Newsbusters

Life under the segregationist Trump regime is horrible enough. But it threatens to get even worse! 

Soon, large swaths of the population will be incapable of reading about just how horrible things are . . . because they will be incapable of reading at all!

That is, if you buy into MSNBC’s doomsaying. 

NAACP president Derrick Johnson was a guest on Sunday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Weekend, and much of the hand-wringing focused on the Trump administration’s efforts to say sayonara to the Department of Education.

Attempting to broaden his scaremongering beyond African-Americans and Latinos, and induce whites to also dread the end of the DoE, Johnson said:

“In Alabama in 1965, when you went to the polls to vote, white folks would go vote and they voted on symbols, because the illiteracy rate of white Alabamians at the time was so high they could not read a ballot. If we continue down this road, it’s not only going to have a disastrous impact on African Americans and Latinos, it’s going to have a disastrous impact on working class whites.”

Yup, by 2028, those darn Trumpists will replace the Republican presidential candidate’s name on the ballot with an angel emoji, and the Democrat’s with a devil!

During his spiel, Johnson also managed to slur William F. Buckley Jr., someone dear to our NewsBusters’ hearts. Not only is WFB credited as the innovator of modern conservatism, but he was also the uncle of L. Brent Bozell III, the founder of the Media Research Center.

In describing the line of those pushing back against FDR’s New Deal policies, Johnson said they included: “[The] John Birch Society, and they later connected with William F. Buckley, and then they hooked up with George Wallace.”

By associating him with the John Birch Society and George Wallace, Johnson slandered Buckley. WFB famously expelled the Birchers from the conservative movement over their conspiracy theories so extreme that they even accused President Eisenhower of being a “dedicated, conscious agent” of the Communists. 

As for Wallace, Buckley was a harsh critic of his segregationist views. Buckley even brought Wallace onto his famous show, Firing Line, for what was later described as a “takedown” of the Alabama governor.

Co-host Michael Steele also got into the act. He approvingly read a statement by a “real dear buddy” who wrote:

“Jim Crow has left the South and now roams the country as his grandson, James E. Crow, Esquire. The segregationists played the long game while we were asleep at the wheel.” 

This is a stale echo of Biden’s ranting about the Republicans representing “Jim Crow 2.0.” If Trump is such a racist, why did he receive a higher percentage of the black vote than any Republican presidential candidate in 48 years?

The outrageous irony is that nowadays, the real segregationists aren’t the Jim Crow 2.0 crowd. They’re the people behind graduation ceremonies, university classes, college dorms, scholarship programs, government contracts, etc. that exclude people of pallor. 

At my Cornell alma mater, there was even a rock climbing class that was initially labeled as exclusively for “people who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, or other people of color.”
Guess Cornell didn’t want people of color to be caught between a rock and a white place.

Note: Co-host Symone Sanders approvingly quoted someone who criticized Democrat elected officials for “bringing a pillow to a gunfight.” And liberals accuse conservatives of fomenting a climate of violence?

Here’s the transcript.

MSNBC
The Weekend
3/23/25
8:43 am EDT

DERRICK JOHNSON: This goes well beyond just the black community. In Alabama in 1965, when you went to the polls to vote, white folks would go vote and they voted on symbols, because the illiteracy rate of white Alabamians at the time was so high they could not read a ballot. 

If we continue down this road, it’s not only going to have a disastrous impact on African Americans and Latinos, it’s going to have a disastrous impact on working class whites. And unfortunately, they’re using the tools of race to distract as they redefine the role of government for everybody. 

. . . 

SYMONE SANDERS: President Johnson, I’m just kind of like, I’m rarely without words. But it just seems as though that, I think I heard a voter describe this the other day at a town hall that Ali Vitali covered, that our elected officials are bringing, Democratic elected officials are bringing a pillow to a gunfight, if you will. 

. . . 

JOHNSON: Everyone has been caught flat-footed. No one thought that this level of attack would be here, but we’ve seen this before, and there’s gonna be 
harm. And so we have to gear up and be in the fight that we’re actually in and not the fight we think we’re in. 

The fight we’re actually in goes back to 1932 New Deal policies and the role of government and the redefining of the government, when John Birch Society and those, that elite class, and they later connected with William F. Buckley and the intellectual class, and then they hooked up with George Wallace, and they had a populist movement. And now they, then they created the Heritage Foundations, Cato Institute, Enterprise, and all of the think tanks in ’80, then they created ALEC, all of which was around trying to push back against that original set of policies to redefine the role of government by taxing the ultra wealthy. 

This is not just a civil rights fight. This is not just a populist 
or economic fight. This is a fight around the definition concerning the role of government and how we show up as a nation. 

. . . 

MICHAEL STEELE: President Johnson, you have just in this moment crystallized, and I’m going to give you the last word on this point, a conversation I was having with a real dear buddy of mine. I’m just going to read this little bit because, I just can’t believe how you put this. 

He said to me, “I feel we are at the end of the second Reconstruction: 1964 to 2024. Jim Crow has left the South and now roams the country as his grandson, James E. Crow, Esquire. The segregationists played the long game while we were asleep at the wheel.” 

Rachel DelGuidice at Fox News reports that Time magazine is upset that ICE has detained an illegal immigrant they touted in their “Time100” most influential people of 2017. She’s been caught up in “Donald Trump’s politicized deportation crackdown,” as if Time never politicized immigration under Trump.  

“In 1997, Jeanette Vizguerra left Mexico City for Colorado, where she became a janitor and immigration reform advocate,” the Wednesday article in Time read. “Twenty years later, she was one of the most influential people in the world.” Celebrities often write these tribute articles. Vizguerra was championed by actress America Ferrera, who starred in the TV shows Ugly Betty and Superstore and the dreadful Barbie movie.

In other countries, when democracy is on the line, the public doesn’t just watch. They flood the streets. They shut down business as usual. They take nonviolent action.

Some families have emergency plans for fires, earthquakes or tornadoes. Jeanette Vizguerra’s family had an emergency plan for a dreaded knock at the door. If U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials came to her home, her children knew to film the encounter, alert friends and family and hide in the bedroom. The Vizguerra family lived in terror of being ripped apart by deportation.

Jeanette moved to the U.S. to be a janitor, working as an outspoken union organizer and building her own company before becoming an advocate for immigration reform—a bold and risky thing for an undocumented immigrant. After fighting off deportation for eight years, she decided to go public with her story and sought refuge in the basement of a Denver church.

Team Biden’s administration allowed illegal immigrants to stay in churches or schools to avoid arrest, and when Team Trump revoked that on January 21, liberal journalists had a cow over how ICE agents would be able to go into public or sacred spaces and arrest people.  

Time put Ferrera on its Most Influential list last year.

Naturally, Ferrera (a big Kamala backer) took to her Instagram to protest: 

Jeanette Vizguerra has inspired me since I had the privilege of profiling her for TIME 100 in 2017. She is a mother who has always wanted what all mothers want: safety for her family, herself, and her Colorado community. Now, she has been detained by ICE without warning.

For added unintentional comedy,  DelGuidice reported that Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) is hopping mad at this “controversial” detention. He called it “Putin-style persecution of political dissidents.” As opposed to the audacity of illegal immigrants publicly advocating illegal immigration. Democrats — including Time magazine editors and reporters — love that bold, risky “underdog” radicalism. 

Jeanette Vizguerra is a mom of American citizens, a Target employee, a nonprofit leader and an immigration reform advocate with no violent criminal history.
Her detainment is not about safety. This is Putin-style persecution of political dissidents. pic.twitter.com/K0L1saxPOf
— Mayor Mike Johnston (@denversmayor) March 18, 2025

Now that they’re in a public-relations battle with Republicans over defunding PBS, the network is out promoting themselves on social media, using “average Americans” who appreciate their work. 

Detroit PBS is pushing a local man named Rodger Wolff, who proclaims that “Free and accessible media are in truth critical to our rational decision-making and our holistic mental health.” He argues “Detroit PBS’s work, while sometimes seemingly discounted, is more critical to our social fabric than you probably ever imagine.”

Let’s imagine that Rodger Wolff is a die-hard Democrat, and he earnestly believes helping Democrats is “critical to our social fabric” and “critical to our rational decision-making.”

A quick peek at political contribution records shows that Rodger Wolff of Ann Arbor, the financial adviser, is not an average American. He’s a big-spending Democrat. PBS didn’t quite tell the whole story with integrity. Some might assume he’s not a partisan, or he’s a Republican who loves PBS.

PBS is the most trusted news source for News and Public Affairs programs, delivering fact-based journalism—free and accessible to all. Reliable & accessible reporting is more important than ever, and we’re here to deliver the story with integrity.https://t.co/xkHuWofgel pic.twitter.com/zxBTN3axHP
— Detroit PBS (@Detroit_PBS) February 28, 2025
Wolff began with a $250 contribution to Barack Obama for President in 2012. Since 2019, he’s donated another $13,000 to Democrats, mostly the Senate Majority PAC ($5,250) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ($5,250). He donated $2,000 to Kamala Harris for President last year. 

It’s no surprise that Democrats love PBS, and want Republicans to fund more “news” outlets that favor Democrats. That doesn’t mean it’s fair. 

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

On Thursday’s Morning Joe, as the group fretted over the Donald Trump administration’s push to eliminate the federal Department of Education, MSNBC contributor Anand Giridharadas declared that MAGA Republicans want Americans uneducated so they won’t be able to read about how bad they are for America.

Co-host Joe Scarborough recalled that conservatives have long sought to get rid of the Education Department but claimed that Republicans nowadays can’t be trusted to do it the right way:

This has been a conservative goal — like you said — and an idea for a very long time — but what we found over the years is — again, the idea always was, “Give the money, the power, the authority to the states — they would do the right things for their individual states — legislative laboratories.” That’s just not happening now, especially — again, I use Medicaid as the perfect example where you have middle class Americans and rural America who are watching their hospitals shut down, their nursing homes shut down.

He added: “You know, 50 percent of kids in rural America get their health care from Medicaid, and so, if you’re going to slash funding for Medicaid to impress your base, I can’t even imagine what you’re going to do with education.”

Giridharadas then argued that it is in the interests of Republicans for voters to be unable to read about what their agenda really is:

…I think in, in, in the modern incarnation of cutting this, they are revealing something to citizens, which is, they don’t want the most educated citizenry possible because it’s not helpful to them. People who can read and understand that climate change is happening are not favorable voters for them. People who can read and understand what they’re doing to Medicaid, to Social Security — what Elon Musk is doing — the better your reading comprehension is, the more you might not like what this administration is doing. And so an educated citizenry is not in their interests, and they’re coming for it.

Scarborough had no problem with his liberal guest’s trash talking about Republicans as the disgruntled ex-Republican followed up by asserting that there is a “civil war” within MAGA between the Steven Bannon and Elon Musk wings.

Transcript follows:

MSNBC’s Morning Joe

March 21, 2025

6:09 a.m. Eastern

JOE SCARBOROUGH: This has been a conservative goal — like you said — and an idea for a very long time — but what we found over the years is — again, the idea always was, “Give the money, the power, the authority to the states — they would do the right things for their individual states — legislative laboratories.” That’s just not happening now, especially — again, I use Medicaid as the perfect example where you have middle class Americans and rural America who are watching their hospitals shut down, their nursing homes shut down. You know, 50 percent of kids in rural America get their health care from Medicaid, and so, if you’re going to slash funding for Medicaid to impress your base, I can’t even imagine what you’re going to do with education.

ANAND GIRIDHARADAS: Yeah, I mean, I think in, in, in the modern incarnation of cutting this, they are revealing something to citizens, which is, they don’t want the most educated citizenry possible because it’s not helpful to them. People who can read and understand that climate change is happening are not favorable voters for them. People who can read and understand what they’re doing to Medicaid, to Social Security — what Elon Musk is doing — the better your reading comprehension is, the more you might not like what this administration is doing. And so an educated citizenry is not in their interests, and they’re coming for it.

SCARBOROUGH: It really goes to the divide, John, of MAGA — the MAGA world. And the divide is the populist vision, right? And that populist vision is that we’re going to help working Americans — we’re going to help people that elites have looked past — we’re going to help them move up to the middle class — help them become more successful — versus Steve Bannon’s side, sort of the technocrats, the billionaire technocrats that really are running this. And so you do have the Steve Bannon versus the Elon Musk basically civil war going on inside of MAGA. And this is definitely — this is an example again of just what Anand said, which is, you know, slash, cut, don’t even think twice about who you’re hurting — what working-class Americans in red state America, blue state America — you’re hurting.

On Saturday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Weekend, the panel had few ideas on what theme Democrats should run on. 

But there was consensus on one thing: “Fighting Oligarchy,” the name of the national tour by Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, ain’t it. 

Co-host Michael Steele: “The ‘oligarchy tour,’ I think, kind of misses middle America. Folks sitting at the local pub aren’t using the term oligarchy.” 

Eugene Daniels [who will soon be taking over as a host of The Weekend]: “[Democrats] think that the word oligarchy is maybe one that they should skip.”

Tara Setmayer [member of the disgraced Lincoln Project]: “I agree with my friend Michael Steele about the term oligarchy. 99% of the American people don’t know what that means.” [99%? A rather condescending view of her fellow Americans!]

Co-host Symone Sanders: “I agree on the oligarchy situation.”

We get it. Message to Democrats: Deep six “the oligarchy.”

But what should the message be? Daniels delivered the grim news:

“The problem now, though, is that Democrats don’t have an alternative. You have to be able to say, OK, this is what we can offer you that Republicans can’t. And that’s what they have yet to do.”

May we suggest: “A Chicken In Every Pot, And Free Beer Tomorrow!”

 

Note: The show played a clip from the Denver stop on the tour in which Ocasio-Cortez spoke of “working Americans like us.”

Yup: Alexandria’s just a working stiff, knocking down a mere $174K, with a staff of 15 to serve her and a host of generous fringe benefits. As for that other “working American” on the stage, Bernie owns three homes and at last report had an estimated net worth of $3 million. 

You might say the duo ARE the oligarchy!

Here’s the transcript.

MSNBC
The Weekend
3/22/25
8:00 am EDT

SYMONE SANDERS: Americans are giving lawmakers an earful at rowdy town halls . . .  Democrats, they are trying to fill that void, and angry voters are venting their frustrations at them, calling on the party to do more to push back against Donald Trump and Elon Musk. 

One duo who seems to be channeling that outrage: Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Tens of thousands showed up to their “Fighting Oligarchy” rally in Denver just last night. 

BERNIE SANDERS: In the hundreds of rallies that I have done, We have never, ever had a rally as large as this! The whole world is watching! And they want to know if the people of America are going to stand up to Trumpism, oligarchy, and authoritarianism. 

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: We’re all here together because we share in the frustration and heartache that comes from watching those in power actively tear down, or refuse to fight for, working Americans like us. 

. . . 

MICHAEL STEELE: The thing that I want to pick up on, Eugene, is the question I kind of put on the table is, this approach. I love it. First off, you know, the oligarchy tour, I think, kind of misses middle America —

EUGENE DANIELS: A little bit.

STEELE: — because, again, Democrats, in my view, being tone deaf from what the American people are saying. You know, folks sitting at the local pub aren’t using the term oligarchy. 

SYMONE SANDERS: Okay, wait, but I’m sorry. They’re in middle America. He launched a tour in Omaha, they were in Denver. 

STEELE: Look, again, again, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, where you launch it. It’s what you say when you launch it. And if you’re using terms and phraseology, right, that is not directly connecting people, then that becomes a concern in the process. 

I mean, you’re covering this here on the Hill and out on the streets. What are you hearing the response is to this? 

EUGENE DANIELS: I think, you know, I talked to a bunch of Democrats this week who are happy that this tour, these kinds of things are happening, just like you.

But they agree. They think that the word oligarchy is maybe one that they should skip, right? Or, and go with something like corruption, or something like that, that makes clear that there’s a connection there and that people understand in their everyday lives, and one that is already kind of exists in the lexicon of our political environment and that gets people riled up. 

. . . 

This is kind of a test case to see if these kinds of things will actually end up working. I think the bigger thing is what happens after. You’re talking about, do you try to find a way to bring some Republicans over, some of those folks that don’t like Trump? 

STEELE: Well, you have to. You can’t leave Republicans sitting on the sidelines, because a lot of Republicans like myself are like, okay, put me in, coach. 

. . . 

TARA SETMAYER: I agree with my friend Michael Steele about the term oligarchy. 99% of the American people don’t know what that means. And it’s important that terms are used that people can relate to. 

When the Tea Party was running around doing what they did back in 2009 and 2010, they weren’t using terms like oligarchy. They were using very simple phrases like death panels, hands off my healthcare, you know, things that people can relate to. 

. . . 

SANDERS: Well, I, maybe I feel the need to defend Senator Sanders here. You know, I always. You know, I feel attacked — 

STEELE: Why do you feel attacked? 

SANDERS: — on behalf of the senator. Because, look, she —

STEELE: You’re a comms person. 

SANDERS: I am a comms person. 

STEELE: You get it!

SANDERS: Now, one, I agree on the oligarchy situation. I think we’ve said before, when people are talking about fascism, these are not things that the American people can just readily identify with. 

Like, oligarchy is something you got to go look up. So perhaps we should- 

SANDERS: That’s all we’re saying. 

SANDERS: Yes, but I mean, I think the Democrats are used to putting a nice little fancy title on something. 

STEELE: Well, see where that’s gotten us. 

SANDERS: And that is a problem. That’s a part of the problem. 

. . . 

DANIELS: The problem now, though, is that Democrats also don’t have an alternative. They’re clearly the opposition. They’re figuring out what that looks like. They have to be able to give people an alternative. So you rile everyone up. You channel it. And you have to be able to say, OK, this is what we can offer you that Republicans can’t. 

SANDERS: If you put us back in charge. 

DANIELS: That’s the next step. Exactly. And that’s what they have yet to do. 

History records this of the famous Nixon Watergate scandal.

In the summer of 1972, as an American presidential election featuring incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon and Democrat Senator George McGovern swirled, two young, green Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein by name, learned of a break-in at Washington’s Watergate Hotel and office complex. A break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee. 

Neither was happy at their new assignment that had them looking into this. It was too much like the run-of-the-mill petty crimes each had already spent time investigating. Besides, the two had never worked together on a story before. 

Woodward, unhappy at another dreary task, was directed to cover the booking of the suspects. Grudgingly, he did.

Seated in a D.C. courtroom as the booking proceeded, he suddenly heard this, as he later recalled in the Woodward-Bernstein bestselling book of their tale, All the President’s Men.

The Judge asked the men their professions. Vague answers came back. One tall man was asked to step forward, and he was specifically asked his occupation.

“Security consultant” came the answer from one James McCord.

“Where?” Asked the Judge.

The man replied he was a recently retired government employee. Where in government asked the Judge.

And in a “soft drawl”, wrote Woodward, came the answer:

“CIA.”

Woodward was astonished, saying, “half aloud”…”Holy sh…..!!!!”

And with that the two young reporters were off on the investigative journalism trail that would lead to the President himself, bring down his presidency and make their young selves into world famous celebrities, replete with bestselling books telling their tale and the subject of a Hollywood blockbuster where they were portrayed by two of the Hollywood A-Listers of the day, actors Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.

This comes to mind as the television pictures flood the 21st century American media of Teslas exploding into flames, torched by angry Elon Musk – and Trump – haters.

The headlines report stories like these:

From CBS: 

Teslas in Las Vegas set on fire in “targeted attack,” police say

From Newsweek: 

Tesla Attack Map Shows Wave of Elon Musk Products Being Targeted

From Fox News: 

10 places where Tesla vehicles, dealerships were attacked this year

Tesla has become a target of protests and vandalism by critics of its founder Elon Musk over his work with the Trump administration

Safe to say those headlines are but a handful from the cascade of similar stories out there.

But what’s not out there? Unlike Woodward and Bernstein  in Watergate, there is no flurry of stories from today’s media looking into who, exactly, is responsible for all this mayhem. Who is paying for all of these Tesla attacks?

After all, there is no rocket science involved to know that the actual physical instruments of these attacks, whether explosives or actual people who do the deed – are getting money from somewhere. Molotov cocktails or, for that matter, any other kind of explosive, cost bucks. Whoever is putting together these “cocktails” has to buy the ingredients, or, if receiving them from someone else in already usable form, has to know that whomever provided them has gotten the money to do so from somebody somewhere.

So the obvious question. Where are today’s media’s Woodward and Bernstein? Who in the media is doing the grunt work that makes up investigative reporting of these decidedly violent attacks on Musk’s Teslas?

To say the least, Americans have a right to the answer.

So too does Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice. 

And not to put too fine a point on it? 

Whomever is out there financing the destruction of these Teslas, not to mention whomever is issuing death threats to Elon Musk, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. 

Cornell grad student Momodou Taal is the latest example of the Trump Administration revoking student visas in light of the holder’s anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism. CNN OutFront host Erin Burnett played dumb on Friday as she claimed that for the administration, anti-Semitism is merely a justification to go after pro-Palestinian protestors.

Burnett was talking about how the Department of Homeland Security laid off 300 employees from three divisions, including the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, when she switched to Taal, but not before using some wild rhetoric, “This Friday night, mass firing massacre coming as the Trump administration is now caught in the middle of another immigration standoff demanding the deportation of another university student involved in pro-Palestinian protests. A lawyer for Cornell University grad student Momodou Taal says ICE is now demanding he surrender to be deported.”

 

 

She then teed up a clip from her February 17 show, “Now, he’s in the United States legally on a student visa. We actually spoke to him and we saw—he said he saw this coming a couple of months ago, he told our reporter, Elle Reeve that he’s living in fear because of his views.”

In the clip, Taal accuses university leadership and Trump of being out to get them, “Of course, there’s like a fear for many international students right now, but that’s the intended effect with the levels of repression that the university has meted out on their students. It was done in such a way to lull and bring down the protesters. And I think what Trump is trying to do now is a continuation of that kind of policy.”

Burnett simply took Taal’s claims at face value, “Well, that is now playing out in court. They’re demanding his surrender.”

A few minutes later, she turned to Taal’s case and claimed, “And without even knowing the specifics of his case right, they’re saying if someone was involved in those protests, that would put them suspect of just definitional anti-Semitism or supporting terrorism that could allow them to be kicked out of the country regardless of their legal status, which is pretty stunning in and of itself.”

Back in the real world, the Washington Free Beacon has reported that Taal has claimed he takes “cue from the armed resistance in Palestine,” views “every single Zionist is a sick sick individual,” and claimed “Zionists are indeed the chosen people… Chosen for hell.”

He also declared, “We are in solidarity with the armed resistance in Palestine from the river to the sea.” Taal also praised October 7, “The dialect demands: That wherever you have oppression, you will find those who [are] fighting against it. Glory to the resistance!”

After receiving his visa, he tweeted, “Student Visa issued. We going to America baby! Alhamdulillah!” and “When the enemy is US imperialism, then absolutely anyone the US calls an enemy is my friend.”

The scandal isn’t that Taal is going to be deported; it’s why he was let in in the first place.

Here is a transcript for the March 21 show:

CNN Erin Burnett OutFront

3/22/2025

7:02 PM ET

ERIN BURNETT: This Friday night, mass firing massacre coming as the Trump administration is now caught in the middle of another immigration standoff demanding the deportation of another university student involved in pro-Palestinian protests. A lawyer for Cornell University grad student Momodou Taal says ICE is now demanding he surrender to be deported. Now, he’s in the United States legally on a student visa. We actually spoke to him and we saw — he said he saw this coming a couple of months ago, he told our reporter, Elle Reeve that he’s living in fear because of his views.

MOMODOU TAAL: Of course, there’s like a fear for many international students right now, but that’s the intended effect with the levels of repression that the university has meted out on their students. It was done in such a way to lull and bring down the protesters. And I think what Trump is trying to do now is a continuation of that kind of policy.

BURNETT: Well, that is now playing out in court. They’re demanding his surrender.

…

7:11 PM ET

BURNETT: And, Ryan, you know, you have, we mentioned the man from Cornell. And without even knowing the specifics of his case right, they’re saying if someone was involved in those protests, that would put them suspect of just definitional anti-Semitism or supporting terrorism that could allow them to be kicked out of the country regardless of their legal status, which is pretty stunning in and of itself.

All of that context is part of what we saw even in that hearing today. So, there was something else I know that stood out to you there.

NPR recently hosted a debate between two sides. No, it’s not between Democrats and Republicans, but between liberal Democrats and really radical Democrats. On Tuesday’s Morning Edition, the establishment Democrat was old Clinton spinner Paul Begala, and the radical AOC booster was Waleed Shahid.

NPR anchor Leila Fadel began: “We’ve been watching this infighting inside the Democratic Party on how to wield its very, very limited power. In light of Senator Schumer’s move last week, is the party sort of blowing up from within? And how can they unite?”

Shahid turned immediately to denouncing a “corporate coup” by Elon Musk. This is weird, since Trump clearly told voters that Musk would be seeking out government efficiencies, and they voted for it. 

SHAHID: We need – the amount of social movement and activity we need in this country – if there’s truly a constitutional crisis, if there’s a billionaire corporate coup by Elon Musk underway, we need action.

In other countries, when democracy is on the line, the public doesn’t just watch. They flood the streets. They shut down business as usual. They take nonviolent action.They engage in boycotts. That’s not the scale of the action we’re seeing – nothing close to what we saw in 2017, with Trump’s first presidency, with – in 2020, with protests around the murder of George Floyd. If we’re serious about defending democracy, we need to flex the muscle of American civil society.

Deadly riots were “flexing the muscle of civil society”? NPR didn’t “fact check” the radical hot take.

Beqala did not come to Schumer’s defense: “Senator Schumer, I think, should have compromised. He didn’t. He caved. He had something very valuable – Democratic votes to pass the continuing resolution the Republicans wanted – and he traded it for nothing, right?”

Begala brought the happy talk: a Democrat just won a special election in a state Senate race in Iowa (where the Democrats are still in the minority by 34 to 16.) He played up the Wisconsin Supreme Court election coming soon.

Fadel stayed with her just-us-Democrats talk: “I will say we’ve heard a lot of voters express extreme disappointment in Democrats – voters who support Democrats, who might have concerns about the Trump agenda – over their failure to stand up to anything, really. So for both of you, what is your sense of how voters – Democrats – feel about their party?”

Shahid uncorked his next hot take: “I think the Democratic Party’s job is not to defend institutions. It’s to transform them. So institutions aren’t sacred relics handed down from heavens. They’re tools, and tools are only as useful as the work they’re doing.” Then he returned to the “corporate coup” kookery: “The most important thing that we need to do is focus on how we slow down this corporate coup by Elon Musk, how we gum up the works, and how we communicate to the American people.”

The Left claims they “defend democracy,” even as they ignore the fact that Donald Trump was democratically elected. NPR stands on this side, since the anchor says Democrats have shown a “failure to stand up to anything.”

It’s charitable to call the chilly reaction to “Screams Before Silence” a fluke.

The 2024 documentary recalled the rape and torture behind Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel. Sheryl Sandberg’s documentary featured first-person accounts of the savagery perpetrated against female victims.

We also saw some of the footage Hamas terrorists recorded during the invasion. It’s a tough but necessary watch.

 

 

The film was roughly an hour long and was immediately made available for free on YouTube last April. Film critics still ignored it. You can count the number of online “Screams Before Silence” reviews on two hands, with only one needed for mainstream outlets like The Wrap.

Near silence. And it just happened again.

A similar film exposing antisemitism hit theaters over the weekend, and most movie critics didn’t give it a look. That “fluke” defense is crumbling.

To be fair, “October 8” has received more attention from the film critic community.

Slightly more.

 

 

Pro-Israel celebrities like Debra Messing and Michael Rapaport join scholars in denouncing the antisemitic wave that crashed over Western culture over the last year-plus. Human rights groups stood down as Jewish students were attacked on college campuses and pro-Hamas rallies flooded major cities.

College campuses coddled pro-Palestinian extremists. Ivy League presidents refused to defend Jewish students against protracted attacks against them.

The media, in turn, too often trumpeted Hamas talking points rather than commit honest journalism. It’s a blistering film everyone should see, and it mostly succeeds in avoiding the political blame game.

Calling out religious bigotry should be a bipartisan affair.

The documentary, released nationwide on March 14, boasts just 8 reviews at RottenTomatoes.com. That’s not enough to produce an official “Tomatometer” rating. The Hollywood Reporter weighed in on the feature, as did The Washington Post.

The other reviews hail from smaller, independent sources.

What about The New York Times? The Wrap? Deadline? Variety? Indiewire? USA Today? CNN?

Nothing.

Now, compare that to the reception “No Other Land” received. The unabashedly pro-Palestinian film earned Best Documentary honors at this month’s Oscars ceremony.

 

 

The film boasts a perfect 100 percent score from 94 professional critics at RottenTomatoes.com.

Another pro-Palestinian film, “From Ground Zero,” also generated sizable support from the film critic community. That one boasts a 98 percent “fresh” rating from the 48 critics who weighed in on the film.

“October 8” director Wendy Sachs told this reporter most Hollywood stars are afraid to publicly defend Jews against antisemitism. Doing so might harm their careers, Sachs suggested.

That’s a sorry state of affairs.

What excuse do critics have for ignoring films that expose antisemitism?

Columbia University accepted the Trump Administration’s list of demands meant to clean up its anti-Semitism problem on Friday, but NBC correspondent Antonia Hylton warned on Nightly News that Trump’s eminently reasonable demands could be viewed as “extortion.”

Host Lester Holt introduced Hylton by claiming the anti-Semitism is merely alleged, “There’s news out of Columbia University tonight. The school has conceded to demands by the Trump administration over alleged anti-Semitism on campus. At stake $400 million in federal funding. Antonia Hylton is at the campus, Antonia what has Columbia agreed to?”

 

 

Columbia’s own task force found that Jewish students have faced increased violence and harassment since October 7. It also found that the school’s DEI apparatus didn’t care for diversity, equity, or inclusion when its Jewish students were being victimized because the far-left view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict holds that “white Jewish people” are the oppressors of “all brown people.”

As it was, Hylton began, “Lester, tonight Columbia relented to all of the demands after facing the Trump administration’s deadline today and threat to pull $400 million. Much of it critical science and medical funding if the university did not comply.”

She continued, “The demands include a campus mask ban, empowering campus police officers with new powers, and appointing a new administrator to oversee the Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies Department. In a statement Columbia’s president said the way that the school has been portrayed has been ‘hard to reckon with,’ adding that ‘I have every faith in our ability to overcome the greatest of challenges.’”

All three of those terms are perfectly reasonable, but Hylton still warned that “Some Columbia professors tell NBC News, though, that they see the move as a form of extortion, warning they may be the first but not the last school to face these demands. No word yet from the White House, though, Lester.”

If Trump applies that list of demands to other schools, that would be a good thing. Schools should be more forceful in dealing with illegal demonstrations and make sure their classes have actual educational value and are not just indoctrination seminars.

Here is a transcript for the March 21 show:

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt

3/21/2025

7:09 PM ET

LESTER HOLT: There’s news out of Columbia University tonight. The school has conceded to demands by the Trump administration over alleged anti-Semitism on campus. At stake $400 million in federal funding. Antonia Hylton is at the campus, Antonia what has Columbia agreed to?

ANTONIA HYLTON: Lester, tonight Columbia relented to all of the demands after facing the Trump administration’s deadline today and threat to pull $400 million. Much of it critical science and medical funding if the university did not comply.

The demands include a campus mask ban, empowering campus police officers with new powers, and appointing a new administrator to oversee the Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies Department. In a statement Columbia’s president said the way that the school has been portrayed has been “hard to reckon with,” adding that “I have every faith in our ability to overcome the greatest of challenges.”

Some Columbia professors tell NBC News, though, that they see the move as a form of extortion, warning they may be the first but not the last school to face these demands. No word yet from the White House, though, Lester.