Latest news with #ElieMystal
Fox News
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Author suggests Democrats should 'embrace pornography' to win back young men
The Democratic Party should "embrace pornography" to attract young men to their side of the aisle, a far-left author and writer argued this week. "I have many thoughts on how the Democratic Party might start to win back young men who have abandoned the party for fascism," Elie Mystal, justice correspondent and a columnist for The Nation, wrote in an article published Wednesday. "None of them involve abandoning women's rights, women's leadership, or the LGBTQ community," Mystal said. "But one of my suggestions is that the Democrats should embrace pornography and other examples of sexiness and smut under the umbrella of free speech." Mystal, who is the author of "Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America," released in March, which discusses "the flawed foundations of the rules we live by," said that pornography helps people. "Now, to be clear, pornography is viewed and enjoyed by all sorts of people, male and female, gay and straight, trans and cis," Mystal wrote. "Indeed, one of the highest, best uses of porn (I can't believe I just wrote that) is that it helps young people figure out what they're actually into. Sex-positive porn enjoyers are not a political demographic the Democrats generally have a problem with." He suggested that Democrats might have difficulty persuading straight White men that "Free Palestine" flags are included in one's right to exercise free speech, but says it will be easy to persuade men that pornography is free speech. "That's because pornography is an actual free speech issue," Mystal wrote. "So is smut. So is obscenity. These are forms of free speech that conservatives and Republicans in the government are constantly trying to regulate." Also at issue in his column is his belief that age verification laws, like the Texas law recently upheld by the Supreme Court which reaffirmed Texas' right to verify the ages of people who use pornography sites to ensure minors will not have access. The Supreme Court pointed out that about 21 other states have passed similar regulations on sexual content that could be damaging to minors. "Nobody was arguing that minors have a constitutional right to access porn," Mystal said. "But adults do. Regulating adult access to porn is a point-and-one-handed-click restriction on the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression." In a reply to Mystal's post on X sharing his article, journalist Taylor Lorenz praised his take, saying, "YES PLEASE!!!!!!! I'm screaming to the void about this. So grateful for your piece." Haley McNamara, Senior Vice President at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, condemned the take from Mystal. "No political party should embrace pornography—research shows both men and women alike are facing serious mental health challenges as a result of porn, ranging from depression and compulsive behaviors to escalating addictions and stunted sexual and social development," she told Fox News Digital. "These issues often manifest as isolation, anxiety, or difficulty forming healthy relationships. Not to mention, as exposes against Pornhub, XVideos, OnlyFans and more have shown, even mainstream porn sites are often filled with videos of sex trafficking, rape, and child sexual abuse. It is a ludicrous suggestion that any political party promotes porn on its platform."
The Hill
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
‘Hit us, please' — America's left issues a ‘broken arrow' signal to Europe
'Broken arrow' is arguably the most chilling and desperate order that an American military commander can issue. When faced with an enemy about to overrun a surrounded force, a commander uses it to call in an air or artillery strike on his own position. This month, many on the American left are issuing their own 'broken arrow' signals, including calling on globalist allies to hit the U.S. with sanctions and other measures. They are seeking to achieve through sanctions what they could not achieve through elections. The most recent such call came from commentator Elie Mystal on 'The Joy Reid Show' this week. 'Our country needs to be sanctioned,' he said. 'We are the bad guys on the world stage. We are a menace to not only free people everywhere, but we are a menace to peaceful people everywhere at this point, and I'm not even going to say that we've only been a menace for the past three or four months.' Mystal's call was hardly a surprise for those familiar with his writings. A regular commentator on MSNBC, he previously called the Constitution 'trash' and urged not just the abolition of the U.S. Senate but also of 'all voter registration laws.' Yet, he is not alone in signaling that his position is being overrun by his fellow citizens. After Elon Musk bought Twitter with a pledge to dismantle its censorship system, former Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called upon Europe to use its infamous Digital Services Act to force him to censor fellow Americans. Nina Jankowicz, the former head of Biden's infamous Disinformation Governance Board, appeared recently before the European Parliament. She called upon the 27 EU countries to fight against the U.S., which she described as a global threat. To the delight of globalists, she declared, 'Before I describe the details of Russia's recent online influence campaigns, I would like to call upon you to stand firm against another autocracy: The United States of America.' This year, I spoke in Berlin at the World Forum and was surprised to see many Americans joining European leaders in support of the forum's slogan, 'A New World Order with European Values.' Attended by figures such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, the conference heralded Europe as key to countering the threat posed by the U.S. Others denounced America as the world's villain with boycotts and protests during Fourth of July celebrations. One leading influencer declared that 'this country is beyond f**ked' and encouraged citizens to 'walk away from the illusion that they built' around this country. Democratic politicians and pundits have fueled the anger by claiming fighting the current U.S. government is like fighting against the Nazis, including most recently former Vice President Al Gore. Others like Rep. Pramila Jayapal have called ICE agents 'terrorists' for enforcing immigration laws. The crisis of faith on the left often seems to be triggered by any adverse decision or election. In 2022, the Pima County, Arizona Democratic Party tweeted 'F–k the Fourth' after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. This year, Fourth of July celebrations were canceled in Los Angeles under the claim that officials feared a mass arrest by ICE — rather implausible, considering that protests against ICE will be held as planned. Others are organizing protests this week, declaring 'F**k fourth of July. We have a king that we need to get rid of first.' The problem for those calling on the EU to fight the U.S. is democracy itself, something of a headache for the global elite in Brussels. European governments are cracking down on conservative and other groups, which are soaring in popularity, with calls for stronger borders and reversing mass immigration trends. Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and other countries have experienced a similar surge in the popularity of conservative parties. The fact is, many of the triggers for these 'No Kings' protests are the product of the democratic process from the 'Big Beautiful Bill' to changes in immigration policy. Citizens voted for change and successfully secured it, and some people are angry about it. At the same time, our courts continue to function as designed in reviewing these orders and policies. Trump has won some and lost some before the Supreme Court, as constitutional limits are defined and enforced. In my forthcoming book, Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution, I explore the future of American democracy in the 21st Century in light of economic and political movements, including the current crisis of faith of many on the left over our fundamental values and institutions. The irony is that this crisis is largely centered among the most privileged classes. Yet recent Gallup polling shows patriotism is at an all-time low. However, the drop is found almost entirely among Democrats. Only 36 percent of Democrats reported being extremely or very proud to be American, compared to 92 percent of Republicans. Some are simply moving to foreign countries. The New York Times has fanned the flames of those claiming that the U.S. is a new fascist regime. Recently, it featured the declaration of three Yale professors fleeing American fascism for the free nation of Canada. In their piece, titled, 'We study fascism and we are leaving the United States,' the professors explain that 'the lesson of 1933 is that you get out sooner rather than later.' But what these professors call fascism looks a lot like the democratic process to others. The problem with democracy is that it does not always produce the outcome you want. For some, support for democratic choice seems to extend only to fellow citizens who make the 'right' choice, from their own perspective, of course. So faced with losses in elections and in Congress, many are shouting 'broken arrow' and hoping for external help in crushing the opposition. Yet the fact is, this country is not being 'overrun.' Those are fellow citizens who are calling for these policy changes and rejecting far-left policies. Just as many in Europe are calling on the EU to block far-right democratic victories, many in this country are advocating for the trashing of the Constitution or transnational interventions to reverse political voting trends. The fact is, the far left is not truly surrounded. They have simply retreated into smaller and smaller echo chambers rather than engage the rest of the country on these issues. Viewed from within the protected spaces of MSNBC or BlueSky, you can feel surrounded, but it remains a type of self-isolation. It is like watching wagons frantically circling on the plains without a hostile in sight. The problem is that most of America has moved on. In the end, the calls for a globalist intervention are a final desperate call of America's self-isolated left. Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the best-selling author of 'The Indispensable Right.'
Fox News
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Liberal pundit says US is the 'bad guy on world stage,' should face international sanctions like North Korea
Far-left political commentator Elie Mystal told "The Joy Reid Show" on Wednesday that the U.S. should be treated like a rogue state by the international community. "Our country needs to be sanctioned. We are the bad guys on the world stage. We are a menace to not only free people everywhere, but we are a menace to peaceful people everywhere at this point, and I'm not even going to say that we've only been a menace for the past three or four months," Mystal told Joy Reid. Mystal cited President Donald Trump's airstrikes against Iran's nuclear program facilities in June, claiming the U.S. "should be sanctioned and rebuked" for such "illegal unnecessary bombings in Iran." "When does the international community decide that enough is enough? I know we're rich. I know we've got a lot of money. I know that people want to buy things from our country because we're rich or want to sell things to our country because we're rich, but at some point the international community has to stand up to us, because we are a bad guy on the world stage, right, and so we should be sanctioned," he added. Trump's strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities struck a blow to the rogue state's nuclear program. Shortly after the strikes, Trump declared Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire after missile exchanges, claiming the "12-day war" would end. Trump is also working on a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Despite recent events in the Middle East, Mystal maintains that the United States needs to be treated like a "rogue state." "We have to be stopped through the same kind of means that we have that our country and others have used to rebuke North Korea or China or name a rogue state," he said. "We are the rogue state and other countries need to start treating us like that." Mystal did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion - The liberals' license: How the left finds release in an age of rage
'We should replace our piece of crap Constitution.' Those words from author Elie Mystal, a regular commentator on MSNBC, are hardly surprising from someone who previously called the Constitution 'trash' and urged not just the abolition of the U.S. Senate but also of 'all voter registration laws.' But Mystal's radical rhetoric is becoming mainstream on the left, as shown by his best-selling books and popular media appearances. There is a counter-constitutional movement building in law schools and across the country. And although Mystal has not advocated violence, some on the left are turning to political violence and criminal acts. It is part of the 'righteous rage' that many of them see as absolving them from the basic demands not only of civility but of legality. They are part of a rising class of American Jacobins — bourgeois revolutionaries increasingly prepared to trash everything, from cars to the Constitution. The Jacobins were a radical group in France that propelled that country into the worst excesses of the French Revolution. They were largely affluent citizens, including journalists, professors, lawyers, and others who shredded existing laws and destroyed property. It would ultimately lead not only to the blood-soaked 'Reign of Terror' but also to the demise of the Jacobins themselves as more radical groups turned against them. Of course, it is not revolution on the minds of most of these individuals. It is rage. Rage is the ultimate drug. It offers a release from longstanding social norms — a license to do those things long repressed by individuals who viewed themselves as decent, law-abiding citizens. Across the country, liberals are destroying Tesla cars, torching dealerships and charging stations, and even allegedly hitting political dissenters with their cars. Last week, affluent liberal shoppers admitted that they are shoplifting from Whole Foods to strike back at Jeff Bezos for working with the Trump administration and moving the Washington Post back to the political center. They are also enraged at Mark Zuckerberg for restoring free speech protections at Meta. One '20-something communications professional' in Washington explained 'If a billionaire can steal from me, I can scrape a little off the top, too.' These affluent shoplifters portrayed themselves as Robin Hoods. Of course, that is assuming Robin Hood was stealing organic fruit from the rich and giving it to himself. On college campuses, affluent students and even professors are engaging in political violence. Just this week, University of Wisconsin Professor José Felipe Alvergue, head of the English Department, turned over the table of College Republicans supporting a conservative for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He reportedly declared, 'The time for this is over!' Likewise, a mob this week attacked a conservative display and tent on the campus of the University of California-Davis as campus police passively watched. The Antifa protesters, carrying a large banner with the slogan 'ACAB' or 'all cops are bastards,' trashed the tent and carried it off. Antifa is a violent and vehemently anti-free speech group that thrives on U.S. college campuses. In his book 'Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,' Mark Bray explains that 'most Americans in Antifa have been anarchists or antiauthoritarian communists. … From that standpoint, 'free speech' as such is merely a bourgeois fantasy unworthy of consideration.' Of course, many of the American Jacobins are themselves bourgeois or even affluent figures. And they are finding a host of enablers telling them that the Constitution itself is a threat and that the legal system has been corrupted by oligarchs, white supremacists, or reactionaries. This includes leading academics and commentators who are denouncing the Constitution and core American values. Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley Law School, is the author of 'No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States.' In a New York Times op-ed, 'The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed,' law professors Ryan D. Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale called for the nation to 'reclaim America from constitutionalism.' Commentator Jennifer Szalai has scoffed at what she called 'Constitution worship.' 'Americans have long assumed that the Constitution could save us,' she wrote. 'A growing chorus now wonders whether we need to be saved from it.' As intellectuals knock down our laws and Constitution, radicals are pouring into the breach. Political violence and rage rhetoric are becoming more common. Some liberals embraced groups like Antifa, while others shrugged off property damage and violent threats against political opponents. It is the very type of incitement or rage rhetoric that Democrats once accused Trump of fostering in groups like the Proud Boys. Members of Congress such as Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) have called for Tesla CEO Elon Musk to be 'taken down' and said that Democrats have to be 'OK with punching.' Some take such words as a justification to violently attack a system supposedly advancing the white supremacy or fascism. Fortunately, such violence has been confined so far to a minority of radicalized individuals, but there is an undeniable increase in such violent, threatening speech and in actual violence. The one thing the American Jacobins will not admit is that they like the rage and the release that it brings them. From shoplifting to arson to attempted assassination, the rejection of our legal system brings them freedom to act outside of morality and to take whatever they want. Democratic leaders see these 'protests' as needed popularism to combat Trump — to make followers 'strike ready' and 'to stand up and fight back.' For a politician, a mob can become irresistible if you can steer it against your opponents. The problem is controlling the mob once it has broken free of the bounds of legal and personal accountability. Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the author of 'The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
05-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
The liberals' license: How the left finds release in an age of rage
'We should replace our piece of crap Constitution.' Those words from author Elie Mystal, a regular commentator on MSNBC, are hardly surprising from someone who previously called the Constitution 'trash' and urged not just the abolition of the U.S. Senate but also of 'all voter registration laws.' But Mystal's radical rhetoric is becoming mainstream on the left, as shown by his best-selling books and popular media appearances. There is a counter-constitutional movement building in law schools and across the country. And although Mystal has not advocated violence, some on the left are turning to political violence and criminal acts. It is part of the 'righteous rage' that many of them see as absolving them from the basic demands not only of civility but of legality. They are part of a rising class of American Jacobins — bourgeois revolutionaries increasingly prepared to trash everything, from cars to the Constitution. The Jacobins were a radical group in France that propelled that country into the worst excesses of the French Revolution. They were largely affluent citizens, including journalists, professors, lawyers, and others who shredded existing laws and destroyed property. It would ultimately lead not only to the blood-soaked 'Reign of Terror' but also to the demise of the Jacobins themselves as more radical groups turned against them. Of course, it is not revolution on the minds of most of these individuals. It is rage. Rage is the ultimate drug. It offers a release from longstanding social norms — a license to do those things long repressed by individuals who viewed themselves as decent, law-abiding citizens. Across the country, liberals are destroying Tesla cars, torching dealerships and charging stations, and even allegedly hitting political dissenters with their cars. Last week, affluent liberal shoppers admitted that they are shoplifting from Whole Foods to strike back at Jeff Bezos for working with the Trump administration and moving the Washington Post back to the political center. They are also enraged at Mark Zuckerberg for restoring free speech protections at Meta. One '20-something communications professional' in Washington explained 'If a billionaire can steal from me, I can scrape a little off the top, too.' These affluent shoplifters portrayed themselves as Robin Hoods. Of course, that is assuming Robin Hood was stealing organic fruit from the rich and giving it to himself. On college campuses, affluent students and even professors are engaging in political violence. Just this week, University of Wisconsin Professor José Felipe Alvergue, head of the English Department, turned over the table of College Republicans supporting a conservative for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He reportedly declared, 'The time for this is over!' Likewise, a mob this week attacked a conservative display and tent on the campus of the University of California-Davis as campus police passively watched. The Antifa protesters, carrying a large banner with the slogan 'ACAB' or 'all cops are bastards,' trashed the tent and carried it off. Antifa is a violent and vehemently anti-free speech group that thrives on U.S. college campuses. In his book ' Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,' Mark Bray explains that 'most Americans in Antifa have been anarchists or antiauthoritarian communists. … From that standpoint, 'free speech' as such is merely a bourgeois fantasy unworthy of consideration.' Of course, many of the American Jacobins are themselves bourgeois or even affluent figures. And they are finding a host of enablers telling them that the Constitution itself is a threat and that the legal system has been corrupted by oligarchs, white supremacists, or reactionaries. This includes leading academics and commentators who are denouncing the Constitution and core American values. Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley Law School, is the author of 'No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States.' In a New York Times op-ed, 'The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed,' law professors Ryan D. Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale called for the nation to 'reclaim America from constitutionalism.' Commentator Jennifer Szalai has scoffed at what she called 'Constitution worship.' 'Americans have long assumed that the Constitution could save us,' she wrote. 'A growing chorus now wonders whether we need to be saved from it.' As intellectuals knock down our laws and Constitution, radicals are pouring into the breach. Political violence and rage rhetoric are becoming more common. Some liberals embraced groups like Antifa, while others shrugged off property damage and violent threats against political opponents. It is the very type of incitement or rage rhetoric that Democrats once accused Trump of fostering in groups like the Proud Boys. Members of Congress such as Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) have called for Tesla CEO Elon Musk to be ' taken down ' and said that Democrats have to be ' OK with punching.' Some take such words as a justification to violently attack a system supposedly advancing the white supremacy or fascism. Fortunately, such violence has been confined so far to a minority of radicalized individuals, but there is an undeniable increase in such violent, threatening speech and in actual violence. The one thing the American Jacobins will not admit is that they like the rage and the release that it brings them. From shoplifting to arson to attempted assassination, the rejection of our legal system brings them freedom to act outside of morality and to take whatever they want. Democratic leaders see these 'protests' as needed popularism to combat Trump — to make followers ' strike ready ' and 'to stand up and fight back.' For a politician, a mob can become irresistible if you can steer it against your opponents. The problem is controlling the mob once it has broken free of the bounds of legal and personal accountability.
