’s caused many in the private sector to walk away from important commitments that they’ve made, while there are others who’ve held strong. Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase, Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the National Football League, recent comments by the CEO of Marriott indicate that these business leaders are saying, I know what’s best for my business, and I’m not going to stand by and let the government dictate what I think is necessary to grow my business to profitability. And that means I’ve got to be open to all Americans.

DICKERSON: And the Urban League has worked hard on economic inequality in its history. Give me a sense of what your thoughts are about the nature of that in this administration.

MORIAL: Well, right now, the tariff taxes are having a very corrosive effect. The idea that everything is going to be more expensive hits working people the hardest. The idea that we could have stagnant growth will hit and raise unemployment among African Americans and other working people. That impact, just in 100 days, greatly concerns us in terms of what the long-term effect may be.

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One Hour of Hate: CBS Evening Shows Go All-In on Trashing Trump at Day 100

ABC Defends Comedian’s Claim Trump Is Inhuman, RFK Jr. to Abduct Kids

Nicholas Fondacaro — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 19:26:54 +0000

ABC Defends Comedian’s Claim Trump Is Inhuman, RFK Jr. to Abduct Kids

After begging on the air for her to come on the show, the liberal ladies of ABC’s The View welcomed far-left extremist “comedian” Amber Ruffin during Wednesday’s episode. Omitting the fact that she suggested President Trump and his supporters were “a bunch of murderers” and not human beings, The View cast defended Ruffin as just using her right to free speech and suggested the real danger was from the Trump administration with wild conspiracy theories.

After the cast expressed their displeasure with Ruffin getting canned from the White House Correspondents Dinner, Ruffin explained that at first she accepted it as a consequence of “running my mouth” but had her mind changed by those claiming her right to free speech was infringed upon:

But they were, like, ‘Look, you were running your mouth in these streets and now you can't host the White House Correspondents' Dinner.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, no, you know, this is horrible. I was running my mouth and I was being careless.’ And then as the day went on, people were, like, ‘your free speech has been revoked! How dare they?!’ I was like, ‘Oh, my god, that's right! I do have free speech. I am allowed free speech!’

“It’s also the Job of the comedian to run our mouths. That's the job,” co-host and so-called “comedian” Joy Behar backed Ruffin up. “And to poke fun at the establishment and make people laugh,” co-host Sunny Hostin agreed, still failing to mention what Ruffin actually said.

While on The Daily Beast podcast earlier this year, Ruffin proclaimed:

I'm not 100% interested in being like, “ha, you're here [Trump people], look at your stupid head, you're burned.” I care, uh, like, you're kind of a bunch of murderers.

(…)

So I think it just they got their feelings hurt, but if they want that false equivalency that the media does. They want that. It feels great. It makes them feel like human beings, but they shouldn't get to feel that way cause they're not.

“I’m always quite a bit rowdy. I'm always a little too loud and a little too rowdy, but I have never had -- I've never gotten in trouble for it in my life,” Ruffin griped to The View.

Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin refused to actually bring up Ruffin’s literally dehumanizing rhetoric. Instead, Farah Griffin gushed about Ruffin having her on her CNN show: “You would have no doubt been hilarious. You were so funny and I had gotten to be on Have I got News for You recently and you were just a joy. You are a funny gal.”

Yup, no conflict of interest there.

Farah Griffin went on play mediator between Ruffin and the White House Correspondents Association, arguing that they needed to ditch her act out of a sense of self-preservation against Trump’s ire, which Ruffin agreed:

FARAH GRIFFIN: So, I’ll say this, you did not mince words in the interview you gave with The Daily Beast and the counterpoint would basically be that journalists are under attack right now. This administration has been penalizing them and having them audience to you after those remarks could put them more in the crosshairs. What would you say to that?

RUFFIN: Absolutely. And that makes me think, like, ‘what if I had gone on White House Correspondents Dinner, what if I had said all kinds of wild things, and then what if the press pool for the White House shrank even more? Like, that would have put us all in danger. Like I want as many people in there as possible.

“We need the press now more than ever,” Ruffin declared.

Further in the interview, Ruffin dove off the deep end into the conspiracy theory pool by suggesting the Trump administration was “disappearing” the “people who we know and love, our neighbors,” of which she was describing the deportation of illegal immigrants.

She took the crazy to the next level by suggesting that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Department of Health and Human Services were going to start abducting autistic children:

I'm terrified for our autistic family members because didn't RFK Jr. say registry? … Oh, my gosh! You know, so, look, I'm like everybody else waking up in the middle of the night going, ‘the children!’ and I don't have any.

Of course, the ABC News hosts gave her insanity credence and didn’t provide a legal note.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

ABC’s The View
April 30, 2025
11:25:42 a.m. Eastern

(…)

AMBER RUFFIN: But they were, like, ‘Look, you were running your mouth in these streets and now you can't host the White House Correspondents' Dinner.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, no, you know, this is horrible. I was running my mouth and I was being careless.’ And then as the day went on, people were, like, ‘your free speech has been revoked! How dare they!’ I was like, ‘Oh, my god, that's right! I do have free speech. I am allowed free speech!’

JOY BEHAR: It’s also the Job of the comedian to run our mouths. That's the job.

RUFFIN: Yeah. Yeah.

SARA HAINES: Joy does every day.

BEHAR: Exactly. We’ll continue to.

SUNNY HOSTIN: And to poke fun at the establishment and make people laugh.

RUFFIN: I’m always quite a bit rowdy. I'm always a little too loud and a little too rowdy, but I have never had -- I've never gotten in trouble for it in my life. Now, I should have –

BEHAR: Did they go over your material before they canned you?

RUFFIN: No, but, girl. So, if they -- if not then, then right before. Cause I would have been like ‘put this in the teleprompter’ and they would have been like, ‘absolutely not.’ [Mimes putting on a hat want walking away] Good day.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: You would have no doubt been hilarious. You were so funny and I had gotten to be on Have I got News for You recently and you were just a joy. You are a funny gal.

So, I’ll say this, you did not mince words in the interview you gave with The Daily Beast and the counterpoint would basically be that journalists are under attack right now. This administration has been penalizing them and having them audience to you after those remarks could put them more in the crosshairs. What would you say to that?

RUFFIN: Absolutely. And that makes me think, like, ‘what if I had gone on White House Correspondents Dinner, what if I had said all kinds of wild things, and then what if the press pool for the White House shrank even more? Like, that would have put us all in danger. Like I want as many people in there as possible. So that there can be, you know --

HAINES: Witnesses?

RUFFIN: [Laughter] As many witnesses as we can have, because they're really trying it. Every sentence they say has to be fact-checked and got four lies in it. So yeah, we need – we need the press now more than ever.

BEHAR: It’s funny how Biden was never this paranoid about anything, if you noticed. We never had this problem before and Obama too and the rest of them. Even George Washington, who I dated.

(…)

11:28:48 a.m. Eastern

RUFFIN: I'm black, I'm terrified. I'm scared for my trans friends and people who we know and love, our neighbors are disappeared. And that was the goal and he did it. He did it. He did exactly what he wanted to do because I -- You know feel less welcome in my home than I did, you know, last year, and that's the goal. That was the goal.

HAINES: Yeah.

RUFFIN: This feeling in us is the point.

BEHAR: Do you think the American people go along with that? Do they want people to be disappeared, as they say.

HOSTIN: Did they get what they voted for?

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: They do now.

RUFFIN: You know, I do -- people are like, ‘ha, ha, ha, isn't this funny? You voted for Trump and you lost your job, ha ,ha, ha!”

BEHAR: It’s not funny.

RUFFIN: And I'm like, did they -- what was the math there? Because if I'm talking trash about immigrants, and then I'm disappearing them, [puts on a mocking voice] what did you think I was going to do?! You know, what I'm saying?

I'm terrified for our autistic family members because didn't RFK Jr. say registry?

BEHAR: Yeah.

HOSTIN: Yeah.

GOLDBEGR: Mhmm.

RUFFIN: Oh, my gosh! You know, so, look, I'm like everybody else waking up in the middle of the night going, ‘the children!’ and I don't have any.

BEHAR: That’s right.

(…)

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MSNBC Ties Trump's Push for More Kids to 'White Supremacy'

Brad Wilmouth — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 19:03:22 +0000

MSNBC Ties Trump's Push for More Kids to 'White Supremacy'

On his eponymous Sunday evening show, MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin presided over a panel of liberals who tried to link the conservative push for Americans to have more children to "white supremacy" and Adolf Hitler, and rejoiced over "very old white" Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) being yelled at in his home state.

After playing a clip of Senator Grassley at a townhall meeting in Iowa with a member of the audience shouting at him, Mohyeldin wondered why Republicans are willing to keep doing townhalls, Jenny Hagel, who writes for The Late Show with Seth Meyers, took a shot the Iowa Republican for being white: "I think it's hubris. I mean, I think if it's if you are used to being in control for so long both as a party -- and then Chuck Grassley is just a very old white man. I don't think he's ever walked into a room and not had it go his way."

Clearly, she's ignored Senator Grassley trying to get the media to take the Biden family scandals seriously. After Mohyeldin began laughing, she continued:

JENNY HAGEL, WRITER FOR NBC'S THE LATE SHOW WITH SETH MEYERS: So, like, I think you just don't think -- you're, like, "Well, they're mad at the other people, but they won't be mad at me."

MOHYELDIN: Yeah, exactly.

HAGEL: "I'm an old white guy named Chuck. The world was built for me." And I think you can see there's another clip that I saw of the same townhall where you can see the look on his face where he looks so shocked and this woman is yelling. I'm like, yeah, he's never -- "I don't think anybody has ever yelled at you."

MOHYELDIN: Yeah, right.

Later on, during a discussion of the possibility that President Donald Trump will try to offer incentives to get more women to become mothers to increase the nation's birth rate, Mohyeldin suggested that it would be ironic because "this is an administration that has launched both a war against women and a war on children." Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell tied "white supremacy" into the drive, garnering agreement from the MSNBC host:

RAMPELL: Well, there is this weird, culty pro-natalist community that wants to marry encouraging more women -- specifically, more white women -- to have babies and also downplay their career ambitions and various other things. So there's, like, some other patriarchal white supremacist stuff mixed into all of this --

MOHYELDIN: Yeah.

RAMPBELL: -- in addition to, you know, actual real concerns that some of us have about building the infrastructure so people can have the number of children that they want and so that they're not drowning when they have children so that they have child care -- so that their kids have adequate nutrition and all of the other support systems they need. This is not what this is about. You know, they don't, like, I remember a debate a few years ago about "Well, we can't just use," you know, immigrants, for example, have more children on average than native-born Americans, and -- but those brown babies --

MOHYELDIN: Yeah, "We don't want those babies."

RAMPELL: "We don't want the brown and, you know, the brown babies."

And, as the group invoked authoritarian leaders who have pushed to increase birth rates, comedian W. Kamau Bell -- who used to be a CNN host -- played the Hitler card:

BELL: The thing I really think about is the right often gets mad when Trump is compared to Hitler. Then I would say, "Have him stop doing Hitler things."

MOHYELDIN (laughing): Right.

BELL: If you don't want him to be compared to Hitler, maybe he should stop doing Hitler things. Maybe Elon Musk -- his friend -- should stop doing Hitler things if they don't want to be compared to Hitler. And, of course, I'm referring to the Nazi salute he did -- the two of them. So, yeah, this is awful although my wife has three -- she gave birth to three daughters, so does she get half a medal?

Transcript follows:

MSNBC's Ayman

April 27, 2025

8:32 p.m. Eastern

AYMAN MOHYELDIN: Kamau, do these townhalls -- do they matter? Or are we making too much of a big deal about them? Is the core support of the Republican party still unbothered by the cruelty of deportations, the destruction of our federal government, the cancellation of, you know, virus detectors, only to bring them back and say, "Oh, oh, you know, we're fighting disease -- oh, no, actually, no, we made that mistake, and now we're going to bring them back."

W. KAMAU BELL, COMEDIAN: No, I think I'm different than you. I do celebrate the townhall meetings where people are yelling at the Senators, you know. I never thought I'd be on the side of a 91-year-old man and people yelling at a 91-year-old man and be on the side of the people yelling at the 91-year-old man. (Mohyeldin laughs) But I'm on the side of the people yelling at the 91-year-old man.

MOHYELDIN: I will say, in my defense, "I am for that" -- I meant for the constituents fighting against each other. I am all for screaming at American politicians regardless of their age -- regardless of their age -- but I definitely -- I just meant seeing constituents yelling at each other when they're saying to each other, "Shut up and sit down." That's a little bit discouraging, I would say.

BELL: Yeah, but, ah, yes, but I do think that these townhalls matter. I think it matters that the Republicans are telling each other not to have townhalls. I think it matters that, like, even with Chuck Grassley -- who's seen as sort of this innocuous figure because he's an old man -- that those people who normally would not yell at a 91-year-old man are like, "No, no, no, I have to yell at you," you know. So I think these are a big deal.

MOHYELDIN: Why are they doing it? Why are they doing these townhalls? I mean, why -- they know that they're going to descend into this kind of chaos and -- and some of them have actually tried to avoid them. There have been, you know, Republicans, to be fair, in the House, who are dodging their constituents -- avoiding the whole townhalls because they don't want to feel that wrath or that heat that's coming at them?

JENNY HAGEL, WRITER FOR LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS: I think it's hubris. I mean, I think if it's if you are used to being in control for so long both as a party -- and then Chuck Grassley is just a very old white man. I don't think he's ever walked into a room and not had it go his way. (Mohyeldin laughs) So, like, I think you just don't think -- you're, like, "Well, they're mad at the other people, but they won't be mad at me."

MOHYELDIN: Yeah, exactly.

HAGEL: "I'm an old white guy named Chuck. The world was built for me." And I think you can see there's another clip that I saw of the same townhall where you can see the look on his face where he looks so shocked and this woman is yelling. I'm like, yeah, he's never -- "I don't think anybody has ever yelled at you."

MOHYELDIN: Yeah, right.

HAGEL: Certainly not a woman. "I don't think you knew women were allowed to yell." So I think it's just -- I think they haven't adjusted to the current world order.

(...)

8:40 p.m.

MOHYELDIN: The Trump administration is beyond just giving out medals to mothers -- is apparently considering giving $5,000 as bonuses -- you know, kind of like an end-of-year bonus. This one is a $5,000 per child bonus to mothers after delivery. And it may not seem like much, but -- and especially when you think about the fact that this is an administration that has launched both a war against women and a war on children.

(...)

MOHYELDIN: I mean, the conservative pro-natalists, you know, they're taking this basically from authoritarian regimes around the world that we have seen in previous decades. And yet here it is, you know, to Catherine's point, it can be a legitimate issue. It is a legitimate issue to try to address this societal phenomenon. But, at the same time, the way they're going about it is, I would argue, disrespectful, shallow --

CATHERINE RAMPELL, THE WASHINGTON POST: Gross.

MOHYELDIN: Gross and meaningless.

BELL: Yeah, I would say all those things -- the thing I really think about is the right often gets mad when Trump is compared to Hitler. Then I would say, "Have him stop doing Hitler things."

MOHYELDIN (laughing): Right.

BELL: If you don't want him to be compared to Hitler, maybe he should stop doing Hitler things. Maybe Elon Musk -- his friend -- should stop doing Hitler things if they don't want to be compared to Hitler. And, of course, I'm referring to the Nazi salute he did -- the two of them. So, yeah, this is awful although my wife has three -- she gave birth to three daughters, so does she get half a medal? I'm just wondering how that works. But, yeah, this is awful.

(...)

MOHYELDIN: There could be real objectives, but the approach makes you wonder what is this administration's real motivation behind this. ... But why are they doing this, Catherine? It doesn't make sense -- like, why?

RAMPELL: Well, there is this weird, culty pro-natalist community that wants to marry encouraging more women -- specifically, more white women -- to have babies and also downplay their career ambitions and various other things. So there's, like, some other patriarchal white supremacist stuff mixed into all of this --

MOHYELDIN: Yeah.

RAMPBELL: -- in addition to, you know, actual real concerns that some of us have about building the infrastructure so people can have the number of children that they want and so that they're not drowning when they have children so that they have child care -- so that their kids have adequate nutrition and all of the other support systems they need. This is not what this is about. You know, they don't, like, I remember a debate a few years ago about "Well, we can't just use," you know, immigrants, for example, have more children on average than native-born Americans, and -- but those brown babies --

MOHYELDIN: Yeah, "We don't want those babies."

RAMPELL: "We don't want the brown and, you know, the brown babies."

HAGEL: They don't want you to have children -- they want you to have voters.

MOHYELDIN: Right.

HAGEL: They want you to have potential Republican voters.

RAMPELL: There was this line -- I forget who came up with it -- but it was like, "Those are other people's babies." And it's like, no, they're American babies. If they're born on American soil, they're American babies. So, at the same time that they are encouraging. So, at the same time that they are encouraging, you know, these sort of like weird, culty, Ann of Green Gables-dressed people to like -- I'm serious, you should look at the photos of like the spokespeople of this movement. At the same time that they are encouraging those people to have more babies, they're taking away -- they're trying to take away birthright citizenship from the children of immigrants, and they're trying to, you know, I mean, otherwise tormenting immigrant children in general.

Brad Wilmouth Wed, 04/30/2025 - 15:03

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CNN’s Scott Jennings Speaks at Trump Rally, Cracks Joke About Owning the Libs

Curtis Houck — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 17:50:00 +0000

CNN’s Scott Jennings Speaks at Trump Rally, Cracks Joke About Owning the Libs

After having flown to Michigan on Air Force One and weighed in prior to and during President Trump’s rally marking 100 days in office, CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings briefly took the stage with the President as he was thanked for “defending me all the time on CNN” and being a “really great” and “terrific” person.

Jennings made it count, joking about needing to buy a farm in the Wolverine State since he “own[s]” so “many libs.”

While some might say it’s been a meteoric rise for Jennings, he’s really been at this on CNN since 2017 and the first Trump administration, not afraid to tell the truth and bring a sorely underrepresented view of mainstream America to the network of corporate liberals.

Jennings was brief, but deadly: “Thank you. Michigan, we were flying in here today, and I said, look at these farms. I got to get a farm in Michigan, because when you own as many libs as I do, you got to put a place to put them all. Thank you all very much.”

Cue the race hustlers in the liberal media to extrapolate something out of that hilarious one-liner.

As for how Jennings ended up there, Trump had been running through a list of some top advisers when he pivoted to Jennings, telling the thousands assembled in Warren, Michigan that “we have a man here that, I don’t know, but he’s defending me all the time on CNN, and he defends me really well, but he can’t go too far, because if he goes too far, he’ll get fired.”

“I said, you’re amazing. You can take it right to the edge, and he really does a good job. He’s not allowed to go any further. He would be off. You know, he really went totally crazy, which he’d like to do. But I think he’s terrific. Scott Jennings,” Trump continued and then inviting him on-stage.

Despite any apprehension he had, Trump quipped as Jennings approached the podium with the presidential seal: “Come here, Scott. Oh. CNN, this is the end of Scott. Who cares? Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you, Scott. Scott Jennings, he’s really great.”

To see the relevant transcript from the April 29 Trump rally, click “expand.”

Trump rally [via FNC’s The Ingraham Angle]
April 29, 2025
7:05 p.m. Eastern

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And, you know, we have a man here that, I don’t know, but he’s defending me all the time on CNN, and he defends me really well, but he can’t go too far, because if he goes too far, he’ll get fired. I said, you’re amazing. You can take it right to the edge, and he really does a good job. He’s not allowed to go any further. He would be off. You know, he really went totally crazy, which he’d like to do. But I think he’s terrific. Scott Jennings. Where is Scott? Where are you, Scott? Come here, Scott. This guy, really, I’ve watched it for years, I don’t know, but he likes Trump. Come here, Scott. Oh. CNN, this is the end of Scott. Who cares? Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you, Scott. Scott Jennings, he’s really great.

SCOTT JENNINGS: Thank you. Michigan, we were flying in here today, and I said, look at these farms. I got to get a farm in Michigan, because when you own as many libs as I do, you got to put a place to put them all. Thank you all very much.

TRUMP: Thank you, Scott.

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CNN Host, Cancelled WHCD Comedian Calls It 'Dangerous' To Roast Both Sides

Alex Christy — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 17:21:00 +0000

CNN Host, Cancelled WHCD Comedian Calls It 'Dangerous' To Roast Both Sides

NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers writer, CNN host, and cancelled White House Correspondents’ Dinner comedian Amber Ruffin travelled across town to CBS and The Late Show to join host Stephen Colbert to claim “it would be impossible to make jokes about both sides” and even “dangerous.”

Colbert set the table, “This past weekend was the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Some people may know that you were supposed to perform, but then four weeks out, they disinvited you, which might be cooler than being invited, actually. What happened?”

What happened was Ruffin called the Trump Administration “a bunch of murderers,” but she claimed, “You ain't never going to believe this. So, I had said that it would be impossible to, you know, make jokes about both sides. You know, because we’re at a point now where one side is snatching people up off the street and putting them on a plane and the other side is, you know, not doing that. So, I just thought it would be impossible to make jokes about both sides, and it’s also a little dangerous.”

Colbert likely agrees. In 2024, Colbert told 82 percent of his jokes about conservatives. Rufin's boss, Seth Meyers, told 85 percent.

Of course, one could reverse the roles. Since the WHCD is the media’s ode to itself, you could say one side is writing puff pieces about Hamas supporters “and the other side is, you know, not doing that.”

Colbert, however, was not interested in that, “Were they familiar with your material before they asked you?”

Ruffin didn’t really answer the question, “I'm saying! So, also, thank you for having me here because I didn't do the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Yay. I thought I was going to be here talking about some ‘oh, yeah, I did such a good job’ or ‘well, it's a tough house,’ like, one of those two. I didn't think I'd be here going, ‘Yeah, well, my big mouth got me in trouble.’”

Sticking with the idea, Colbert wondered, “Were you disappointed to be canceled or kind of relieved?”

Ruffin then teased what might have been, “I was really, really sad for, like, two hours. But then I had a brunch. So, then I felt great. That is true, but I thought if they didn't want me doing that show before I had even opened my mouth, then they would have been really, really sad with what they got… and then also after they fired me, I looked back at my Google doc and was like, ‘this would have been bad.’ They would not have liked it.”

Intrigued, Colbert tried to get Ruffin to provide some examples, “Are there any jokes that you were so looking forward to that you might be willing to share with us right now?”

After Ruffin replied, “Absolutely not,” Colbert quipped, “Are your immigration papers not in order?”

That got Ruffin to provide a little peek at what would have been, “But no, I was going to end it with like, this administration is trying to get you to hate other people, and that's not your natural state. Human beings are made to love one another. Blah, blah, blah. But I mean, it's true. And they got you by convincing you that you are filled with hate and you absolutely aren't. It's the opposite of what you're made for. And saying that out loud now makes me glad that I got canceled.”

What about people who lie about other people being racist? Are they “trying to get you to hate other people”?

Here is a transcript for the April 29-taped show:

CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

4/30/2025

12:17 AM ET

STEPHEN COLBERT: This past weekend was the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

AMBER RUFFIN: That’s right.

COLBERT: Some people may know that you were supposed to perform—

RUFFIN: That’s right.

COLBERT: -- but then four weeks out, they disinvited you—

RUFFIN: Yes.

COLBERT: -- which might be cooler than being invited, actually. What happened?

RUFFIN: You ain't never going to believe this. So, I had said that it would be impossible to, you know, make jokes about both sides. You know, because we’re at a point now where one side is snatching people up off the street and putting them on a plane and the other side is, you know, not doing that. So, I just thought it would be impossible to make jokes about both side,s and it’s also a little dangerous.

COLBERT: Were they familiar with your material before they asked you?

RUFFIN: I'm saying! So, also, thank you for having me here because I didn't do the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Yay. I thought I was going to be here talking about some “oh, yeah, I did such a good job” or “well, it's a tough house,” like, one of those two.

COLBERT: Yeah, yeah.

RUFFIN: I didn't think I'd be here going, “yeah, well, my big mouth got me in trouble.”

COLBERT: Yeah, well, even if you do a good job, it's a tough house.

RUFFIN: Yeah.

COLBERT: That's the thing. Were you disappointed to be canceled or kind of relieved?

RUFFIN: Right. I was really, really sad for, like two hours. But then I had a brunch. So, then I felt great. That is true, but I thought if they didn't want me doing that show before I had even opened my mouth, then they would have been really, really sad with what they got.

COLBERT: Out of your mouth.

RUFFIN: Yeah. And then also after they fired me, I looked back at my Google doc and was like, “this would have been bad.” They would not have liked it.

COLBERT: Are there any jokes that you were so looking forward to that you might be willing to share with us right now?

RUFFIN: Absolutely not.

COLBERT: Why? Are your immigration papers not in order?

RUFFIN: But no, I was going to end it with like, this administration is trying to get you to hate other people, and that's not your natural state. Human beings are made to love one another. Blah, blah, blah. But I mean, it's true. And they got you by convincing you that you are filled with hate and you absolutely aren't. It's the opposite of what you're made for. And saying that out loud now makes me glad that I got canceled.

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Fox in Henhouse? GOP Chairwoman Partners with Google, Receives Praise

Tom Olohan — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 16:32:44 +0000

Fox in Henhouse? GOP Chairwoman Partners with Google, Receives Praise

A Punchbowl News “fireside chat” with a key Big Tech executive turned out to be an effective commercial for the most biased titan in the industry: Google.

Punchbowl News featured Google Vice President Lisa Gevelber, founder of “Grow with Google,” and Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) in a Tuesday event on “Advancing with AI.” Stunningly, neither Punchbowl News nor Rep. Lee—who is the chair of the Subcommittee on Elections—levied any harsh criticism of the election-interfering behemoth that also controls YouTube, Chrome, Gemini and Android. Instead, the participants treated Google with kid gloves. When Punchbowl News Founder and CEO Anna Palmer asked Lee what artificial intelligence (AI) regulations Congress should prioritize, the congresswoman’s response sounded like a Google talking point.

[Story Continues on MRC Free Speech America]

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Chuck Todd Claims Media ‘Are Not Elites at All,’ Bashes Press Criticism as ‘Biased’

Curtis Houck — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 15:29:00 +0000

Chuck Todd Claims Media ‘Are Not Elites at All,’ Bashes Press Criticism as ‘Biased’

Along with his viral comments on Chris Cillizza’s podcast defending the liberal media’s cover-up of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, former Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd used the Monday episode of his own podcast to claim “most people in the press are not elites at all” and deride press criticism as “insult[ing]” and “biased” in and of itself that should be dismissed.

Todd first addressed the White House Correspondents Dinners (WHCD) weekend, calling it “awkward weekend for a number of reasons” and most notably “the Trump administration trying to — trying to exploit the weekend” and “desperate to try to make the media look like they’re part of the opposition with the Democratic Party.”

Fact-check, Chuck: True. Why? It’s because they are.

He went on with more derision of media criticism (which one could extrapolate to include what we do here at NewsBusters). After whining “[t]his has been a campaign tactic of Donald Trump and his aggressive right-wing for some time,” Todd uncorked a silly take about how you shouldn’t trust anyone who calls the media biased:

As those who’ve watched Todd for years, he predictably made a few points more people outside his liberal base could agree with:

But the other awkward aspect of the White House Correspondents weekend. He said it’s always felt out of touch, right? Here we are with an economy that is not just slowing down, it may turn into a recession, and here’s the Washington press corps hobnobbing with as many elites as they could convince to come to the dinner in black tie. It — it is an awkward look, at best. I do think that the Washington press corps should be able to celebrate itself every year, but maybe there’s a better way to do this. Does it have to be black tie and elites? Can it be something different, you know, can it be something a bit more open to the people? Who knows. But there’s, I think celebrating journalism, celebrating those that are doing it right, is a good thing.

But again, it was short-lived as he went back to a mind-numbingly tone-deaf take about the press.

Instead of admitting the Washington press’s disconnect from real America is a problem, Todd’s focus was changing the WHCD because it “makes it easy to weaponize sort of elitism against the press, which is something we ought to fight against[.]”

Then came the laugh-out-loud claim that, if one were to just think of national reporters, is pants-on-fire false:

Later in the show, he had an interesting exchange with beloved liberal media darling, Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY). As Todd argued the attorney general pick needs to become more independent of the president that appoints them, Goldman remarked how, prior to Trump (in his worldview), “[t]he idea that a president does not weigh in on any individual prosecutions was a norm created after Watergate, especially, but even prior to that — that was just accepted.”

Todd interjected to further this lament, saying “we in the media enforced it when Barack Obama rolled his eyes at the emails with Hillary Clinton” and proclaimed “[i]t was we in the press that said, hey, you’re putting your finger — are you putting your finger on the scale while your Justice Department’s doing that” and forced him to “back off.”

Much of the podcast, however, was an interview with Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman. It included a fascinating exchange about the widespread drying up of local media (which Todd is hoping to recruit investors to fund).

Wasserman also seemed to admit the far-left base forced the national media’s hand by nationalizing every last special election (click “expand”):

TODD: I mean, is this really like we have — how much do you think we’ve mainstreamed interest in political handicapping?

WASSERMAN: It’s amazing to me, Chuck. Like, as a 13 year old kid who was getting into this stuff and, you know, living in the Jersey suburbs, and I would read the Almanac of American Politics at the library cause I couldn’t check out reference books. But and you know, I’d watch Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff and Bernard Shaw. Back then, it was inconceivable that a special election night would get wall-to-wall coverage for, for a House race, right? And I think beginning with Jon Ossoff in 2017 and that obsession once Trump got in power, Democrats just, you know, they — their enthusiasm among the donor class and the activist class went through the roof. What can we do to stop this? And it all funneled into things that ordinarily wouldn’t be all that earth shaking —

TODD: Right.

WASSERMAN: — and suddenly they became these shiny objects and so, now you’ve got a lot of — a lot of teenagers who, you know, at the age I was when I was first getting into this, they’re, they’re following this in a — in a pretty obsessive way. What we’ve lost is a lot of the local news component to it. I mean [inaudible]

TODD: No, I mean, this is obviously — you know this is my obsession.

WASSERMAN: Right.

TODD: And you know, I, I think about the Hotline, and you — you know, back when I was there, and I don’t know what we would have done if there had been no local political journalists.

WASSERMAN: That’s right. right, because we’re getting all these clips, and now where are we really getting our clips from? It’s from press releases, it’s from the party committees, to some extent. There is some, you know, regional reporting left that’s got its ear to the ground —

TODD: You have to do your own to the ground. I mean, that’s what — that’s what I had to transition the hotline to, you know?

WASSERMAN: That’s right. And, and these days it really is about building those connections with the general consultants —

TODD: Right.

WASSERMAN: — for the campaigns to get a sense of — of what is happening because there, you know, there are fewer intermediaries and — and you got to follow everyone’s social media too, and try — and try and unspin it. You gotta build the relationships with the pollsters who are covering or working on a wide variety of these campaigns with the general consultants with a lot of operatives who know their states well —

TODD: Right.

WASSERMAN: — because there are fewer media intermediaries than there used to be. And I think a lot of the statehouse startups and — and the kinds of things that you’re working on and passionate about have potential to — to be similar to what we used to have, but they’re, they’re gonna look a lot different.

To see the relevant transcript from The Chuck Toddcast on April 28, click here.

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NPR Whitewashes Pro-Hamas Organizer: 'Very Vocal Opposition to Antisemitism'

Clay Waters — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 14:16:21 +0000

NPR Whitewashes Pro-Hamas Organizer: 'Very Vocal Opposition to Antisemitism'

National Public Radio has a dubious scoop -- the first interview of Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, who has helped lead the pro-Hamas protest movement on campus that cropped up after Hamas massacred and kidnapped hundreds of Israeli citizens in October 2023. Mahdawi has been detained by the government at an immigration office in Vermont and is now under threat of deportation.

NPR left a lot out its fawning online report, credited to Leila Fadel, Jan Johnson and Kaity Kline for Tuesday’s Morning Edition program. The text of the 11-minute radio segment, “Detained on verge of U.S. citizenship, Mohsen Mahdawi speaks from Vermont prison” skipped unflattering facts about Mahdawi gathered by The Washington Free Beacon:

The Beacon emphasized Mahdawi “led a coalition of anti-Israel groups and endorsed the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack,” and who “has also said he ‘can empathize’ with Hamas over the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 slaughter and has publicly called for the destruction of Israel.” (More on Mahdawi’s history of pushing violence against Jews here.)

Instead, NPR led with Mahdawi (whom they claimed is "very vocal in his opposition to antisemitism") as the purported peacemaker.

The April 14 detention of Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi was caught on video as he flashed a peace sign while being taken from an immigration office in Colchester, Vt. He told NPR's Morning Edition he'd arrived thinking an interview there would be his final step to becoming a U.S. citizen after 10 years of living and learning in the United States.

Instead, after sitting for a naturalization interview and signing a document pledging allegiance to the U.S. and to protecting and defending the Constitution, he was arrested by masked agents in Homeland Security jackets.

NPR threw in the detail of how “he had been meditating to find calm, as he does every day” (hey, he was even president of the Columbia University Buddhist Association, can't get any more peaceful than that!).

Monday's court filing did not provide any evidence of the accusations against Mahdawi in the letter, including those of threatening rhetoric and intimidation of pro-Israeli bystanders….In response to the court filings, Mahdawi's lawyer, Luna Droubi, said the accusations in the letter are "completely false." Mahdawi has been very vocal in his opposition to antisemitism.

Has he now? Funny way of showing it.

This subhead introduced one of the interview segments: "On his confidence that justice will prevail." Ugh. NPR also felt the need to clarify, but not deny, Mahdawi's phony “genocide” charge against Israel he made during the interview.

Note: Mahdawi calls what is happening in Gaza a genocide. It's also what Israeli and international human rights groups like B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, and Amnesty International have deemed Israel's response in Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel. The 2023 assault killed nearly 1,200 people and Hamas took 251 hostages, according to the Israeli government. Israel denies the accusation of genocide.

NPR had the gall to hold up a figure who led Jew-harassing groups on campus as a passionate defender of civil liberties.

Before coming to this country, freedom was just a concept. But the actual experience of freedom of movement to travel among 50 states, freedom to breathe the breeze of the ocean, and to feel your toes in the sand. This is the first place I have experienced this freedom of speech where I will not be actually retaliated against or punished for saying my mind.

NPR’s “Up First” email deceitfully reduced Mahdawi’s situation to benign advocacy.

...The Trump administration is trying to deport them for advocating on behalf of Palestinian rights amid the Israel-Hamas war….

P.S. Hat tip to Ben Shapiro for pointing to this April 16 New York Times headline over a Mahdawi profile: “He Wanted Peace in the Middle East. ICE Wants to Deport Him.”

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NPR CEO Claims They Are 'Foundational Infrastructure For Our Country'

Alex Christy — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 13:48:00 +0000

NPR CEO Claims They Are 'Foundational Infrastructure For Our Country'

NPR CEO Katherine Maher traveled over to Comedy Central and The Daily Show on Tuesday to ring the alarm bells over what could happen should NPR lose its federal money. Maher painted a nightmarish scenario where people go without news, Sesame Street gets shut down, and political polarization increases because, according to her, public media is the “foundational infrastructure” that holds the country together.

Host Jordan Klepper began by wondering, “The criticism from the right is, what do we need public funds to go towards NPR for? What is that argument? People are getting their news from all sorts of people. Most people get their news from the TikTok feed from their neighbor. So, why do they need their taxes to go to a place like NPR?”

Maher began her defense by claiming those TikTokers need to get their news from somewhere, so it might as well be them, “I have no problem with TikTok influencers or other people resharing that news. I think that’s actually great. But we want them to have credible sources of news to begin with to be able to base that work on.”

She also doom-mongered, “I think the biggest misconception is that this money goes to NPR or to PBS. The reality is the vast majority of funds in public broadcasting resources go directly to local stations. We covered 99.7 percent of the country with our broadcast coverage, and that allows for Americans to have access to news even in places where news deserts are growing, where disasters happen. That's what your federal funds go to; they go to your local station. They go to your local reporters.”

Klepper then asked, “So, what does that look like? So, I mean, the threat right now is, they take a billion dollars away from NPR, PBS over the next couple of years, correct?... They take a billion dollars away, what happens?”

Maher’s habit of talking about another other than NPR’s actual news operation continued as she urged people to consider the children, “It's not great. I think Americans need to be aware that it is going to be harmful to the system, right? A lot of us probably grew up on kids' television, PBS Kids. I mean, it is a crown jewel of American public broadcasting programming, and whether you think about, you know, your history with Mr. Rogers, whether you’re thinking about Sesame Street, whether you’re thinking about more contemporary programming, that is so important.”

Returning to the idea of local news, Maher added:

When you think about your local radio stations, those may not be able to provide the same sorts of services, and the first thing that will go, I have to tell you, is local reporters' jobs. We have news deserts. Twenty percent of Americans live in a place where they have no local news coverage other than public radio. We know that the existence of local news and public news in particular contributes to lower rates of polarization, higher rates of civic engagement, and higher rates of civic trust. This is foundational infrastructure for our country, even when we disagree, this is the sort of thing that can start to peel some of these disagreements and bring us together.

It was Klepper who first approached the topic of NPR’s actual content and the real reason for the current controversy, “I don't see a situation where there is an articulation of, like, a fairness that both sides can agree upon. The right asks you to be less progressive or less liberally biased, but I think any actions towards that will be seen as strict capitulation from the left. Is that where you are at?”

Maher saw nothing wrong with NRP’s current state of affairs, “what I love about our mission and mandate is that it's actually our responsibility to strive to serve everyone. No other commercial media organization has that mandate. They can hyperserve a particular audience, and that contributes to polarization. It’s actually our job to bring folks together.”

As for criticisms that NPR is too woke, Maher essentially told people to get over it:

What I do think is that we’re missing some voices, and so I would take this opportunity to extend again an invitation to conservative voices who feel like they are not being heard. I think that we can't shirk from our responsibility to serve all Americans. And so another criticism that we see is that, you know, we are too woke. The reality is, this is a very diverse nation, and our mandate on the public broadcasting act is to serve everyone, including the unserved and underserved, and we can't pull away from that either. We have to be able to represent America in all of its diversity, even when that makes us sometimes uncomfortable. That means expanding the tent to be as big a tent as possible rather than, sort of, moving the tent around the country to accommodate different groups.

Moving the tent around the country is exactly what NPR does now. If public radio really is the only way 20 percent of Americans can get their news in the internet age, then their state governments could pick up the bill. There is no reason why everyone else should have their tax dollars go to defend looting.

Sign the petition to help us defund another MSNBC in PBS and NPR at defundpbsnpr.org.

Here is a transcript for the April 29 show:

Comedy Central The Daily Show

4/29/2025

11:24 PM ET

JORDAN KLEPPER: NPR, PBS is often -- it's part of the conversation. I think there has been a lot of push for many, many years to take funding away, but in, like, in 2025, the criticism from the right is, what do we need public funds to go towards NPR for? What is that argument? People are getting their news from all sorts of people. Most people get their news from the TikTok feed from their neighbor. So, why do they need their taxes to go to a place like NPR?

KATHERINE MAHER: Well, there's also a very big difference between disseminating the news and gathering news and what we do newsgathering. It allows for people to come in and add their spin and their commentary on it.

So, I have no problem with TikTok influencers or other people resharing that news. I think that’s actually great. But we want them to have credible sources of news to begin with to be able to base that work on.

But more importantly, I think the biggest misconception is that this money goes to NPR or to PBS. The reality is the vast majority of funds in public broadcasting resources go directly to local stations. We covered 99.7 percent of the country with our broadcast coverage and that allows for Americans to have access to news even in places where news deserts are growing, where disasters happen. That's what your federal funds go to; they go to your local station. They go to your local reporters.

KLEPPER: So, what does that look like? So, I mean, the threat right now is, they take a billion dollars away from NPR, PBS over the next couple of years, correct?

MAHER: Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NPR, PBS, and all of public media.

KLEPPER: What does that look like if that goes through—

MAHER: Yeah.

KLEPPER: They take a billion dollars away, what happens?

MAHER: It's not great. I think Americans need to be aware that it is going to be harmful to the system, right? A lot of us probably grew up on kids' television, PBS Kids. I mean, it is a crown jewel of American public broadcasting programming. and whether you think about, you know, your history with Mr. Rogers, whether you’re thinking about Sesame Street, whether you’re thinking about more contemporary programming, that is so important.

And that is a threat, under threat. When you think about your local radio stations, those may not be able to provide the same sorts of services, and the first thing that will go, I have to tell you, is local reporters' jobs. We have news deserts. Twenty of Americans live in a place where they have no local news coverage other than public radio. We know that the existence of local news and public news in particular contributes to lower rates of polarization, higher rates of civic engagement, and higher rates of civic trust. This is foundational infrastructure for our country, even when we disagree, this is the sort of thing that can start to peel some of these disagreements and bring us together.

KLEPPER: Now, it’s interesting, though. Folks on the right are claiming there's a liberal bias in places like NPR. And we're in a politically charged time and you have to, as the CEO, you have to walk what that line is and appeal to all of America. But I also fear from the left, they feel like moving towards the right looks like capitulation. In some ways, I feel like you are between a rock and a hard place.

How do you balance this? I don't see a situation where there is an articulation of, like, a fairness that both sides can agree upon. The right asks you to be less progressive or less liberally biased, but I think any actions towards that will be seen as strict capitulation from the left. Is that where you are at?

MAHER: I mean, I won't lie. It is—we are always in a tough spot. But what I love about our mission and mandate is that it's actually our responsibility to strive to serve everyone. No other commercial media organization has that mandate. They can hyperserve a particular audience, and that contributes to polarization. It’s actually our job to bring folks together.

What I do think is that we’re missing some voice, and so I would take this opportunity to extend again an invitation to conservative voices who feel like they are not being heard. I think that we can't shirk from our responsibility to serve all Americans. And so another criticism that we see is that, you know, we are too woke. The reality is, this is a very diverse nation, and our mandate on the public broadcasting act is to serve everyone, including the unserved and underserved, and we can't pull away from that either.

We have to be able to represent America in all of its diversity, even when that makes us sometimes uncomfortable. That means expanding the tent to be as big a tent as possible rather than, sort of, moving the tent around the country to accommodate different groups.

Alex Christy Wed, 04/30/2025 - 09:48

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Woke of the Weak: The Law vs. the Legacy Media

Justine Brooke Murray — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 10:55:12 +0000

Woke of the Weak: The Law vs. the Legacy Media

Our legacy media's most elite “journalists” gathered around in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, taking turns wafting the aroma of their own flatulence. Then, they returned to work, protecting alleged gang rapists, murderers and kidnappers in the guise of “objectivity.”

After waging smear campaigns and witch hunts against their ideological opponents for years, our self-appointed network jurors suddenly believe in “due process.”

But only if that means opening our doors wide open for the entire world to flood in with no background check needed and automatically taking their word when they’re caught diddling kids!

Because due process, in the court of Woke, means whatever the left believes is ‘due’ to them, regardless of what actual law says.

I break down the media’s newly discovered term on this episode of “Woke of the Weak.”

Justine Brooke… Wed, 04/30/2025 - 06:55

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Column: Blurring Trump White House Posters Displaying Illegal Immigrant Mugshots

Tim Graham — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:55:47 +0000

Column: Blurring Trump White House Posters Displaying Illegal Immigrant Mugshots

At the 100-day mark, it’s an obvious fact that the border is now secure. Illegal immigration is now a trickle. The network “news” folks hate to mention it. But they are eager to cite polls that find Trump’s immigration approval number is declining. Forget the successes, and drive the notion that he’s losing juice in the polls.

To troll the anti-Trump press, Team Trump put posters on the White House lawn – right behind the camera positions where the White House reporters chat with their anchors – with mugshots of illegal aliens who were arrested (and mostly convicted) of serious crimes, including fentanyl importation and child sexual assault.

The Trump haters responded by blurring the images, out of great sensitivity to the unlikely potential innocence of undocumented criminals. As he began his show The Lead, CNN anchor Jake Tapper opened a bottle of sarcasm about the “full-court press” of Team Trump.

“So they subtly and tastefully deck the White House North Lawn with dozens of yard signs featuring photos of people that the Trump administration claims are in the country illegally,” Tapper cracked. “Each poster saying ‘Arrested’ and listing the alleged offense with which they have been charged. CNN's working to confirm the identities and if there are actual allegations against these people, until then we are blurring their identities.”

Now ask yourself: How many times have Jake Tapper and the CNN Army recently displayed a picture of illegal immigrant Victor Martinez-Hernandez, who was the perpetrator just convicted in a Maryland court of raping and murdering Rachel Morin as she was jogging in 2023? It’s easy to guess. It’s zero. They don’t want to spend any time on that problem.

🚨SERIOUSLY?!

Jake Tapper & CNN blur out the faces of illegal alien violent criminals on their network.

They’re spending more air time protecting the violent criminals than they did mourning the victims of their crimes! pic.twitter.com/pV4RxaMsoq
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 29, 2025

Tapper wasn’t the only lecturer blurring out the Trump posters. On Morning Joe, co-host Jonathan Lemire announced, “The White House has put up about 100 posters of what they say are unauthorized immigrants who have been arrested for violent crimes. You can see them there.” Actually, you can’t see them -- except as a blur.

Lemire lamented their strategic location: “But what's particularly noteworthy about this location is it is right directly behind the positions where TV correspondents do their hits from the White House lawn. So therefore, no matter what network you're on, that includes MSNBC, if you're doing it from the White House right now, those pictures will be behind you.” How dare they!

Notice how the liberals love to couch every Trump claim as “what they say is.” They couldn’t seem to do that for Biden claims, like claiming the Republicans were Jim Crow 2.0.

Then Lemire turned to Maria Teresa Kumar of Voto Latino, who naturally endorsed the blurring, as if she were a journalist and not an activist: “Our job is always to have our true north. To make sure that we're presenting balanced news and in not putting folks…potentially in danger.” Lemire then added: “Well said.”

How is it “balanced news” to blur out the criminal migrants? At MSNBC, “balanced news” is news that opposes Trump in all things.

Other networks blurred the images without a lecture. It happened with CBS reporter Nancy Cordes on CBS Mornings, for one.

These networks have constantly displayed sympathetic pictures over the last few weeks of their deported “Maryland Man” Kilmar Abrego Garcia, smiling with a Chicago Bulls ball cap on his head, because that’s the kind of illegal immigrant they can use to pour out their overflowing “compassion.”

Their televised humanity doesn’t extend to anyone victimized by illegal immigrants. If it’s a Trump talking point, they bury it – like a murdered female jogger.

Tim Graham Wed, 04/30/2025 - 05:55

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CBS’s Trump Derangement Crashout Continues in Catholic Charities Story

Jorge Bonilla — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 05:03:33 +0000

CBS’s Trump Derangement Crashout Continues in Catholic Charities Story

A weird and borderline incoherent introduction to a report on Catholic Charities reveals the extent of CBS’s Trump derangement. Additionally, it displays for all to see the extent to which the former Tiffany Network has been broken by President Donald Trump ahead of a potential settlement with Paramount.

Watch this weird introduction, a random assortment of cheap shots directed at Trump with no relevance to the story:

CBS News has gone Full Resistance. This is their Trump-deranged non sequitur-laden intro to a report on...Catholic Charities. pic.twitter.com/lveypKeLy6
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 30, 2025

MAURICE DuBOIS: Candidate Donald Trump said he would be a dictator, but only on day one of his presidency. Well, now on day 100, he had a different idea. He said he'd like to be pope.

JOHN DICKERSON: That was his joking response when a reporter asked if he had a preference as to who should succeed pope Francis.

DuBOIS: Francis was quite serious when he rebuked the president on more than one occasion over his treatments of migrants. The pope was the biggest champion migrants had on Earth.

Dictator on Day One, the pope joke…it’s a wonder Dickerson and DuBois didn’t unearth the Bloodbath and Very Fine People hoaxes. The introduction apparently served no other purpose than to take shots at Trump- perhaps as filler. Did CBS fire their newsroom writers when Bill Owens resigned? It’s not clear but it sure seems that way.

The self-serving intro did little to advance the actual story: a human-interest piece of an Afghan refugee who came to the United States after the disastrous 2021 pullout, now working at Catholic Charities.

This isn’t to say that the story is perfect. The Afghanistan withdrawal is downplayed, as is the significance of Lampedusa, Italy regarding the migrant invasion of Europe. The American analogue to our own migrant crisis, perhaps: Eagle Pass, Texas.

The story serves a dual purpose: both as an infomercial for Catholic Charities (who also do adoptions but that doesn’t fit with the legacy media’s agenda) and a vehicle with which to extend coverage of the death of Pope Francis between now and the conclave. There are only so many times a network can say “The People’s Pope” before they have to branch out.

Additionally, the story served as a vehicle for the newsroom’s Trump-deranged rebellion against their parent company. The saga continues.

Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the CBS Evening News on Tuesday, April 29th, 2025:

MAURICE DuBOIS: Candidate Donald Trump said he would be a dictator, but only on day one of his presidency. Well, now on day 100, he had a different idea. He said he'd like to be pope.

JOHN DICKERSON: That was his joking response when a reporter asked if he had a preference as to who should succeed pope Francis.

DuBOIS: Francis was quite serious when he rebuked the president on more than one occasion over his treatments of migrants. The pope was the biggest champion migrants had on Earth. Here’s Jason Allen.

JASON ALLEN: Inside his home in Owensboro, Kentucky,...

KHAIBAR SHAFAQ: Good morning!

ALLEN: Khaibar Shafaq is up before sunrise. There is a new baby in the house, three kids to get out the door to school, before he heads into the office. It is a normal American life. Just four years ago, however, Shafaq was among the Afghans fleeing their country as it fell to the Taliban.

What did you have when you arrived here?

SHAFAQ: In Kentucky? No friends. No home. No sense of belonging. Nothing.

ALLEN: The agency tasked with supporting Shafaq, a Muslim, was Catholic Charities. From his first days as pope, Francis called attention to people fleeing from suffering. His first trip outside Rome was to Lampedusa, an island destination for migrants from Africa. Kerry Alys Robinson is the president of Catholic Charities USA.

KERRY ALYS ROBINSON: Having Pope Francis emphasize this constitutive of the Gospel, constitutive of what it means to be a person of faith, really was a kind of a boost in the arm for all of us.

ALLEN: Shafaq spent his career helping others who were in need after disasters.

And yet you still say you wouldn't have been able to do that and establish a life here without that assistance?

SHAFAQ: To be honest, I reached to a point that I lost hope.

ALLEN: Shafaq now works for Catholic Charities. The pope may change, but the inspiration from Francis, Shafaq told me, will not.

SHAFAQ: I will remember forever. Whatever we do here is what he has been doing since long time. Welcoming to strangers.

ALLEN: Assisting migrants and refugees only makes up about 5% of what Catholic Charities does, but in part because of the spotlight that Francis put on the work, Robinson told me she expects the commitment to that work to continue no matter who the next pope is.

DuBOIS: Jason Allen. Thank you.

Jorge Bonilla Wed, 04/30/2025 - 01:03

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THE WRECKONING: President Trump DESTROYS ABC’s Terry Moran in 100-Day Interview

Jorge Bonilla — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 02:56:44 +0000

THE WRECKONING: President Trump DESTROYS ABC’s Terry Moran in 100-Day Interview

Shortly after I began live-tweeting the ABC exclusive interview between correspondent Terry Moran and President Donald Trump, a commenter questioned why the president would put himself up to the scrutiny of the “legacy media”. The response should be clear as day to anyone who sat through the interview, as we did so you wouldn’t have to. Trump simply likes to, and enjoys the sparring. In most cases, certainly today, the same can’t be said for the interviewer.

In an interesting bit of foreshadowing, Moran performed his introduction to the interview in front of the signs of detained and/or deported criminal illegal aliens.

BAHAHAHAHAHA Terry Moran had to do his grandiose open to the Trump interview special with the illegal alien signs flapping in the wind pic.twitter.com/EOkFL4P6kv
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 30, 2025

The interview opened with some pleasantries exchanged about Trump’s redecoration of the Oval Office, including the several presidential paintings that now hang there, including those of Presidents Reagan, FDR, and Monroe. Moran’s first series of questions were on the economy, opening by trying to create friction between Trump and his voting base (click “expand” to view transcript).

Trump parries Terry Moran's first attempt to create separation between him and his voters on the economy. pic.twitter.com/VwvgQBBWeV
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 30, 2025

MORAN: But I wanna start --

DONALD TRUMP: Sure.

MORAN: -- with the economy, the number one issue for so many people, for just about everybody. It -- it's one of the main reasons that you're back in this office. And now we have this trade war with China that -- that Moody's and other analysts say is gonna cost American families thousands of more dollars per year. And there is a lot of concern out there. People are worried, even some people who voted for you, sayin', "I didn't sign up for this." So how do you answer those concerns?

TRUMP: Well, they did sign up for it, actually. And this is what I campaigned on. I said that-- we've been abused by other countries at levels that nobody's ever seen before. We were losing $3 to 5 billion a day on trade. We were losing-- a trillion and a half to $2 trillion a year. Not sustainable.

Moran’s manipulation got shot down, as did his attempts to corner Trump on tariffs, and to get him to say that “hard times” were ahead for Americans.

Moran proceeds to shift to immigration, where he begins by descending into outright open advocacy for criminal illegal aliens. After attempting a weird appeal to authority that got promptly shot down, Moran gives us the exchange of the night.

While arguing on behalf of MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia (KAG), Moran inexplicably asserts that the tattoos on his hand were photoshops:

THE NEW CHEAPFAKE: Terry Moran advocates for MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego-García, calls the MS-13 tattoos (that Abrego's wife has been careful to hide on social media" on his knuckles a "photoshop", gets promptly wrecked by Trump pic.twitter.com/hqw1EWnWjE
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 30, 2025

MORAN: Well, let me ask about one man and one court order. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He's the Salvadoran man who crossed into this country illegally but who is under a protective order that he not be sent back to El Salvador. Your government sent him back to El Salvador and acknowledged in court that was a mistake. And now the Supreme Court has upheld an order that you must return him to the -- facilitate his return to the United States. What are you doing to comply?

TRUMP: Well, the lawyer that said it was a mistake was here a long time, was not appointed by us -- should not have said that, should not have said that. And just so you understand --

MORAN: Said it in court. Said it in court --

TRUMP: -- the person that you're talkin' about, you know, you're makin' this person sound -- this is a MS-13 gang member, a tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife, and the wife was petrified to even talk about him, okay? This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland --

MORAN: I'm not saying he's a good guy. It's about the rule of law. The order from the Supreme Court stands, sir --

TRUMP: He came into our country illegally.

MORAN: You could get him back. There's a phone on this desk.

TRUMP: I could.

MORAN: You could pick it up, and with all --

TRUMP: I could

MORAN: -- the power of the presidency, you could call up the president of El Salvador and say, "Send him back," right now.

TRUMP: And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that.

MORAN: But the court has ordered you --

TRUMP: But he's not.

MORAN: -- to facilitate that -- his release--

TRUMP: I'm not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don't want --

MORAN: You're the president.

TRUMP: -- to do this, Terry --

MORAN: Yeah, but the -- but the buck stops in this office --

TRUMP: I -- no, no, no, no. I follow the law. You want me to follow the law. If I were the president that just wanted to do anything, I'd probably keep him right where he is --

MORAN: The Supreme Court says what the law is.

TRUMP: Listen. I was elected to take care of a problem that was -- it was -- a, a unforced error that was made by a very incompetent man, a man that turned out to be incompetent that you always said was wonderful, a great genius, right? And now you find out -- all of the media, now they're saying what a mistake they made. A man who was grossly incompetent allowed us to have open borders where millions of people flowed in --

MORAN: Alright.

TRUMP: I campaigned on that issue. I wouldn't say it was my number one issue, but it was pretty close.

MORAN: Right up there.

TRUMP: I campaigned on that issue. I've done an amazing job. I have closed borders. He said you couldn't do it, you wouldn't be able to do it, it would never happen. Well, it happened. And it happened --

MORAN: Alright.

TRUMP: -- very quickly. Wait a minute. When we have criminals, murderers, criminals in this country, we have to get 'em out. And we're doing it.

MORAN: By law --

TRUMP: And you'll pick out one man, but even the man that you picked out --

MORAN: He's got --

TRUMP: -- he said he'd -- wasn't a member of a gang. And then they looked, and --

MORAN: Alright.

TRUMP: On his knuckles -- he had MS-13 --

MORAN: Alright. There's dis -- there's a dispute over that --

TRUMP: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. He had MS-13 --

MORAN: Well --

TRUMP: -- on his knuckles tattooed.

MORAN: -- he -- he -- he -- it didn't say-- oh, he had some tattoos that are inper -- interpreted that way. But let's move on

TRUMP: Wait a minute.

MORAN: I want --

TRUMP: Hey, Terry. Terry. Terry.

MORAN: He -- he did not have the letter --

TRUMP: Don't do that -- M-S-1-3 -- It says M-S-one-three.

MORAN: I -- that was Photoshop. So let me just--

TRUMP: That was Photoshop? Terry, you can't do that -- he had --

-- he-- hey, they're givin' you the big break of a lifetime. You know, you're doin' the interview. I picked you because -- frankly I never heard of you, but that's okay --

MORAN: This -- I knew this would come --

TRUMP: But I picked you -- Terry -- but you're not being very nice. He had MS-13 tattooed --

MORAN: Alright. Alright. We'll agree to disagree. I want to move on --

TRUMP: Terry.

MORAN: -- to something else.

TRUMP: Terry. Do you want me to show the picture?

MORAN: I saw the picture. We'll -- we'll -- we'll agree to disagree --

TRUMP: Oh, and you think it was Photoshop. Well --

MORAN: Here we go. Here we go.

TRUMP: -- don't Photoshop it. Go look --

MORAN: Alright.

TRUMP: -- at his hand. He had MS-13 --

MORAN: Fair enough, he did have tattoos that can be interpreted that way. I'm not an expert on them.

I want to turn to Ukraine, sir --

TRUMP: No, no. Terry --

MORAN: I-- I want to get to Ukraine--

TRUMP: Terry, no, no. No, no. He had MS as clear as you can be. Not "interpreted." This is why people --

MORAN: Alright.

TRUMP: -- no longer believe --

MORAN: Well.

TRUMP: -- the news, because it's fake news --

MORAN: When he was photographed in El Sal -- in-- in El Salvador, they aren't there. But let's just go on --

TRUMP: He is --

MORAN: They aren't there when he's in El Salvador.

TRUMP: --there -- oh, oh, they weren't there --

MORAN: Take a look at the photograph --

TRUMP: But they're there now, right?

MORAN: No. What --

TRUMP: But they're there now?

MORAN: They're in your picture.

TRUMP: Terry.

MORAN: Ukraine, sir.

TRUMP: He's got MS-13 on his knuckles.

MORAN: Alright. I --

TRUMP: Okay?

MORAN: -- we'll -- we'll take a look at it --

TRUMP: It's -- it's -- you do such a disservice --

MORAN: We'll take a look. We'll take a look at that, sir --

TRUMP: Why don't you just say, "Yes, he does," and, you know, go on to something else --

Photoshop. That exchange will live in infamy and will haunt Moran for a very long time.

Moran tries to shift to Ukraine, but finds himself on the back foot over KAG, tattoos again.

Trump makes Moran pay for asking "do you trust (Putin)?", rubs his face in Kilmar Abrego-García's tattoos again. pic.twitter.com/7WNcXAYb1P
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 30, 2025

TRUMP: So, Putin went in. I think Putin wanted all of Ukraine.

MORAN: Right.

TRUMP: I think if I didn't win the election, he would have gotten all of Ukraine. I think he would have taken all of Ukraine.

MORAN: From --

TRUMP: I think his first choice -- never with me. He would have never gone in. With this group of losers, he went in. He saw what happened in Afghanistan. He said, "Wow, this is my chance," because it was always the apple of his eye. I talked to him. Ukraine was the apple of his eye. I think he wanted the whole country.

MORAN: You've said for months that --

TRUMP: And because of me, I do believe that --

MORAN: Yeah. Yeah.

TRUMP: -- he's willing to stop the fighting. Don't forget --

MORAN: You think he wants peace?

DONALD TRUMP: -- this is --

MORAN: You think Vladimir Putin wants peace?

TRUMP: I think he does, yes. I think he does--

MORAN: Still?

TRUMP: I think because of me --

MORAN: Even with the raining missiles on --

TRUMP: I think he really -- his -- his -- his dream was to take over the whole country. I think because of me, he's not gonna do that.

MORAN: Do you trust him?

TRUMP: I think --

MORAN: Do you trust him?

TRUMP: I don't trust you. I don't trust -- I don't trust a lot of people. I don't trust you. Look at you. You come in all shootin' for bear. You're so happy to do the interview.

MORAN: I am happy --

TRUMP: And then you start hitting me with fake questions. You start tellin' me that a guy -- whose hand is covered with a tattoo --

MORAN: Alright. We're back to that.

DONALD TRUMP: -- doesn't have the tattoo, you know.

MORAN: Alright.

DONALD TRUMP: I mean, you're being dishonest.

MORAN: No, I'm not --

DONALD TRUMP: Let -- let-- let me just tell you --

MORAN: No, I am not, sir.

TRUMP: Do I trust -- I don't trust a lot of people. But I do think this. I think that he -- let's say he respects me. And I believe because of me he's not gonna take over the whole -- but his decision, his choice would be to take over all of Ukraine.

Moran then tried shifting to personnel: getting shut down on questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Elon Musk and DOGE, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. After an exchange on Trump’s de-weaponization of government, Moran asks about the Canadian election, and whether Trump is an authoritarian, getting wrecked one last time:

Final exchange on Canada, whether Trump is authoritarian. Trump hits the media for its role in hiding Biden's decline. No ABC post-interview panel for this one. pic.twitter.com/jIZtq2YJia
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 30, 2025

MORAN: Okay. I understand you just had a phone call with the new Canadian premier. And they just had this election. You were a big issue in it. And Canadians, many of them, are really angry, furious, about your talk about, "We're gonna take over Canada. It's gonna become the 51st state--"

TRUMP: That’s their prerogative.

MORAN: And it kind of is of a piece -- a lotta -- travel is down into the United States from around the world.

TRUMP: We're doing great --

MORAN: Feels like there's been reputational damage --

TRUMP: The country's doing great.

MORAN: Well --

TRUMP: Prices are down.

MORAN: Not the tourism industry --

TRUMP: Gasoline's down. Energy's down. Tourism is gonna be way up. Wait till you see the numbers. The tourism is way up.

MORAN: Not now.

TRUMP: Now, Canada -- oh, sure -- tourism's doing very well. We're doing very well. We're doing very well. Wait till you see the real numbers come out in about -- in six months from now wait till you see the numbers.

MORAN: But do you think --

TRUMP: They're gonna be very good --

MORAN: I'm gonna ask -- if I may, do you think the reputation of the United States has gone down under your presidency?

TRUMP: I -- no, I think it's gone way up, and I think we're a respected country again. We were laughed at all over the world. We had -- a president that couldn't walk up a flight of stairs, couldn't walk down a flight of stairs, couldn't walk across a stage without falling. We had a president that was grossly incompetent. You knew it, I knew it, and everybody knew it. But you guys didn't want to write it because you're fake news.

MORAN: Alright. Thank you --

TRUMP: And, by the way, ABC is one of the worst. I have to be honest with you --

MORAN: Okay. Thank you for the opinion. But more importantly, thank you for having us here. I have one more question.

It's a big one. It's a question that you know a lot of people have out there. What do you say to people who are concerned you are taking, seizing too much power and becoming an authoritarian president like we haven't had before?

TRUMP: No, I -- I would hate them to think that. I'm doing one thing: I'm makin' America great again. We have a country that was failing. We have a country that was laughed at all over the world. We had a leader that was grossly incompetent. He should have never been there.

The election was rigged. He shoulda never been there. Our country suffered greatly, and now our country's coming back like nobody can believe. I have editorials just today where they're saying they've never seen anything like it. They love it. Our country's coming back, and we're respected again.

MORAN: Mr. President, thank you.

TRUMP: Thank you, Terry, very much.

The interview ended with a whimper, and without so much as a post-panel on ABC. I wondered why ABC World News Tonight promoted the Hegseth exchange, and now we have our answer. Moran struggled to find a moment, and looked terrible. The Hegseth exchange was the closest thing to a highlight. And our commenter now knows why Trump enjoys sitting down with the fake news media.

Jorge Bonilla Tue, 04/29/2025 - 22:56

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CBS Tries to Get Teacher of the Year to Bash Trump, Defend News Media

Curtis Houck — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 22:21:00 +0000

CBS Tries to Get Teacher of the Year to Bash Trump, Defend News Media

During an otherwise great segment on Tuesday honoring the National Teacher of the Year, CBS Mornings tried and failed to have her — Mifflin County High School journalism teacher Ashlie Crosson in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania — bash President Trump for wanting to shutter the Department of Education and then condemn the country’s widespread distrust in the news media.

Co-host Nate Burleson’s last question was about what members of the public can do to support their local education system, but featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers and CBS Mornings Plus co-host Adriana Diaz has their own ideas.

Diaz had the question about matters in D.C.: “Miss Crosson, we want to get your thoughts on the President’s executive order dismantling the Department of Education. What do you think the impact will be on students and teachers?”

Crosson struck a unifying tone, first acknowledging “change and uncertainty going on with the national level of things” before emphasized what she can control: “[W]ithin our classes like our focus is always on our students and on meeting the needs of our community, and so I think a lot of that will stay our focus.”

Duthiers had the journalism question:

[W]e love...you are teaching journalism to young students. In this age where more and more Americans distrust journalism, they distrust the media, my first question is, do you find that kids are interested in pursuing this craft as a profession? And how do you juxtapose that with the feeling that perhaps some people in their communities may not be happy with what they see is representative of media today?

More so-called straight news reporters should pay attention to Crosson’s lessons: “[O]ur job is like, really, to make sure that they understand the fundamentals of journalism, the difference between reporting and an editorial. And how do you sort of, like, master those — those different parts of your craft, and then making sure that they’re working on their skills of professionalism, so that they know how to work through an interview, so that they know how to reach a source.”

“A lot of it is just like that groundwork, that fundamental so that they’re more comfortable with being a part of the news and a participant, but then also being a consumer of news,” she added.

To see the relevant CBS transcript from April 29, click “expand.”

CBS Mornings
April 29, 2025
8:14 a.m. Eastern

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Only On; 2025 National Teacher of the Year; Winner Is Ashlie Crosson of Mifflin County High School in PA]

ADRIANA DIAZ: Miss Crosson, we want to get your thoughts on the President’s executive order dismantling the Department of Education. What do you think the impact will be on students and teachers?

ASHLIE CROSSON: I think that there’s a lot of you know, change and uncertainty going on with the national level of things, but within our classes like our focus is always on our students and on meeting the needs of our community, and so I think a lot of that will stay our focus.

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: One of the things that, as Nate mentioned, we love is that you are teaching journalism to young students. In this age where more and more Americans distrust journalism, they distrust the media, my first question is, do you find that kids are interested in pursuing this craft as a profession? And how do you juxtapose that with the feeling that perhaps some people in their communities may not be happy with what they see is representative of media today?

CROSSON: Yes. So our job is like, really, to make sure that they understand the fundamentals of journalism, the difference between reporting and an editorial. And how do you sort of, like, master those — those different parts of your craft, and then making sure that they’re working on their skills of professionalism, so that they know how to work through an interview, so that they know how to reach a source and so, a lot of it is just like that groundwork, that fundamental so that they’re more comfortable with being a part of the news and a participant, but then also being a consumer of news.

DUTHIERS: You do find that there are kids who are interested in being reporters?

CROSSON: Yes, like our class is growing.

DUTHIERS: Love it. I love it.

DIAZ: The future is bright.

NATE BURLESON: Yeah.

Curtis Houck Tue, 04/29/2025 - 18:21

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Even the Liberal Media Don’t Care About Latest Bogus Attempt to Impeach Trump

Bill D'Agostino — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 22:15:22 +0000

Even the Liberal Media Don’t Care About Latest Bogus Attempt to Impeach Trump

Did you know Democrat Congressman Shri Thanedar (MI-13) filed articles of impeachment against President Trump this week? If not, don't worry — pretty much nobody in the media noticed either.

On Monday, Thanedar’s office published an awkward video in which the Congressman announced the seven articles of impeachment. The video checked all the boilerplate DNC talking point boxes; Thanedar accused Trump of doing “real damage to our democracy,” and “defying a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling.”

But although much of the Congressman’s language was the kind one hears every day from the leftwing media, the liberal media themselves appear rather unimpressed by his little publicity stunt. Broadcast networks ABC, CBS, and NBC completely skipped the news on their Monday night and Tuesday morning newscasts, and CNN and MSNBC brought up exactly once each in the 24 hours after Thanedar announced the move.

One mention on each of the liberal cable networks probably wasn’t the kind of reaction Thanedar was hoping for, but it’s actually worse than it sounds: all of the coverage was negative.

On Tuesday, MSNBC host Chris Jansing sounded utterly unimpressed by Thanedar’s attempt during an interview with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI):

This week, one of your Michigan colleagues introduced a resolution to impeach President Trump. But of course, this is likely to be referred to the Republican-run Judiciary. It’s not going to go anywhere.

Jansing then asked: “Is that part of the problem you think voters see? Moves are made for show that can’t concede [sic], and what they don’t see is action that can make a difference?”

Not even Dingell, a Congresswoman from the same state that Thanedar purportedly represents, was willing to defend the gesture: “I don’t agree with my colleague on what he did. I think it’s a distraction.”

How embarrassing!

On Monday evening, CNN host Laura Coates also recognized the impeachment attempt as a toothless gesture:

A lot of Democratic voters, they want the party to take a harder stance against Trump. But impeachment isn’t going going anywhere, unless Democrats win control of Congress. So what is the right response?

Her guest, former Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips, agreed: “I’m just not certain that these tactics of sit-ins, and protests, and impeachment, and condemnation is going to do a darn thing.”

Perhaps the media’s near-blackout of the hapless Congressman has something to do with the DNC not approving of it. After all, if party leadership were all aboard Thanedar’s impeachment train, it’s likely we’d be seeing a lot more pro-Democrat journalists talking about it. But instead, aside from a couple of scoffs from liberal cable networks, it’s been radio silence.

Bill D'Agostino Tue, 04/29/2025 - 18:15

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Even the Liberal Media Don’t Care About Latest Bogus Attempt to Impeach Trump

MRC’s Bill D’Agostino to Steve Bannon: Media Absolutely Are ‘Enemy of the People’

Bill D'Agostino — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 21:55:45 +0000

MRC’s Bill D’Agostino to Steve Bannon: Media Absolutely Are ‘Enemy of the People’

On Tuesday, MRC senior research analyst Bill D’Agostino joined Steve Bannon and Eric Bolling on Real America’s Voice to discuss the latest NewsBusters study of the broadcast Trump coverage. D’Agostino slammed the corporate media for attempting to “pull the wool over Americans’ eyes, as they aid Democrats in flooding the border and hollowing out the economy.”

He first outlined the study’s findings, namely the 92 percent negative coverage of Trump on ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts during the first 100 days of the administration:

“If you’re watching broadcast news, you get 92% negative coverage of Trump… It’s actually worse than the first 100 days during his first term. That was only 89% negative. But if you compare that to 56% positive coverage for Biden during his first 100 days, it paints a pretty vivid picture.”

D’Agostino pointed out that among the three most-covered topics — DOGE, immigration, and tariffs — the coverage was even worse: 93% negative for tariffs and immigration, and a whopping 97% negative coverage of DOGE.

If you look at what those three topics are, it’s restoring our manufacturing, it’s preventing an invasion at the southern border — and through other means, at this point, too — and it’s dismantling the administrative state… So clearly what this is, from the media at least, it’s a backlash against the attempt from America to preserve its own interests.

He continued: “The media, in covering these topics that way, are basically saying that they are opposed to America’s interests, and they want to see it slowly crumble away like it did over the last for years in the Biden administration.”

Bannon recalled the standing ovation that MSNBC host Eugene Daniels had received at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner for insisting that the press were not the enemy of the people. “Would you say, in fact, by their actions, not their words, they are the enemies of the people?” Bannon inquired.

D’Agostino agreed: “Yeah, absolutely. This coverage that we’re talking about here is just negativity on Trump, right? And some of his policies. But if you look at the way they actually handle Americans, it’s the exact same thing.”

As evidence, he pointed to a recent NewsBusters study by director of media analysis Geoff Dickens. That study found that the broadcast networks had spent 143 minutes on their morning and evening shows bemoaning the plight of a deported MS-13 gang member, but only spared twelve seconds for the murder of a Maryland woman by an illegal alien.

“They care more about an illegal gangbanger, alleged wife beater, alleged human trafficker, than they do about an innocent woman that was murdered by just that kind of illegal alien,” D’Agostino pointed out.

Bill D'Agostino Tue, 04/29/2025 - 17:55

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MRC’s Bill D’Agostino Joins The War Room to Discuss 92% Negative Trump Coverage