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'Go somewhere else': Sheriff may file charges against Democrats over anti-Trump buttons

Members of the Ashland County, Ohio Democratic Party were recently escorted out of the county fair for displaying merchandise critical of President Donald Trump. And criminal charges could soon follow, according to the local sheriff.

Cleveland, Ohio-based ABC affiliate WEWS reported Friday that Ashland County Sheriff Kurt Schneider is contemplating filing criminal charges against the Democrats for displaying several buttons that he and other fairgoers found objectionable. WEWS reported that before the Democrats were escorted out, they were told to stop displaying the buttons. After several fairgoers continued to complain, deputies escorted the Democrats off of the fairgrounds.

One of the buttons in question shows a red baseball cap with "FELON" written on it, and the text "is he dead yet" underneath. Another button has a red baseball cap bearing the message "RESIST" with the caption "8647" (which is a reference to both a restaurant term to get rid of something on the menu and Trump being the 47th president of the United States).

Both Schneider and fairgoer Dan Kaufman viewed the buttons as "threatening," and the sheriff said he had contacted the U.S. Secret Service over the buttons. He said he hadn't ruled out pressing charges, but didn't immediately specify what charges he was considering.

"Everybody can say anything, right? But then what are the consequences of what you say?" Schneider told WEWS. "This kind of nonsense, it can go somewhere else."

State senator Bill DeMora (D) argued the buttons were protected speech, and blasted local authorities over their reaction.

""This is censorship," he said. "It's a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech."

""[Schneider] is wrong and will lose any battle in court," he added.

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'I was really getting at him': Crockett grilled Epstein prosecutor over 'sweetheart deal'

Former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta recently participated in a closed-door deposition with members of the House Oversight Committee. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who sits on the committee, recently described her exchange with him over his handling of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's first criminal investigation.

During a Friday interview with CNN host Jake Tapper, Crockett said she mainly wanted to get to the bottom of why Acosta decided on his plea agreement with Epstein, which Crockett called a "sweetheart deal." That non-prosecution agreement allowed Epstein to serve just 13 months in prison — avoiding a possible life sentence for the sex trafficking of minors — while also being able to leave prison regularly on a work release program.

Crockett said that Acosta — who was also briefly secretary of labor in President Donald Trump's first administration — insisted that he viewed the case against Epstein as too weak to win over a jury, and wanted to instead settle on at least some prison time and requiring Epstein to register as a sex offender. He also told Crockett that he had concerns about witnesses' willingness to testify. Crockett responded that the "one witness rule" makes it possible for a jury to convict a defendant based on the testimony of just one witness, and recounted hammering Acosta on agreeing to the plea deal despite a 53-count charging memo and reams of evidence.

"So I was really getting at him and he said, 'well, 2006 was a different time' ... I said, 'let me tell you something. I've been practicing law since 2006, so I know what was happening in 2006.' So I was really ready to tear in and really get down to some other things, because I've dealt with child sex cases and based on the little information that I know about what he had back then, in my opinion he had more than enough evidence, but he was arguing that he didn't."

According to the Texas Democrat, Acosta also cited several child psychology experts who said that children can sometimes be unreliable witnesses, as their minds can block out traumatic memories as a protection mechanism. She responded that as an attorney, she had prosecuted sex offenders and was familiar with that issue, and then openly questioned Acosta's competency as a prosecutor given his unwillingness to take the case to trial.

Acosta also reportedly insisted the plea agreement wasn't a "sweetheart deal," given the guaranteed prison time, restitution payments to victims and him being required to register as a sex offender. Crockett noted that the former U.S. attorney told her that "even today, looking back ... this deal was a good deal." Tapper remarked that Acosta's characterization of the deal was "preposterous."

"I'm just telling you what the man said," Crockett said.

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'Villainous cretin': Ex-GOP strategist slams 'coward' Disney CEO for bending knee to Trump

Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger is about to see his face plastered on billboards on his way into work every day — with an insult emblazoned on them.

That's according to Steve Schmidt, a former Republican strategist who co-founded The Lincoln Project in 2019. Schmidt broke the news to ex-CNN host Jim Acosta on the Friday episode of his Substack show as the two were discussing ABC's decision to pull late night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air.

"We will put billboards up in L.A. with Bob Iger's picture, a yellow stripe under it and the word 'COWARD,'" Schmidt said. "It's a billboard town and everyone can reflect on it as they drive by ... the cowardice is appalling."

Earlier this week, ABC (which is owned by Disney) announced it was suspending Kimmel's show "indefinitely" following a threat from FCC chairman Brendan Carr to revoke the broadcast licenses of stations that aired Kimmel's show. Carr issued the threat — in which he said the FCC could go "the hard way or the easy way" in its response — after Kimmel said on the Monday episode of his show that "the MAGA gang" was making efforts to cast the alleged murderer of far-right activist Charlie Kirk as a leftist in order to "score political points."

Schmidt argued that Carr's actions constituted a clear violation of the First Amendment, saying "the government took action to demand the removal of a president's critic." He likened the FCC chair's remark to force media executives to "capitulate to the feelings of Donald Trump."

"Whatever Bob Iger thought his legacy would be, he'll be a villainous cretin in the movies of this time when the record is made about who stood tall and who collaborated, who capitulated," he said. "And the cowardice you're seeing is extraordinary to behold. It's historic. The chilling of speech is very real. The terror is very real. And I just urge people to stand against it. Stand up, up, up."

Kimmel's suspension comes as Disney is seeking the Trump administration's approval for its proposed merger with sports streaming platform Fubo. Disney stands to become one of the largest sports platforms if the deal goes through. The Department of Justice's antitrust division is currently reviewing the proposal to see if it violates anti-monopoly rules.

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GOP lawmaker's bill would require every university to build 'Charlie Kirk Memorial' statue

One Republican state lawmaker in Oklahoma now wants to require every public university in the state to erect statues to slain far-right activist Charlie Kirk.

On Friday, Jeffrey Sachs — an assistant professor at Nova Scotia's Acadia University — called attention to a bill by Oklahoma state senators Shane Jett (R) and Dana Prieto (R) that would mandate every public university in the Sooner State build a "Charlie Kirk Memorial Plaza." The bill, which has been filed as Senate Bill 1187 and does not yet have a formal name, would force universities to set aside a portion of real estate in a visible public location — like the quad, the student union or main entrance pathways — "to maximize public awareness and utilization."

Senate Bill 1187 would also make it a requirement for schools to erect a statue of both Kirk and his family, and to include a plaque honoring Kirk as "a voice of a generation, modern civil rights leader, vocal Christian, martyr for truth and faith, and free speech advocate."

"Square or plaza plans shall include a statue of Charlie Kirk sitting at a table with an empty seat across from him or a statue of Charlie Kirk and his wife standing and holding their children in their arms as a central element of the square or plaza design. The statue design and size shall be approved by the Legislature as part of the overall design review and approval process," the bill reads.

Universities would be authorized to accept donations to fund the cost of the monuments "from the National Endowment for the Arts and any private, corporate, or public source to fund the development, maintenance, and enhancement of the squares or plazas and any associated statues." It also stipulated that the state legislature may appropriate tax dollars as a "donation matching funds" as a way of showing "broad-based support for the squares or plazas."

Additonally, the bill makes it clear that any "student, employee or faculty member" who vandalizes or defaces statues of Kirk on their campuses could face steep punishment, including immediate termination of their enrollment or employment. And the legislation even includes an emergency declaration it deems "necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health or safety," in order to immediately have the legislation go into effect.

In July, Wallethub found Oklahoma ranked 50th out of 51 states (when including Washington D.C.) in public education. Only New Mexico ranked further behind the Sooner State. Criteria used to determine rankings included "test scores, graduation rates, school safety and bullying rates."

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'Things have changed': GOP senator suggests First Amendment no longer 'the ultimate right'

One Republican member of the U.S. Senate is now hinting that she may be in support of curbing First Amendment rights in the future, given the current political climate.

Semafor recently reported that Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) is adjusting her attitude toward the First Amendment (which guarantees freedoms of speech, press, assembly, religion and petition) in the wake of the murder of MAGA activist Charlie Kirk last week. Lummis said Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr was justified in threatening to revoke the broadcast licenses of ABC stations that continued to air late night host Jimmy Kimmel's show (after Kimmel's Monday night monologue accusing "the MAGA gang" of trying to "score political points" from Kirk's death).

"An FCC license, it’s not a right. It really is a privilege," Lummis told Semafor.

"Under normal times, in normal circumstances, I tend to think that the First Amendment should always be sort of the ultimate right. And that there should be almost no checks and balances on it," she continued. "I don't feel that way anymore."

“I feel like something’s changed culturally. And I think that there needs to be some cognizance that things have changed,” the Wyoming Republican added. “We just can’t let people call each other those kinds of insane things and then be surprised when politicians get shot and the death threats they are receiving and then trying to get extra money for security.”

After Carr said that ABC stations could do things "the easy way or the hard way" over their FCC licenses, media conglomerate Nexstar announced it would preempt Kimmel's show with other content. Their statement was followed almost immediately by ABC saying Kimmel would be off the air "indefinitely." ABC's action has been widely condemned by both political commentators along with CBS late night host Stephen Colbert and even former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

Nexstar is currently seeking FCC approval to acquire competitor Tegna, which would expand its reach to approximately 80 percent of U.S. households if approved.

Click here to read Semafor's report in full.

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'Where has all the leadership gone?' Former Disney CEO slams decision to suspend Kimmel

ABC's recent decision to pull late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air "indefinitely" is now prompting public outrage even from the former top executive of ABC's parent company.

In a Friday post to his official X account, Michael Eisner — who was the chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company for more than two decades — bemoaned the lack of "leadership" at major American institutions, blasting universities along with the corporate world and the legal realm. He also didn't spare President Donald Trump's administration over its threats against TV stations.

"Where has all the leadership gone? If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the first amendment?" Eisner wrote.

"The 'suspending indefinitely' of Jimmy Kimmel immediately after the Chairman of the FCC's aggressive yet hollow threatening of the Disney Company is yet another example of out-of-control intimidation," he continued. "Maybe the Constitution should have said, 'Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, except in one’s political or financial self-interest.'"

"By-the-way, for the record, this ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny," he added.

Eisner's tweet marks the latest instance of high-profile backlash following ABC's suspension of Kimmel's show. That announcement came almost immediately after media conglomerate Nexstar stated it was preempting broadcasts of Jimmy Kimmel Live following his remarks on his Monday show, in which he accused "the MAGA gang" of scrambling to paint far-right activist Charlie Kirk's alleged murder as a leftist in order to "score political points."

Just hours prior to Nexstar's statement, FCC chairman Brendan Carr told far-right podcaster Benny Johnson that he was considering revoking the broadcast licenses of ABC stations that continued to air Kimmel's show, and told stations they could handle things "the easy way or the hard way." Nexstar is currently angling for the FCC to approve its planned $6.2 billion acquisition of competitor Tegna, which would allow it to own TV stations broadcasting to roughly 80 percent of American households.

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Jon Stewart viciously mocks Trump with 'administration-compliant' show after Kimmel ouster

Even though Daily Show host and executive producer Jon Stewart typically only sits at the host's desk on Monday nights, the comedian made an exception on Thursday night in the wake of ABC's abrupt decision to take late night host Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air.

The show began by introducing Stewart as the "patriotically obedient host" with Soviet-style choir singing in the background. The Daily Show host was seen at his desk wearing a crimson tie and a large American flag pin, while being surrounded by gold accents in the style of Mar-a-Lago and the Oval Office during Trump's second term.

Stewart launched into his monologue by sarcastically heaping effusive praise on Trump, telling the audience that he had a "fun, administration-compliant show" for them. He added: "If you've felt a little off the last couple of days its probably because our great father has not been home!"

Still in character, Stewart then lauded Trump's speech at a state dinner in Buckingham Palace by declaring: "The perfectly tinted Trump dazzled his hosts at dinner with a demonstration of unmatched oratory skill," before playing a clip of Trump awkwardly naming British authors like William Shakespeare, J.R.R. Tolkien and Rudyard Kipling. When the audience laughed, Stewart appeared to panic, yelling at them to "shut the f--- up!"

He concluded the segment by cutting to all of the Daily Show's seven correspondents, who were all seen standing solemnly wearing matching navy blue blazers and red ties. He asked them: "Are all the naysayers and critics right? Is Donald Trump stifling free speech?"

"Of course not Jon!" They all answered in perfect unison, holding microphones with Trump's face on them. "Americans are free to express any opinion we want! To suggest otherwise is laughable! Ha ha ha!"

Stewart's mockery of the Trump administration is particularly noteworthy, given that his show is carried by Comedy Central. Stewart's employer is owned by MTV Entertainment Group, which is owned by Paramount. The media giant has recently been in the spotlight for its $16 million settlement with Trump over his lawsuit against 60 Minutes (a production of CBS, which Paramount also owns).

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'Blatant assault on freedom of speech': Colbert issues scathing takedown of ABC and Trump

During the taping of the Thursday episode of "The Late Show," comedian Stephen Colbert spoke out harshly against both President Donald Trump's administration and ABC after his late night colleague Jimmy Kimmel was pulled off the air.

Colbert previewed the latest episode of his CBS show in a Thursday night post to his official Instagram account, and began by taking Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr to task for his actions that led to ABC suspending Kimmel, calling it a "blatant assault on the freedom of speech." The CBS host pointed out that just hours after Carr said he was considering revoking the broadcast licenses of ABC affiliates that continued to air Kimmel's show, ABC announced it had taken Kimmel off the air "indefinitely."

"This may seem bad, but Carr was quick to assure everyone, posting, 'while this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values,'" Colbert said, quoting a tweet from the FCC chairman.

"Well you know what my community values are, buster? Freedom of speech!" Colbert said to applause.

The Daily Beast reported that during a question-and-answer session with the studio audience prior to Thursday's taping, Colbert harshly criticized ABC's leadership. And he acknowledged that while CBS dropped "The Late Show" from its programming schedule after paying Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over a 60 Minutes segment, it still wouldn't have capitulated due to a threat from the FCC chairman.

“I’ll say this for my network: they wouldn’t have done this,” Colbert told the audience. “Regardless of what you think, that has already been done and how that looks, this is weak.”

ABC was pummeled by critics after preempting Kimmel, though Trump celebrated ABC's ousting of the comedian in a Wednesday post to his Truth Social account. He then called on NBC to take similar action against late night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, who he called "total losers."

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Longtime TV weatherman reveals 'effective tool' Americans have to stop Trump's censorship

President Donald Trump is now hinting at using the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to intimidate broadcasters into silence. But a retired TV news weather forecaster with more than four decades of experience says Americans have a unique tool at their disposal that could yield significant results in their efforts to fight back.

Trump said Thursday on Air Force One that he may have his FCC threaten to revoke the broadcast licenses of TV stations that air content critical of him and his administration. His threat came the day after ABC announced it would pull late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off their air "indefinitely" after a threat from FCC chairman Brendan Carr.

ABC's announcement came on the heels of TV conglomerate Nexstar announcing it was preempting Kimmel's show with other content on all of its ABC affiliates due to comments Kimmel made about the Trump administration trying to "score political points" off of the recent killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Broadcast giant Sinclair — which has been repeatedly criticized for forcing its local TV news affiliates to air scripted far-right commentary segments — called on Kimmel to not only apologize for his comments, but to make a donation to Kirk's far-right advocacy group Turning Point USA.

In a Thursday post to his official Facebook page, Dan Satterfield — who retired from Salisbury, Maryland CBS affiliate WBOC-TV in 2024 after 12 years at the station — acknowledged that he had been inundated with messages from people asking how they can best fight back against Trump's attempts to censor broadcasters. And he drew on his wealth of TV news experience to tell his audience that they already had a powerful weapon at their disposal – their phone.

"The best way to complain that will have the biggest impact? See if you have a Sinclair or [N]exstar station in your area," Satterfield wrote. "2. Watch the local newscast tonight or some time this week. 3. Note the companies that bought tv adverts. 4. Call them and let them know you will boycott them until they quit supporting that media company."

"Trust me. I worked in tv for 45 years. Nothing you do will have greater impact. Nothing," he continued. "This is a much more effective tool than cancelling Disney. We did cancel Disney but calling Joe’s Jeep dealership who is buying adds on the local [N]exstar station will have a BIG impact. Joe doesn’t need that grief. He will find another station to buy adverts on."

Nexstar's decision to preempt Kimmel comes as the company is seeking the FCC's approval to acquire competitor Tegna in a $6.2 billion deal. Should the acquisition be approved, Nexstar would own TV stations broadcasting to approximately 80 percent of American households.

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MAGA sent death threats to Disney employees after FCC chair's remark about Kimmel: report

ABC's decision to pull late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's show this week wasn't just due to fear of President Donald Trump's administration, but also of his supporters.

That's according to a Thursday article in CNN, which reported that network executives felt that suspending Kimmel was a "safety issue" for both Disney's employees and advertisers. When Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr told far-right podcast host Benny Johnson on Wednesday that he was considering revoking the broadcast licenses of local ABC stations that aired Kimmel's show — due to his Monday night monologue pummeling Trump for trying to "score political points" off of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's murder — Trump supporters reportedly took it upon themselves to bombard Disney employees with death threats.

One unnamed source that CNN described as a "veteran television news producer" who is not employed by ABC said that Carr's threat was likely taken extremely seriously by network executives.

"There is no more terrifying circumstance for a broadcast entity than the threat of an FCC fine, or worse, that the agency could move to revoke the stations’ broadcast licenses," the producer said.

"This isn’t just about ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live.’ It’s about all of ABC and all of the shows and all employees," another source reportedly close to the Kimmel decision told CNN.

Prior to ABC's announcement that it was "indefinitely" preempting Kimmel's show, the late-night comedian had reportedly prepared to deliver a blistering monologue on the Wednesday episode of his show directly addressing MAGA's backlash to his Monday monologue. But one source told CNN that Kimmel's monologue was "very hot," and that executives attempted to get him to soften it before the broadcast. Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden both reportedly made the decision to pull Kimmel's show off the air to protect the Disney brand from controversy.

"Everyone deeply values him and wants him to come back,” one CNN source said. “But he has to take down the temperature.”

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'He stinks': Trump tells Fox to fire pollster after network publishes unflattering survey

Fox News may be President Donald Trump's favorite network, but he's not a fan of its polling operation.

The Daily Beast reported that while he was in the middle of his Thursday interview with Fox News' Martha MacCallum, the Fox host interrupted his claims of bringing back American manufacturing jobs to point out that a majority of Americans disapprove of his leadership on the economy. She cited a Fox News poll conducted earlier this month showing that 52 percent of respondents said Trump had made the economy worse so far in his second term.

"You’ve got unemployment at the highest rate in four years. Groceries made a big jump in the last term," MacCallum said. "You’re looking forward with these plans that you just talked about. When will people feel that?"

"Well, when the factories start opening. I mean, right now we’re building them," Trump said defensively. He then pivoted to attacking the network's pollster.

“Fox polling, I have to tell you, I’ve told you before, the worst polling I’ve ever had, it’s always—I mean, during the election, they had me winning by a little bit, not by a massive amount,” Trump said. “And Fox polling, I’ve told [Fox Corporation owner] Rupert Murdoch, go get yourself a new pollster, because he stinks—and this is for years now.”

Trump's remarks come on the heels of the Federal Reserve's decision to reduce the interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point — something the nation's central bank typically does during an economic downturn. Fed chair Jerome Powell signaled that stagflation (a term used to define periods of high unemployment, high inflation and stagnant GDP growth) could be looming and that the rate cut was done out of "risk management."

Last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick pushed back on poor manufacturing job growth under Trump's second term, insisting that Trump's economy wouldn't begin until late 2025 or early 2026. This is despite Lutnick proclaiming that Trump's economy was officially underway earlier this year after stock market indexes posted new record highs.

Click here to read the Beast's full article (subscription required).

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'Suck up to an authoritarian': David Letterman tears into ABC for suspending Jimmy Kimmel

Legendary comedian David Letterman issued scathing criticism for ABC's decision Wednesday night to take late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air during an appearance at The Atlantic Festival.

While speaking to Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg, Letterman had sharp words for Kimmel's employer, calling out what he viewed as a craven and cowardly decision to silence his fellow comic. He told Goldberg that when he was CBS' late night host, he never had to worry about being "squeezed by anyone from any governmental agency, let alone the dreaded FCC."

"We all see where this is going, correct? It's managed media," Letterman said.

"You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian — a criminal administration — in the Oval Office," he continued. "That’s just not how this works."

"The institution of the president of the United States ought to be bigger than a guy doing a talk show," he added.

Letterman's remarks came a day after Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of local ABC affiliates who continued to air Kimmel's show. Media conglomerate Nexstar first announced it was preempting Kimmel's show by broadcasting other content, which was almost immediately followed by ABC announcing Kimmel's suspension.

Carr issued the threat in an interview with far-right podcaster Benny Johnson, which came after Kimmel's Monday night monologue in which the late-night host chastised the Trump administration for trying to "score political points" off of Charlie Kirk's death last week. Kimmel asserted that "the MAGA gang" was doing everything it could to prove that Kirk's alleged killer wasn't "one of them."

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This line from 9-0 Supreme Court case exposes Trump attack on Kimmel as 'unconstitutional'

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump's appointed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman issued a threat that preceded ABC's decision to take late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air. And one legal analyst has found a recent Supreme Court case showing that the Trump administration would likely lose badly if Kimmel decided to sue.

In a Thursday essay for Slate, legal writer Mark Joseph Stern laid out the chain of events that led to Kimmel's show getting pulled on Wednesday. After a monologue earlier this week in which Kimmel alleged that "the MAGA gang" was attempting to "score political points" by casting slain far-right activist Charlie Kirk's alleged killer as a leftist, FCC chair Brendan Carr announced that he was contemplating revoking local ABC affiliates' broadcast licenses if they continued to air Kimmel's show. Nexstar — which owns television stations in more than 100 major media markets — then announced it was preempting Kimmel's show with other content. ABC then followed suit, prompting intense backlash. Stern observed that Nexstar is currently angling for FCC approval to acquire competitor Tegna, which would allow it to broadcast to roughly 80 percent of American households.

On Thursday, Trump appeared to take his offensive even further, saying on Air Force one that he was considering taking action against broadcasters for airing content critical of him and his administration. Stern pointed out in his Slate essay that this is "flagrantly unconstitutional," flying directly in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court decision in which all nine justices agreed on a fundamental free speech issue.

According to Stern, the 2023 National Rifle Association v. Vullo case directly applies to the Trump administration's threats to broadcasters in the wake of Kimmel's monologue. That case stemmed from the NRA suing the State of New York, alleging that regulatory agencies in the Empire State were pressuring banks and insurance companies to drop the NRA as a client over its pro-gun advocacy.

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the majority opinion, which was joined by all eight of her colleagues. Stern pointed to one line in particular that brought all nine members of the High Court together in a rare unanimous ruling.

"Viewpoint discrimination is uniquely harmful to a free and democratic society," Sotomayor wrote. "...A government official cannot coerce a private party to punish or suppress disfavored speech on her behalf."

"This is the constitutional rule that is relevant to Kimmel’s firing. And it illustrates why this episode is such an affront to the First Amendment," Stern wrote. "Carr made it abundantly clear that ABC, along with local affiliates, would face adverse regulatory action if they did not pull Kimmel’s late-night show. Nexstar, which owns many of those affiliates, almost immediately yanked the show. And Nexstar is currently trying to acquire its rival—a move that would require FCC approval."

"No one at the company could miss the implication of Carr’s threat. If Nexstar did not punish Kimmel for his speech, the FCC chair would do things 'the hard way,'" he added. "That almost certainly meant heightened scrutiny, and perhaps rejection, of Nexstar’s pending acquisition. It could also mean revocation of Nexstar and ABC’s broadcast licenses. That is plainly how this FCC does business."

Click here to read Stern's full essay in Slate.

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'Wrong and dangerous': Karl Rove slams Trump for using Kirk's death to crack down on left

In the week since prominent far-right activist Charlie Kirk was gunned down, President Donald Trump has been consistently blaming the American left for the shooting despite the lack of a clear ideological motive. Now, longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove is calling out efforts to politicize Kirk's death.

Rove argued in a Wednesday op-ed for the Wall Street Journal that while the person charged with shooting Kirk should be fully prosecuted, it's equally important to not blame groups of people for his death. While Rove didn't specifically invoke Trump's name, he notably cautioned against efforts to use Kirk's murder as an excuse crack down on members of the political opposition — something Trump did just hours after the activist's death was announced. He later told Fox & Friends that he "couldn't care less" about uniting the country, and dug in on his insistence that the left was to blame for the shooting.

"Using Charlie’s murder to justify retaliation against political rivals is wrong and dangerous. It will further divide and embitter our country. No good thing will come of it," Rove wrote.

Trump has only doubled down on his promises to avenge Kirk's slaying by carrying out state-sponsored persecution of left-leaning groups. NBC News reported Wednesday that the White House is "trying to move quickly" to target left-wing organizations by the end of the month. This could include anything from investigations to revoke the tax-exempt status of certain nonprofits. And while no organizations were named, Vice President JD Vance hinted that some targets could include organizations headed by liberal philanthropist George Soros and his son, Alex. This is despite federal law explicitly prohibiting the president and vice president from ordering investigations into tax-exempt nonprofits.

""Do you know they benefit from generous treatment? They are literally subsidized by you and me, the American taxpayer," Vance said while guest-hosting the Charlie Kirk show earlier this week. "And how do they reward us? By setting fire to the house built by the American family over 250 years.”

Rove expressed hope that a memorial service in Arizona this weekend to honor Kirk — which will be attended by Trump, Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — will be free of vitriol and talk of retribution. He observed that what top administration figures say during the service could either further inflame the political climate or plead for cooler heads to prevail.

"What they say there will reverberate. Our political system could become even more dominated by deep, dark obsessions. Or Saturday could be a moment when Americans see people of prominence remind us that our republic’s continuance depends on debating important ideas with both passion and mutual respect," he wrote. "Above all, it needs to be repeated: Violence has no role in our country’s politics. Now or ever. Reasoned discourse is essential to our democracy. Charlie Kirk understood that. Let’s hope it’s a message his eulogists honor."

Click here to read Rove's full op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

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Trump admin partners with 41 far-right groups on 'God-centered' civics education for kids

President Donald Trump's Department of Education is now announcing a new initiative aimed at civics education for public school students as part of next year's celebrations surrounding the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding.

According to a Wednesday report in the Washington Post, the "America 250 Civics Education Coalition" will soon be rolling out programming focused on crafting "a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation." The coalition is made up of 41 conservative groups including Hillsdale College (which is known for being on the vanguard of right-wing efforts against LGBTQ+ rights), Moms for Liberty (a far-right group advocating against teaching LGBTQ+ concepts in schools) and the Heritage Foundation (which was behind Project 2025), among others.

One of the groups taking part is Turning Point USA — the organization founded by slain MAGA activist Charlie Kirk — through its Turning Point Education group. Turning Point Education chief education officer Hutz H. Hertzberg told the Post his group was "more resolved than ever to advance God-centered, virtuous education for students flourishing across our nation."

"We are proud to announce this coalition to ensure every young American understands the beauty of our nation and is equipped with the civic knowledge required to contribute meaningfully to its future," stated Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who is a former chair of the America First Policy Institute (one of the 41 groups in the coalition).

The Post reported that while the Department of Education is promoting the initiative, it is not being funded by any federal money and that it isn't creating public school curriculum. Rather, the coalition is aiming to host presentations on college campuses in all 50 states, along with student competitions and teacher summits.

Education Department spokesperson Madi Biedermann reportedly had no explanation when the Post asked her why all of the coalition partners were right-wing groups. But Louise Dubé, who is president of the nonpartisan education organization iCivics called on the administration to broaden the coalition to include groups with different values and viewpoints.

"“We know of many high-quality efforts that are in the works but are not yet represented in this group,” she told the Post. “We believe it would be useful to our country to integrate more balance of perspectives so that we can as a nation exercise reflective patriotism at this critical time.”

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'Expel this student': GOP leader's free speech 'double standard' exposed after Kirk murder

While MAGA Republicans and supporters of President Donald Trump have been working hard to get liberal critics of slain far-right activist Charlie Kirk fired, one Republican leader in particular has gone "above and beyond" in his effort to target Kirk's critics, according to a recent analysis.

In a Wednesday article for Slate, author Shirin Ali reported that Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) has been on a tear over the past week working to get college students expelled for making negative comments about Kirk. Ali recalled one instance in which an 18 year-old Black female student at Texas Tech University was seen on video disrupting a vigil for Kirk on the school's campus in Lubbock, Texas. The student can be seen on video pushing a student's red MAGA hat off of their head and arguing with onlookers who called her "hateful."

In a post to his X account, Abbott posted a photo of the student being handcuffed by police, tweeting: "This is what happened to the person who was mocking Charlie Kirk’s assassination at Texas Tech. FAFO," which is an acronym for the phrase "f--- around, find out." The student was later expelled from the university.

In another video, a Black male student at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas can be seen disrupting a vigil for Kirk held by the campus' Turning Point USA chapter (the right-wing student activist group Kirk founded). Students can be heard shouting at the disruptor, who was wearing headphones and repeatedly slapping his neck and falling down in an apparent mockery of Kirk being shot. Roughly an hour after Abbott tweeted "expel this student immediately," the school issued a statement saying that when the person in question had been identified, it would be taking action against him.

"That student is now expelled," Abbott announced on social media.

Ali observed that these statements were particularly noteworthy from a governor who had taken public action in favor of free speech on college campuses, signing a bill into law in 2019 aimed at protecting "conservative voices" on college campuses in the Lone Star State. However, Abbott backtracked this year following the nationwide protests on college campuses in 2024 protesting Israel's continued bombing of Gaza. According to Ali, the new law focused on "placing restrictions on students engaging in peaceful protests, banning encampments and megaphones and instating a curfew on student protests."

The Slate author further noted the irony of Abbott's statement that Texans "must send a signal that celebrating the assassination of a free speech advocate is wrong in a civil society," writing that the governor "failed to mention that Texas seems ready to enforce a double standard: If two Black students exercise their free speech rights, the governor will happily penalize them and even celebrate their arrest."

Click here to read Ali's full article in Slate.

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'We're doing it wrong': Pro-Trump Fox host pushes back hard against boat bombings

One Fox News host who is usually on President Donald Trump's side is now speaking out against his controversial new approach to drug trafficking.

Trump has lately been launching missile attacks on boats coming from Venezuela that the administration says are being piloted by drug trafficking gangs trying to smuggle fentanyl into the United States, though the White House has so far not provided any evidence to back up its claims. The bombings have been sharply criticized by both military experts and even Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)

The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that Lisa Kennedy Montgomery (also known mononymously as "Kennedy") took a different tack than her co-panelists on a recent episode of "The Five." While the panel was largely supportive of Trump's bombings of the boats, Kennedy argued that the president was walking a thin line between fighting drug cartels and blowing up boats full of people who pose no threat to the United States.

"I don’t like it," Kennedy said. "Because all it takes is one fishing boat with a broken radio or people who don’t speak English and you’re killing innocent civilians, and I do not like that."

The Fox News host said that rather than taking a military approach, the Trump administration should instead address drug addiction within the United States. She further noted that the "War on Drugs" of the 1980s and 1990s "failed the first time" around because previous presidents didn't tackle root causes.

"Things can go very badly here. We have not properly addressed demand in this country. That has not gone away," she said. "That is one of the reasons that the cartels proliferated during and after the war on drugs."

"We do have to address why do people — especially kids in this country — want to put things in their body they know can kill them?" She added. "It is terrifying. And instead, we’re doing it wrong."

Click here to read the Beast's full article (subscription required).

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'The economy's breaking': Economists say Fed cut interest rate to manage 'risk' of Trump

After the Federal Reserve announced a slight reduction in the interest rate, several prominent economists observed that the nation's central bank was making noticeable moves in direct response to President Donald Trump's management of the economy.

Navy Federal chief economist Heather Long noted on Wednesday that the only dissenter against an interest rate cut was Stephen Miran — the Trump appointee who was confirmed by the Senate on a party-line vote just earlier this week. Miran's dissent was due to him wanting a rate cut of at least 50 basis points. Long analyzed each board member's vote and called it "wild" that Trump's newest appointee wanted the equivalent of "5 rate cuts by year-end."

"You can see the tension at the Fed in just 1 chart," Long tweeted. "It's likely we'll get 2 more cuts. One in October and one in December. But you can see the battles ahead."

The Fed typically cuts interest rates during an economic downturn in order to stimulate economic growth – and likewise keeps interest rates steady when the economy is more stable to prevent inflation from spiraling out of control. According to Long, the Fed's economic projection as Trump approaches the one-year mark of his second term next January is particularly dark: The Fed's board predicted that the unemployment rate would rise to roughly 4.5 percent, while inflation was projected to hit three percent. GDP growth was also expected to falter, cracking just 1.6 percent over the next quarter. Long referred to those projections as "stagflation-lite," which is a term economists use to describe an economy experiencing both a higher jobless rate and a higher inflation rate.

University of Michigan economics professor Justin Wolfers also highlighted the Fed's gloomy economic outlook, characterizing it as the board saying: "Stagflation is in the room."

"Fed statement tracker tells you what they're trying to say," Wolfers wrote in a subsequent post to his X account, quoting the Fed's assessment of higher unemployment and rising inflation. "That first paragraph represents a sharp downgrade in the Fed's confidence about our economic conditions."

Economics reporter and author Matthew C. Klein found Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's summary of the rate cut as a "risk-management cut" illuminating, and posited that Trump's economy — so far defined by tariffs and mass deportations — may be the "risk" Powell was trying to manage. Political commentator Brian Allen had a similar interpretation of Powell's statement, opining that it seemed the Fed chair was warning that "the economy's breaking at both ends."

"That’s not just a recession. That’s stagflation. And it’s wearing a MAGA hat," Allen wrote. "This is the Trump economy."

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'I'm the one asking the questions': CNN host cuts off Ted Cruz after he shouts over her

An exchange between CNN host Kaitlan Collins and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) about political violence grew heated after Cruz repeatedly attempted to shout over Collins.

During a Tuesday segment on CNN, Cruz repeatedly asserted without evidence that 22 year-old Tyler Robinson — who has been charged with murdering far-right activist Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus last week — was a left-wing radical driven to kill Kirk for ideological reasons. This is despite Robinson being raised in a Republican family, not affiliating with any political party on his voter registration form and his friends saying he never discussed politics with them. Collins pushed back, reminding Cruz that authorities have not yet identified a political motive for the shooting, which promoted Cruz to start talking over her.

"Hold on a second, Kaitlin," Cruz said. "There's a reference to ... an online meme for transgenderism. And [FBI] Director [Kash] Patel testified that that the murderer here was living with his romantic partner, who was a transgender man, transitioning to being a woman."

"I mean, that really shows the media not doing the job they should be doing," Cruz continued.

Collins repeated that no motive had been officially established and that the investigation is ongoing, after which Cruz again interjected, saying: "That's CNN's position. He just happened to fire the gun in celebration?"

Cruz continued to talk over Collins after she insisted she was simply stating the current facts of the case, and when she refused to let him talk over her, the Texas senator said: "Okay. Go ahead. Give your speech." He then attempted to turn the tables back on Collins by asking her if she had seen polling showing that Democrats think Robinson was a Republican and a Trump supporter, and pressed the issue by yelling: "You're not going to answer that question!"

"I'm the one asking the questions here," Collins responded.

Watch the full exchange below:

- YouTube www.youtube.com

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'Undisputed idiot king': Former NBC journalist calls Eric Trump 'the epitome of stupidity'

First Son Eric Trump's false claim that political violence is exclusively carried out by the American left prompted Emmy-winning journalist David Shuster to declare that President Donald Trump's second-oldest son was the "undisputed idiot king" and "a grotesque epitome of stupidity so profound he renders the rest of his family — already a display of moral and cognitive deformities that would confound Sigmund Freud — almost respectable by comparison."

After MAGA activist Charlie Kirk was killed by a lone gunman on a Utah college campus last week, Eric Trump recently joined a far-right podcast to lay blame for Kirk's murder at the feet of the left. This is despite the alleged shooter's staunch Republican family, non-partisan voter registration status and his own friends saying he never discussed politics.

"The bullets are only flying one way," Eric Trump told podcast host Will Cain. "Listen, there's fringe on both sides, 100%, but like, I don't know ... These people have tried to do everything they could to take us out of the game."

In a Tuesday post to his Substack, Shuster — who is a veteran of NBC, CNN and Fox News — called Eric "the dumbest Trump, which is saying something." He went on to say that Trump's adult son saying that the left was the only side carrying political violence was "the intellectual equivalent of spraying manure in your own eyes while insisting it is perfume."

"In this single sentence, Eric demonstrated the mental agility of a cornered sloth," Shuster wrote. "And the selective memory of a dung beetle rolling it’s own feculent ball across the lawn of public discourse."

Shuster pointed out that Eric Trump glossed over high-profile recent instances of right-wing violence, like the June murder of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband Mark — in which the alleged killer also wounded Democratic state senator Jon Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Shuster also reminded his readers that a man angry about vaccines fired on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and killed the police officer who confronted him. The former MSNBC host also didn't hold back in criticizing Eric Trump from using Kirk's murder to promote his new book.

"Eric was baffled when critics said the pledge looked opportunistic. Maybe the word itself baffled Eric since 'opportunistic' has five syllables," Shuster wrote. "...He is the family’s apex of ignorance. The pinnacle of self-important incompetence. The organism whose very existence makes the rest of the Trump clan’s failings appear almost tolerable."

Click here to read Shuster's post in its entirety.

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'Take your dementia meds grandpa': Newsom scorches Trump in brutal fact-check

President Donald Trump tore into California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) in a Tuesday post on his Truth Social platform, but the two-term Democratic governor didn't take the attack quietly.

The president began his post by attacking Newsom's plan to build low-income housing in the Los Angeles area, and for "not accepting Hundreds of Millions of Gallons of Water from the Pacific Northwest" in the wake of the fires that consumed large portions of L.A. earlier this year.

Trump also predicted that Newsom building low-income housing in a "Super Luxury Pacific Palisades Fire Site" would be politically damaging, and that the federal government had issued housing construction permits at a faster rate than Newsom's own office. He wrote: "[Low-income housing construction' is what caused the destruction of the Late, Great New York City Mayor John Lindsay’s Political Career — and John Lindsay was a Republican."

Newsom issued a blistering takedown of Trump's claims on his own X account. He highlighted certain lines of the president's Truth Social post and wrote "LIE" next to them while fact-checking each claim. The California governor began by saying claims that wealthy neighborhoods were being re-zoned for low-income housing were "conspiracy theories." He also pointed out that no water from the Pacific Northwest connected to Los Angeles.

"The Governor does not issue housing permits, L.A. city and L.A. county do," Newsom wrote. "They've issue[d] 885+."

Newsom also noted that the federal government does not issue housing construction permits. In his fact-check, he wrote: "There is no such thing as a federal housing permit. They have been 'approved' because they DO NOT EXIST."

"Take your dementia meds, grandpa," Newsom tweeted. "You are making things up again."

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Experts warn Americans being conditioned to accept 'violence beyond anything imagined'

The increasingly hostile political climate is showing no signs of abating, and some political scientists are worried about what that could mean for Americans in the near future.

That's according to a Tuesday essay by the New York Times' Thomas B. Edsall, who spoke with various experts about how the recent killing of far-right activist Charlie Kirk has inflamed political tensions across the United States. Some were particularly worried that President Donald Trump's harsh rhetoric toward the political left could significantly increase the chances of further political violence during his second term.

University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape said that Kirk's death was the "most consequential assassination of an American political leader since the 1960s." He also pointed to past research he had conducted showing that tens of millions of Americans on both sides were showing an increasingly favorable attitude toward violence as a way to solve the country's problems, and harkened back to Americans' rush to go to war in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"There are powerful reasons to worry how Republicans will react to the assassination of Kirk, but the main one is simply the most obvious: Kirk was beloved by millions of Republicans and now many millions more," he said. "As America saw after 9/11 in our politics leading to 70 percent of the public supporting the invasion of Iraq on flimsy evidence: mass sorrow can evolve into mass anger and then mass willingness to pursue aggressive policies that can lead to spirals of violence beyond anything imagined before the event."

Other experts pushed back on Trump's repeated claims that the political left bore sole responsibility for political violence. University of Krakow, Poland psychology professor Katarzyna Jasko said the president's argument was "not justifiable" given the ample examples of right-wing political violence in recent years. She noted that her past research found that far-right political violence was not only more frequent than violent acts carried out but the left, but the intensity of violence committed by right-wing actors was far greater.

"Among radicalized individuals in the United States, those adhering to a left-wing ideology were markedly less likely to engage in violent ideologically motivated acts when compared to right-wing individuals. By contrast, we found no such difference between Islamist and right-wing individuals," Jasko wrote in a 2022 study.

Despite Trump's insistence that the left is exclusively responsible for the rise in political violence, the Trump administration was found to have deleted a Department of Justice study finding that far-right political violence far outpaced "all other types of terrorism," including both left-wing violence and Islamic terrorism. There has so far not been a specific ideological motive tied to the alleged shooter who has been charged with Charlie Kirk's murder.

Click here to read Edsall's full essay in the New York Times (subscription required).

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Trump exploiting Kirk's murder to spread his 'political religion' of division: historian

Last week's murder of MAGA activist Charlie Kirk has prompted President Donald Trump to use him as a "symbol" to promote his own "political religion," according to a historian and journalist.

In a Tuesday essay for Religion News Service (RNS), former Harvard University professor Mark Silk lamented that Trump was using the shocking public killing of Kirk as an excuse to crack down on his ideological opponents, and accused the president of creating a "political religion" centered around hate and division. He contextualized Trump's response to Kirk's murder in former President Abraham Lincoln's reflection that in the wake of tragedies, presidents should speak "with malice toward none, with charity for all ... to bind up the nation’s wounds."

"Trump has, unsurprisingly, done nothing of the sort in this time of crisis, transgressing civil religious norms with utter self-awareness," Silk wrote.

In his RNS essay, Silk reminded readers that during an interview with Fox & Friends, Trump passed up an opportunity to be a uniter and instead said he "couldn't care less" about bringing the country together. Silk contrasted Trump's approach with that of Italian historian Emilio Gentile, who said that government should seek to create a "civil religion" that is built on "a plurality of ideas, free competition in the exercise of power and the ability of the governed to dismiss their governments through peaceful and constitutional methods."

"In place of a civil religion that sacralizes the political system to include those with whom we disagree, Trump has embraced a political religion that excludes them — one that, as Gentile put it, 'is intolerant, invasive, and fundamentalist, and ... wishes to permeate every aspect of an individual’s life and of a society’s collective life,'" Silk wrote.

Silk also drew a parallel between Trump's response to Kirk's death with the 1930 death of far-right German paramilitary leader Horst Wessel. After Wessel was shot, his death became a rallying cry for the far-right movement in Germany that led to World War II. Silk worried that Trump's actions were making Charlie Kirk into an American Horst Wessel, to be propagandized for today's far-right movement in the United States.

"Today, the canonization of Charlie Kirk proceeds apace. Tributes to him as a stalwart of free speech rights have come from expected and unexpected quarters, even as some are fired from their jobs for daring to criticize him. There are songs celebrating him as a martyr to a great cause," Silk wrote. "He is fast becoming the Horst Wessel of Trump’s political religion."

Click here to read Silk's essay in full.

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'Something is wrong': MAGA pundits say Trump is 'lying to us' about Charlie Kirk shooting

Even though the alleged murderer of Charlie Kirk has been apprehended – and even reportedly confessed in a Discord group chat — that hasn't stopped MAGA pundits from spreading conspiracy theories accusing President Donald Trump's administration of not telling the whole truth.

Bulwark reporter Will Sommer wrote Monday that the MAGA media world was being "pulled apart" by conspiracies questioning the FBI's handling of Kirk's murder. Far-right podcast host Michael Savage suggested over the weekend that alleged killer Tyler Robinson was a patsy, doubting the government's claims that he disassembled the rifle used for the killing before jumping off of a rooftop, only to re-assemble it before abandoning the weapon (a firearms expert told NewsNation that it was indeed possible for the gunman to disassemble the weapon relatively quickly with the help of "after-market accessories.")

"Something is wrong with this whole f------ picture," Savage said. "We are not hearing or seeing reality ... We're supposed to believe a guy is on the run after killing Charlie Kirk, and he pauses in the woods to reinstall a barrel. And he leaves it there for us to find, for the FBI to find?"

"I don't believe a word of it," "I can't take it anymore. I can't take the bulls---," he added. "This f------ government is lying to us!"

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon also doubted the veracity of the FBI's investigation in a recent episode of his "War Room" podcast. He argued that the government's timeline of events "makes no sense" and that Americans were being "spoonfed a narrative" that wasn't true.

"Charlie Kirk was executed," Bannon tweeted. "This isn’t a 'single murder'; it’s a conspiracy."

Pro-Trump podcaster Candace Owens also suggested the administration was withholding information about Kirk's murder in her latest episode. Owens pointed out that before Kirk was killed, he had taken a more critical stance against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and that his comments led to a confrontation with billionaire Bill Ackman, who donates to pro-Israel causes. The Anti-Defamation League found that in the days following Kirk's murder, a number of right-wing antisemitic social media accounts were suggesting that Israel was somehow involved in the shooting (no evidence has emerged tying Israel to Kirk's murder).

Click here to read Sommer's full article in the Bulwark.

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'A lot of mess coming': Michael Steele warns of economic chaos if Trump takes over Fed

On Monday, the U.S. Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's latest pick for the Federal Reserve, Stephen Miran, on a party-line vote., allowing him to participate in Tuesday's meeting in which the Fed will likely vote on whether to cut interest rates. MSNBC host Michael Steele lamented that the president is now one step closer to forcing the nation's central bank to submit to his will.

During an interview with former Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutor Ankush Khardori, Steele argued that Trump's moves to cement control of the Fed were creating a "very troubling economic environment." He noted that when the executive branch was constantly colliding with the judicial branch over how much control a president can have over an independent institution like the Fed, "the American people are the ones who get caught in the middle."

"One of the things that's i'm fascinated about is what does this look like on the other side of tomorrow?" Steele said.

"The reality is, there's a lot of mess coming tomorrow, he continued. "And in some sense, this administration has – besides lying about that – have been hiding the ball from a lot of the American people and sort of telling them, 'oh, no, the economy is going to be great. Just let us get the power and the economy is going to be great.' But history has told us it's replete with examples where that's not the case."

Khardori responded to Steele's point by saying he felt particularly pessimistic about Trump's continued assault on the Fed's independence. He observed that while the Supreme Court has so far kept Trump's attempts to influence the Fed's board of governors, he has already made significant headway toward his goal of having loyalists in charge of monetary policy.

" Trump has already gotten a long way down the line of eliminating the independence of federal agencies. The Fed is just the last one that the Supreme Court has basically said, 'well, maybe this one might be special,'" Khardori said. "They didn't really give a very good reason, but they seem to understand politically that this would be a mess if they eliminated Fed independence entirely. So Trump has gotten a lot of what he wanted."

The Fed is expected to cut interest rates after tomorrow's meeting by 25 to 50 basis points. Even though Trump has been calling for rates to be lowered since the start of his second term, prominent economists have said that even a significant rate cut won't give the economy enough of a jolt to overcome the damage from Trump's tariffs and his mass deportations of undocumented immigrants whose labor fuels numerous critical economic sectors like agriculture, hospitality and healthcare.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

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'We don't care': Fox host downplays murder of Democratic lawmaker in profane meltdown

One primetime Fox News host appeared to downplay one prominent recent instance of right-wing political violence while exclusively blaming the left for the rise in political violence across the United States.

During the Monday episode of Fox News' "The Five," co-host Greg Gutfeld was arguing that the increase in political violence was one-sided, when liberal co-panelist Jessica Tarlov asked him about the murder of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D), who was murdered along with her husband Mark in June. The alleged murderer also shot Minnesota state senator Jon Hoffman (D) and his wife, Yvette — though they survived – and had a "hit list" of 45 other political leaders, all of whom were Democrats. Sen. Hoffman was shot nine times, while his wife was shot eight times.

"You want to talk about Melissa Hortman? Did you know her name before it happened? None of us did," he said. "None of us were spending every single day talking about Mrs. Hortman. I never heard of her until after she died!"

"So she doesn't matter?" Tarlov asked.

"Don't play that bulls--- with me," Gutfeld said after a pause. "You know what I'm saying is, there was no demonization, amplification of that woman before she died. It was a specific crime against her by someone who knew her."

"The fact of the matter is, the 'both sides' argument, not only doesn't fly, we don't care," he added. "We don't care about your both sides argument. That s--- is dead. There is no cognitive dissonance on our side."

The conversation about political violence comes in the wake of last week's murder of far-right activist Charlie Kirk. While the alleged shooter was registered non-partisan, he was raised by Republican parents and his grandmother told the Daily Mail that she wasn't aware of a single Democrat in the shooter's family. Messages on bullets found in the alleged shooter's rifle have been linked to obscure memes and niche video game references. No ideological motive has yet been confirmed.

absolutely repugnant, gutfeld completely dismisses the assassination of melissa hortman, calls it a "bull shit" example of political violence
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew.bsky.social) 2025-09-15T22:06:48.197Z

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'They should be put in jail': Trump threatens protesters with 'criminal RICO' charges

President Donald Trump is now suggesting that people protesting his policies should be targeted with wide-ranging investigations typically reserved for organized crime.

During a Monday press gaggle in the Oval Office, Trump spoke about being confronted by protesters at a Washington D.C. restaurant last week who compared his presidency to that of World War II-era Germany. Protesters were also railing against Trump's federalization of law enforcement in the capital city and calling for a cessation of hostilities in Gaza. While flanked by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others, Trump suggested he may prosecute protesters under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

"You can see they're professional agitators. I had one the other night. I had four. All in one group. Total phonies," Trump said. "They started to scream when I got into the restaurant. Something about Palestine ... One woman got up, she just started screaming."

"She's a mouthpiece. She was a paid agitator. And you have a lot of them, and I've asked Pam [Bondi] to look into that, in terms of RICO bringing RICO cases against them. Criminal RICO," he continued. "Because they should be put in jail. What they're doing to this country is really subversive."

Trump didn't name any particular individuals in his call for RICO prosecutions, but when a reporter asked him if he was considering designating Antifa (anti-fascist action, which the FBI has said is an ideology and not an organization) as a terrorist group, he responded affirmatively. He also insinuated that he was considering giving additional leftist groups the same federal designation.

"It's something I would do. Yeah. There are other groups," Trump responded. "And I've been speaking with the attorney general about bringing RICO against some of the people you've been reading about."

Trump invoking RICO is particularly noteworthy as he and others were charged under Georgia's RICO statute after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted Trump and 18 other co-conspirators for allegedly plotting to interfere with Georgia's 2020 presidential election. The investigation was put on hold after Trump was reelected last November, and is not expected to resume until after Trump leaves office in 2029.

— (@)

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'He's not doing well': Psychologists say Trump showing telltale signs of 'early dementia'

Two psychologists have recently pointed to several indicators that they argue show President Donald Trump is battling "early dementia."

The Daily Beast reported Monday that in the latest episode of the podcast "Shrinking Trump," psychologists John Gartner (who was educated at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University) and Harry Segal (a psychology professor at Cornell University) said Trump's pattern of falling asleep in public is particularly concerning for the 79 year-old president. They pointed to Trump's attendance at the U.S. Open men's singles final between Italy's Jannik Sinner and Spain's Carlos Alcaraz as just the latest example of a pattern the president has exhibited before.

"You’re at the finals of the U.S. Open, a riveting performance ... you’re the center of attention," Gartner said. "So how does Trump react? Oh, he’s asleep again, just like he slept through most of the days of his criminal trial."

The two also noticed that one side of Trump's face appeared to be drooping while he was attending a commemoration of the 24th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Asymmetrical facial drooping is typically associated with stroke patients, or with people who suffer from Bell's palsy. And they said Trump's swollen ankles could be a sign of another chronic condition.

"Congestive heart failure is what typically causes swelling, you know, largely swollen ankles. I think he’s not, I mean, he’s not doing well," Segal said. He maintained that Trump's facial drooping was "significant" and "not a normal face."

Trump has also been seen in public with large bruises on his hands, which he has occasionally attempted to cover with makeup. While the White House has said the bruising is a combination of Trump's frequent handshaking and aspirin use, Gartner pushed back and argued that Trump may be more sick than the administration is letting on.

“They’re obviously hiding the more serious problem,” Gartner said. “He’s probably getting some kind of IV fluids.”

Click here to read the Beast's full article (subscription required).

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'Tremendous pressure': GOP senator predicts party will fold over rural hospital closures

President Donald Trump's signature domestic policy law's cuts to Medicaid is already wreaking havoc on rural hospitals — particularly in some of the reddest states. One Senate Republican is already fearing the backlash from voters could require an intervention.

According to a Monday report in Politico, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) predicted that Republicans may soon have to go back to the drawing board to rework H.R. 1 ("The One Big Beautiful Bill Act") in order to preserve hundreds of rural hospitals across the country.

"As the implications of the bill become better known, I think there’s going to be tremendous pressure to change the law," Collins told the World Medical Innovation Forum (which was attended by numerous healthcare executives) in Boston, Massachusetts.

"But we’re going to need the evidence, the stories, the research that didn’t occur," she continued. "... People who didn’t get the care in time because they were diagnosed only when they show up at your emergency room, rather than by a primary care physician."

Trump's massive tax and spending law could close as many as 338 rural hospitals that overwhelmingly rely on Medicaid patients to stay open, according to research from the University of North Carolina's Sheps Center for Health Services Research. The Sheps Center found that in Maine, the Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle and the Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth are at risk of closing.

Collins — who is both the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – is presumed to be running for a sixth term in the U.S. Senate. And because Maine has a Democratic governor and voted for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in 2024, Collins could be in for a particularly tough fight with several Democratic challengers already having declared their campaigns.

Click here to read Politico's report in full.

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'Paxton has got to drop out': Internet erupts over details of MAGA AG's alleged affair

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) — a close ally of President Donald Trump – is now accused of having a sordid affair with a conservative Christian influencer, according to a new report.

The Daily Mail reported Friday that Paxton is accused of having secret trysts with 57 year-old Tracy Duhon, who is an author and mother of seven. Duhon — the former wife of Louisiana-based car dealership owner Troy Duhon — reportedly met Paxton at the 2024 Kentucky Derby, and both stayed at the home of a mutual friend during their visit to Louisville. Two months after the Derby, Duhon filed for divorce from her then-husband.

According to the Mail's unnamed sources, Paxton and Duhon took frequent trips together behind their spouses' backs, including to several overseas locations. The Mail reported that one inside source told the publication that Paxton was "enamored" with Duhon's "faith."

The news of the affair comes just months after Paxton's former wife, Angela — a Republican member of the Texas State Senate — announced the end of their 38-year marriage in a tweet. While Angela Paxton didn't specifically mention an affair in her tweet, she said she was seeking a divorce "on Biblical grounds."

Social media users reacted strongly to the news of Paxton's alleged infidelity, with some suggesting the news could have a major impact on Texas' Republican U.S. Senate primary next year in which Paxton is aiming to unseat Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Cornyn is currently polling just six points ahead of Paxton according to a late August Texas Public Opinion Research poll. Paxton previously led in the polls prior to the news of his divorce.

Eric Michael Garcia, who is the Washington D.C. bureau chief at the Independent, suggested that the Mail's report was the result of Paxton "going full Thom Tillis." This may be a reference to the 2020 election in which a sex scandal sunk Democrat Cal Cunningham's hopes of unseating Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) Journalist and podcaster Karly Kingsley simply wrote: "This is exhausting."

Investment banker Evaristus Odinikaeze slammed the "pretentious sanctimony" of Texas Republicans as a whole, and opined that Paxton's push for redrawing Texas' congressional districts was done "in exchange for a future pardon" as well as "an emotional deflection from his infidelity and promiscuity." One X user responded to the Mail's report by tweeting:"Ok this guy could actually lose Texas," while another insisted the news meant that "Paxton has got to drop out."

Click here to read the Mail's full report (subscription required).

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'We have most of the guns': Dem rep posts audio of 'violent and graphic threats' from MAGA

One Democratic member of the House of Representatives is now sharing disturbing audio of death threats that supporters of President Donald Trump recently called into his office.

The Hill reported Friday that Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) posted a minute-long clip of several death threats to both Moulton and his children after he called on President Donald Trump to take the lead on calming the national temperature in the wake of MAGA activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. Many of the threats were profane and detailed, and at least one caller explicitly said "MAGA" before threatening Moulton's life.

"I pray to God some good old MAGA boy blows your motherf------- brains out," the caller can be heard saying. "We have most of the guns, and you won't find very many Democrats at the shooting range. We know what we're doing."

"I would spend the rest of my f------ life in federal prison to make America great again by eliminating somebody like you," the threat continued. "I pray for your violent, bloody anguishing death."

"My office has received an extraordinary number of violent and graphic threats yesterday and today from right-wing individuals online and over the phone—directed toward me, my family, and my staff—after I pointed out the simple fact that President Trump should join Speaker Johnson and other level-headed Republicans in condemning political violence, not inciting it further," Moulton tweeted. "The solution to political disagreement in America is never violence. It should be easy for everybody to say that."

After Kirk's death was announced on Wednesday, Trump took to his social media platform to blame Kirk's death on "radical left political violence." And on Friday morning, he joined Fox & Friends to say he "couldn't care less" about uniting the country and doubled down on his attacks on the political left.

After 22 year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson was arrested for allegedly shooting Kirk, new details have emerged showing that he was raised in a staunchly pro-Trump family. While Robinson himself was registered as non-partisan in recent elections, his grandmother said she wasn't aware of a single Democrat in their family.

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