Trump, Sweeney, and the Woke Mob Reporter Roundtable
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Fox News
44 minutes ago
- Fox News
DAVID MARCUS: Bring back the Redskins, and everything else torn down by wokeness
There was a rare bit of good news out of the nation's capital this week with a report that the owners of Washington's NFL team are seriously considering President Donald Trump's demand to restore the name "Redskins." It was back in 2020, a year of abject and bizarre societal madness, that the Redskins became the Washington Football Team, and eventually the Commanders, out of concern that "Redskin" is an offensive term. Never mind that poll after poll shows actual American Indians do not object to it. It wasn't just the Redskins. In the wake of the woke madness of 2020, statues were toppled all over the country. Of course, it started with Confederate monuments, which were low-hanging fruit, but soon statues of Christopher Columbus and Teddy Roosevelt were also falling. Perhaps the best, or worst, example was the removal of the Emancipation Memorial in Boston. This was a statue of Abraham Lincoln freeing a slave, erected in 1879, the design of which was literally paid for by freed slaves. The intergalactic hubris of the officials in Boston, who thought they knew better how to celebrate the end of slavery than actual slaves, shows exactly why the memorials and names excised by wokeness must all return. The Left believes firmly that the arc of history bends towards their preferences, and that "social justice" is a one-way ratchet, that their victories cannot be undone. But in fact, there is no reason we have to accept that. What 2020 showed us was that the iconoclastic impulse to destroy the images and symbols of a society is insatiable. No sooner do they ruin one sacred idol than they move onto the next one and the next one, until mothers are called birthing people. Had there been any kind of rational process in 2020 to determine what monuments should stay or go, we might have been able to reach considered compromises on the most questionable: The Cleveland Indians and Nathan Bedford Forrest are not the same. But that didn't happen. Instead, we saw mass hysteria, from the mob, the state, and corporations. Pull down the statues first, ask questions never, was the order of the day. This is why, for Americans to truly heal from the wound that was 2020, not just its avalanche of wokeness, but also the draconian COVID lockdowns that accompanied it, we need to hit the reset button and bring back what we so carelessly destroyed. Five years from now, on a chilly Sunday, with their team losing to the Eagles, Washington fans should be able to say, "Remember how we stopped calling them the Redskins? That was stupid," and know that a wrong has been righted. Likewise, if on a spring day in Gotham, New Yorkers can once again tip their hat to the once-toppled Teddy Roosevelt statue, then they too will know that we are the makers of history, not just passengers along for the inevitable Marxist ride. The urge to destroy monuments and names is nothing new. In Ancient Egypt we call it damnatio memoriae when one Pharoah scratched off the name of a predecessor. In the Middle Ages, we call it Iconoclasm, and it tore apart the Christian faith. Troves of knowledge and artistic treasure have been destroyed by well-intentioned people of the past, who just knew deep down, that they had to protect not just their contemporaries, but all of humanity to come, by destroying what they saw as offensive. Today, we have a choice. 2020 was only 5 years ago. We can still restore what was lost, yes, even the General Lee statue in Richmond, and then, perhaps, enter into some rational process to decide what, if any, history we wish to deprive future generations of. The message needs to be clear that when mistakes are made, our society can and will go back. Just as we went back from the "progressive" policy of letting men play in women's sports, we can go back to a time when we respected the past, instead of abhorring and eviscerating it. 2020 was a year of almost unfathomable destruction, loss of life, loss of liberty, and loss of historical monuments and names, but often, out of destruction grows renewal, and the owners of, as Trump currently puts it, the Washington Whatevers have a chance to bring that renewal to fruition. So Hail to the Redskins, and the Roosevelts and Lincolns too. Hail to Columbus and his oceans blue. This is our history, and it is time for us to reclaim it.
New York Post
12 hours ago
- New York Post
Sydney Sweeney's voter registration revealed amid American Eagle's ‘good jeans' ad backlash
Her jeans are red. Actress Sydney Sweeney's voter registration has come to light amid the woke backlash surrounding her controversial American Eagle denim campaign. The 27-year-old 'Euphoria' actress has been registered with the Republican Party of Florida in Monroe County since June 2024, according to public voter records viewed by The Post. 4 Sydney Sweeney in American Eagle jeans. American Eagle The starlet's party affiliation was first reported by Buzzfeed News Saturday, after a viral post on X that read: 'was about to make a whole youtube video exploring sydney sweeney's choices not defending her but going through her career context and i just found out this lady is an actual registered member of the republican party as of 2024.' 4 The 'White Lotus' starlet is a registered Republican voter in Florida. Getty Images for Armani beauty The post was part of a fierce firestorm ignited by lefty critics over the provocative ad featuring the blonde-haired, blue-eyed 'White Lotus' starlet — with some even comparing it to 'Nazi propaganda' that's promoting racism and eugenics. In one video released as part of the marketing campaign, Sweeney explains that genes are passed down from parents to offspring 'often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,' before proclaiming, 'my jeans are blue.' A narrator then chimes in, 'Sydney Sweeney, has great jeans.' 4 Illustration of the Republican and Democratic party logos. eMIL' – In another ad, the actress approaches a billboard with her likeness and the phrase, 'Sydney Sweeney has great genes,' which she alters to cross out 'genes' and write 'jeans.' American Eagle shot back at critics Friday, defending its denim campaign and the 'Anyone But You' star. ''Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans,' the company said in a statement. 'Her jeans. Her story.' 'We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way,' the statement said. 'Great jeans look good on everyone.' 4 The ad sparked debate over 'Nazi propaganda,' racism and eugenics. American Eagle Even the White House jumped into the fray, with President Trump's communications director, Steven Cheung, coming to Sweeney's defense in a post late Tuesday that called the left-wing blowback 'cancel culture run amok.' While Sweeney herself has yet to respond to the public reaction, this is now the second time the Emmy nominee has ruffled feathers in liberal circles. Sweeney faced sharp criticism in 2022 after her family threw a 60th birthday party for her mother, where revelers wore red caps that played on the MAGA slogan – 'Make Sixty Great Again' — and 'Blue Lives Matter' shirts. She said at the time the family hoedown was misinterpreted as an 'absurd' political statement. Sweeney's reps didn't immediately return requests for comment.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Opinion - TikTok can shape America's next generation and Beijing knows it
If Washington doesn't act urgently, content pushed by TikTok and consumed by young Americans will result in future U.S. leaders unwittingly parroting China's talking points, advocating warped views and, most dangerously, acting in ways that are in Beijing's interests but undermine U.S. national security. There is admittedly no 'smoking gun,' but TikTok represents a highly plausible vector of intelligence collection. ByteDance, TikTok's parent firm, claims it is committed to U.S. national security, but is legally bound to cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party. The People's Republic of China almost certainly uses TikTok, at a minimum, as a collection platform to monitor public opinion. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and TikTok agreed in January 2023 to maintain all U.S. data within the U.S., but there are concerning reports of leaks. With 170 million U.S. users, TikTok provides Beijing with real-time, granular insight into American public opinion. That real-time data collection would prove enormously useful, for instance, in assessing U.S. willingness to fight in a hypothetical conflict over Taiwan. But the challenge from TikTok with America's youth is not just collection, but influence. Early evidence suggests this is already underway. A Rutgers study found TikTok suppressed unfavorable accounts of sensitive topics, including Tibet, Tiananmen Square, Uyghur rights and Xinjiang. 'Heavy' users expressed elevated positive attitudes toward China's human rights record and greater interest in traveling to China. Given that the company's black box algorithm thwarts independent verification, we likely have seen only the tip of the iceberg of Beijing's efforts to sway the U.S. public. The algorithm could convulse U.S. domestic politics by sowing discord and highlighting divisions, an outcome that serves Beijing's interest in undermining U.S. cohesion and painting D.C. as an unreliable partner. Indeed, rather than bolstering one candidate or another, TikTok may act as an anti-incumbent tool. In the 2024 election, TikTok contributed to President Biden's low approval ratings, according to one Democratic strategist. In that election, President Trump's support among 18-29-year-olds, which disproportionately comprises TikTok's user base, rose by seven points from 2020. And yet, by April, only three months into office, Trump's support among young people has declined markedly — by up to 27 points. While there are admittedly many variables at play, TikTok can amplify alienation and short-term sentiment swings. Whatever one's politics, it's dangerous for China to retain levers that can subtly shape American public opinion, especially by amplifying dissatisfaction. It's worth noting that as Beijing uses tools to manipulate the U.S. public, especially its youth, it's taking meaningful steps to protect its own young people. Douyin, the version of TikTok used in China and also owned by ByteDance, is required by authorities to enforce a 'youth mode,' limiting users under 14 to app usage for just 40 minutes a day. It also locks them out between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily. The contrast is stark: China exports attention-fracturing content while shielding its own youth from it. China's use of TikTok may allow it to influence mass and elite opinion. And in fact, TikTok may be uniquely effective at influencing elite views, by enabling microtargeting. Given TikTok's effectiveness and deniability, as well as Beijing's determination to supplant the United States, Chinese security services are likely tweaking TikTok's algorithms to micro-target key users. Chinese security services can directly shape TikTok's algorithm — rather than merely exploit one built by others — giving it a deniable, end-to-end influence over what users see. Crucially, any elite-focused information operation via TikTok would be even more difficult to detect in the unclassified domain than efforts to shape mass public opinion because of how narrow and precise the targeting would be. For far too long, U.S. leaders on both sides of the aisle have failed to take action against the platform. And the reported decision by President Trump to tell U.S. companies they can ignore the law barring American companies from engaging with TikTok represents a new and immediate danger to U.S. national and economic security. At a minimum, it is imperative to ensure the U.S. is not allowing companies or individuals to engage with TikTok so long as its algorithm is controlled by a Beijing-linked company. But U.S. policymakers need to go even further and consider, for example, more ambitious measures such as national limits on short-video screen time for minors. The status quo is incomprehensible and dangerous: Young Americans are being asked to unwittingly face off against an algorithm that may be a tool of Chinese intelligence services. Allowing this dynamic to persist risks eroding the cognitive, civic and strategic foundations of American leadership. Jonathan Panikoff is a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council's GeoEconomics Center and the former director of the Investment Security Group, overseeing the intelligence community's CFIUS efforts at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Joseph Webster is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and editor of the independent China-Russia Report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
