On CNN’s “Abby Phillip Gaslighting and Interruption Power Hour”, more commonly known as NewsNight, there was serious firefighting and journalisming underway. The show’s eponymous host covered Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ disastrous gaffe-laden trip to Munich by pretending her most brutal gaffes didn’t happen and deflecting to basic whatabout(Trump)ism. Watch as Phillip lays the foundation by establishing AOC’s first gaffe, and subsequent pouncing:  TONIGHT on the Abby Phillip Gaslighting and Interruption Power Hour: the host cherry-picks AOC's Taiwan stutter for the obligatory "MAGA Pounces on AOC BUT WHAT ABOUT TRUMP'S GAFFES" segment, while completely omitting the more egregious gaffes on Venezuela's location viz the… pic.twitter.com/qjaYqZ1G9s — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) February 18, 2026 ABBY PHILLIP: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is facing a wave of criticism for this foreign policy flub at the Munich Security Conference. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FRANCINE LACQUA: Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move? ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Um. You know, I think that, uh, this is such a- ah-you know, I think that- you know, I think that this is a um-- this is, of course, a very longstanding, um,  policy of the United States. Ah, and I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point. And we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic, research, and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise. PHILLIP: It should come as no surprise MAGA is having a field day with this one. Phillip then proceeded to isolate AOC’s Taiwan gaffe against a series of Trump misstatements and make the segment into a comparison of one versus the other. This was, in fact, a cleanup operation, because the segment willfully omitted AOC’s other, more egregious gaffes from over the weekend. Consider AOC’s attempted refutation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s acknowledgement of our Western European heritage, specifically as pertains to cowboys and horses: AOC mocks Rubio: "My favorite part is he said cowboys are rooted in Spain. Uhhh, speak to Mexicans & African slaves!" Spain introduced horses to Mexico pic.twitter.com/xHt1jZCoSi — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 15, 2026 How does AOC think the Mexicans got a hold of horses in the first place? A guy by the name of Hernán Cortez brought them over. In other words, Spain.  AOC’s mastery of history would turn out to be as bad as her mastery of geography, as she claimed that Venezuela was below the equator: an ill-conceived applause line to insinuate that Maduro was snatched because he was part of the “Global South:” WATCH: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appeared to be auditioning for the Oval Office when she jetted off to the Munich Security Conference to address European leaders. She criticized the Trump administration’s arrest of Nicolás Maduro, arguing that while the Venezuelan dictator may… pic.twitter.com/LS5veGUexi — Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) February 17, 2026 Both gaffes, viewed in the aggregate, are far worse than what she said on Taiwan. One presumes that this is why Abby Phillip left them off the segment which ended up a redirect on to Donald Trump.  That’s some peak journalisming right there. Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned segment as aired on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026: ABBY PHILLIP: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is facing a wave of criticism for this foreign policy flub at the Munich Security Conference. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FRANCINE LACQUA: Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move? ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Um. You know, I think that, uh, this is such a- ah-you know, I think that- you know, I think that this is a um-- this is, of course, a very longstanding, um,  policy of the United States. Ah, and I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point. And we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic, research, and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise. PHILLIP: It should come as no surprise MAGA is having a field day with this one. TYRUS: Move over, Kamala. AOC just cooked up her own signature word salad on the global stage. BEN SHAPIRO, HOST: She was taking her 2028 bike out for a spin. She hit the embankment. She flipped head over heels and went all the way down the mountain. It's her fault. JESSE WATTERS: After the word salad, AOC froze like a deer in headlights. BENNY JOHNSON: To quote Billy Madison, everyone in this room is now dumber because of that answer. Thank you, AOC. PHILLIP: A flub for AOC, but the question is also: what happens when the president, the actual president of the United States, does very similar things on the world stage? Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP: I watch our police and our firemen down on 7/11 down the World Trade Center. When I told them about Iceland, they loved me. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. Shifting production to Thailand and to Vietnam. I solve wars that was unsolvable, Azerbaijan and Albania. Miami has been a haven for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa. Nambia's health system is increasingly self-sufficient. We all know the great prime minister of the U.K. and we just signed a document. This is -- sorry about that. We just signed it and it's done. And so we have our trade agreement with the European Union. PHILLIP: So, look, I'll give you that AOC probably should have been more ready for that question, but are we going to really pretend that the actual president of the United States has not made similar or perhaps worse flubs on the global stage? JOHN TABACCO: Yes. I don't think we have to pretend. Everyone makes some flubs. We're all T.V. personalities. We have mistakes here and there, but it's interesting that you would play ten consecutive clips of Trump actually saying things. Maybe they may not have been pertinent or taken out of context. PHILLIP: Yes, saying incorrect things. TABACCO: You played one of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which the whole world is still trying to figure out exactly what she was saying. So, you know, the big buzz now is maybe Kamala-AOC 2028. I say bring that on based on that performance right there. LEIGH MCGOWAN: Yes. Listen, stumbling over your words for 15 seconds is not the same as being incoherent or uneducated on foreign policy TABACCO: That was incoherent. MCGOWAN: She had a ton of amazing answers in that same interview, which we are not playing. We are playing in its entirety, ah, um, oh, ah, which we do not do for the president. Personally, I was more interested in the thing she said, where she said, we're entering an age of authoritarianism, where a group is working in tandem to carve up the world into pieces to have served themselves, and the president is interested in taking on the Western Hemisphere. First of all, that seems kind of true to me, but going to the Munich Security Conference and saying that out loud in the world is kind of ballsy, and I liked it. So, a couple of ums before answering a question on Taiwan -- CARI CHAMPION: Not a big deal. MCGOWAN: -- less interesting. TABACCO: She should go to Queens once in a while before she goes to Munich. That would probably help. ANA NAVARRO: She has gone to Queensland a few times and she's -- listen, she doesn't -- she's not a foreign policy expert. TABACCO: Clearly. NAVARRO: And so -- no, she's not. TABACCO: Clearly. KEVIN O'LEARY: You don't say. Come on, give her a break. PHILLIP: Guys, this is -- NAVARRO: You don't even know who's running in Texas. CHAMPION: For five seconds, let somebody finish that thought before you have to be -- NAVARRO: I want to know how you would be able to answer that. Look, I think that it takes a lot of courage and I think for her to expanding her message, for her to be expanding her areas of policy interests are a good thing. She is 1 of 435 members of Congress. There's a lot of them there that don't come with a breadth of foreign policy knowledge. O'LEARY: You're right, she was fabulous. CHAMPION: It's not about her being fabulous. It wasn't -- (CROSSTALK) O'LEARY: Let's say you're hired to give a speech, let's say you're hired because you're expected to deliver information to an audience. Let's say you're even paid for it. When you go and do that, what happens is the agency that hired you, whether it's the government, your own party says that was not your best moment. In fact, they tied you back to Kamala Harris. You were so bad, you sounded like her. And, by the way, I'm sorry, it's not a partisan issue. She was terrible. Get over it. Maybe she would get better. (CROSSTALK) CHAMPION: No. But the reality is if you take just a minute and not be condescending, I really believe what she was -- O'LEARY: I'm trying to help her, lift her up -- CHAMPION: One moment. You had your moment. You had your moment. PHILLIP: Kevin, just let her respond. CHAMPION: The reality is -- O'LEARY: They always more moments. That's what's great about it. CHAMPION: The reality is, Kevin, is that she was taking a beat and, yes, she wasn't great for less than 20 seconds, if you ask me. But I thought she was doing something that the president of the United States rarely does, and that's think before she speaks. She was trying to get her words together so she knew how to handle it appropriately. O'LEARY: It's not partisan. CHAMPION: And if people did that, we wouldn't be in this situation that we're in right now. PHILLIP: Let me ask you -- PHILLIP: Everyone stop talking please for just a moment. Stop talking. Thank you. John and Kevin, you all are strongly criticizing AOC for making flubs. O'LEARY: She was terrible. That's why. PHILLIP: All right. We just played several bites here. Okay. Let me -- hold on. He stood next to someone from the E.U. and called them the Prime Minister of the U.K., okay? He called South Africa -- South America -- he called South America, South Africa. He called Greenland, Iceland. NAVARRO: He called you Namibia, Nambia. PHILLIP: So, my question to you is, okay, bad answers, bad answers. What do you think should happen to Donald Trump as a result of his bad answer? O'LEARY: AOC wants to become the president, the United States, he already is. PHILLIP: Okay. So -- O'LEARY: So, he's not worried about running again. PHILLIP: So, what are you saying? O'LEARY: She's trying to become president. PHILLIP: So, what are you saying? That it's okay, no consequences because he's already president? O'LEARY: No, I'm just saying that moment was not her best and I, above all of the rest of you, I am encouraging her to say, listen, watch the tape, don't do that again, or you'll be prepared to what word salad girl in the last election. PHILLIP: What about Donald Trump in 2024 said, I think Taiwan should pay us for defense? O'LEARY: Yes, but I'm sorry, it's not working, Abby. PHILLIP: I don't we are any different from any insurance policy. O'LEARY: She was terrible. Let's focus on her. PHILLIP: Hey, he was running for president at that time. O'LEARY: Let's lift her up. Let's help her. PHILLIP: He says, I don't think we are any different from an insurance policy, why are we doing this, when he was asked if the United States would defend Taiwan. O'LEARY: Well, what does that have to do with her performance? PHILLIP: So, even on the sub -- TABACCO: (INAUDIBLE) Trump, that MAGA is having a field day and now we make some comments, which you were all thinking in your head and now you're getting mad at us for having a field day. We deserve it. PHILLIP: John, hey, I'm just asking for you all to apply the same standard -- TABACCO: I think he makes mistakes all the time and I crack and laugh, just like I cracked up at Joe Biden when he made mistakes. It happens. MCGOWAN: When you're not cracking up when the woman's laughing, you're mocking her. You're saying she's on - TABACOO: I'm cracking up when I see her because she's not even forming sentences. MCGOWAN: And then you're comparing her to the other strong women who ran. TABACCO: She's not giving like a wrong fact or wrong name. She's not -- MCGOWAN: But when women make a gaffe, they're monsters and should never be invited back. NAVARRO: You know what one of the differences is though when Trump makes these mistakes as president, he's actually reading from things that people supposedly experts on these issues have written. AOC was beyond her skis, I think, in a place that is a new horizon for her. O'LEARY: Don't say that. NAVARRO: Enough, Kevin, you're so damn repetitive. PHILLIP: Kevin, please stop. Let her finish her thought. NAVARRO: And, you know, she can't -- I mean, Donald Trump can't read a script. She was answering an impromptu question of something that she's not an expert in, and she's there making -- you know, making mistakes and learning from them. Listen, I'm old enough to remember when George W. Bush was running for president, and they asked him about the guy running Pakistan, what was his name? And he kept saying General, General, General, because he couldn't remember the guy's name. PHILLIP: An iconic moment in American history. NAVARRO: Yes, and he went on to become president.  

Monday’s PBS News Hour virtually skipped over Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s performance at the annual Munich Security Conference to wail over his subsequent trip to endorse “far-right prime minister” Viktor Orban of Hungary. The online heading to the segment after Rubio’s speech impressed even European leaders: “Rubio bolsters Hungary's far-right leader days after push to mend U.S. ties in Europe.” CO-ANCHOR AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the News Hour. America`s top diplomat traveled to Hungary today and endorsed that country`s far-right prime minister, who`s seeking his fifth straight term in office this April. Viktor Orban has cracked down on the media, civil society and weakened judicial independence in Hungary. At a news conference in Budapest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the extraordinarily close relationship between President Trump and Orban had tangible benefits. MARCO RUBIO, U.S. Secretary of State: President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success. AMNA NAWAZ: Orban has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. And while Europe has ended or significantly reduced its reliance on Russian oil, Hungary refuses to cut back on the oil it buys from Russia. President Trump has exempted Hungary from U.S. sanctions for those purchases. Rubio`s meeting with Orban came after the secretary of state addressed world leaders at the Munich Security Conference this weekend. Coming on the heels of Trump's threats to Greenland, Rubio tried to convey a reassuring message. Nothing at all about Rubio’s speech made the PBS’s new regular Sunday show on foreign policy, Compass Points, hosted by Nick Schifrin, which aired this week from the Munich Security Conference and whose half hour was devoted to old-style Trump-bashing with three foreign leaders, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, and Canada's Foreign Minister, Anita Anand. The episode, presumably taped before Rubio’s speech, mentioned the Secretary of State just once (Rubio also appeared unidentified in a separate file photo). Then again, weekend PBS has never been a fount of breaking news. The flavor of the report was encapsulated in Schifrin’s very first phrase: “President Trump, Demolition Man.” Schifrin went on: “President Trump, demolition man. From here in Munich, an influential report accuses America's Commander in Chief of damaging the global order and establishing an era of wrecking-ball politics where sweeping destruction is the order of the day.” This is PBS, the network that claims to represent the entire "public." But clearly it speaks for the European socialists who Trump the most. 

Within the last six months, two friends, both pioneers and giants in the world of ideas in Washington, D.C., passed from this world. One, Ed Feulner, was the co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, which became the nation’s defining policy institute for conservative ideas. Now, last week, Ed Crane, the co-founder of the Cato Institute, passed away. Ed Crane built Cato to become the major presence in the nation’s capital for libertarian ideas and policy. My personal involvement with Cato began in 1996 when I was invited to join the national advisory board for Cato’s project to transform Social Security from a government tax and spend program to a program of individually owned personal retirement accounts. When I began working in the business of policy reform, a friend pointed out to me the words of futurist John Naisbitt, who observed, “Don’t get so far ahead of the parade that no one knows you’re in it.” Crane’s great skill was bringing much needed revolutionary ideas for change to the marketplace, but being keenly sensitive regarding when and how to do it, so as to always remain relevant to the policy discussions of the day. Social Security was already broken then, as it still is today. What Cato brought to the discussion was perspective that the problem was not one of fixing technical glitches in the program, but that it was conceptually flawed, and so without changing the principles behind the program it couldn’t be fixed. Social Security violated the most fundamental of American principles -- the freedom of every individual to take responsibility for their own life and retain control of their own property and the fruits of their own labor. It was the beginning of Americans buying into the premise that government can do a better job taking care of you than you can take care of yourself.      Social Security, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935, opened the door to the modern welfare state in America. It was a foreign import from Europe -- an idea not of American pedigree. And, indeed, it was constitutionally challenged and Roosevelt’s Supreme Court signed off on the constitutionality of Social Security and the idea that taxes could be levied on one set of citizens and those funds transferred to others. This was a first, and America was changed forever. When Social Security was signed into law, the federal government consumed 10% of the national economy. Today it is approaches 25%. This massive growth in government was, in large part, enabled by the changed understanding of the U.S. Constitution that found Social Security constitutional. With the birth of the American welfare state, the core principles of the nation’s founding -- that the role of government is to secure our personal freedom -- were marginalized, For the many deeply confused Americans that still believe they are better off under government control, consider that at the beginning of 1996 when Cato was beginning its project to transform Social Security to ownership, the Dow Jones average stood a little over 5,000. Today it is flirting with 50,000. That wealth delivered by the marketplace was forgone by those forced to pay Social Security taxes rather than invest long-term in America’s great capital markets. Ed Crane worked to restore America’s founding principles that have been lost. He would always nudge me, telling me that I’m not a libertarian. And I agreed with him. I always told him I believe in freedom every much as he did. But I am a Christian. So, as I believe in the sacredness of private property and ownership, I also believe in the sanctity of life and marriage between a man and woman. The recent loss of two Eds -- Ed Feulner and Ed Crane -- is a loss to the nation. Badly needed today is restoration of the fight for America’s founding principles, that defined both of them, my friends. Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Her recent book, “What Is the CURE for America?” is available now.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr said at a press event Wednesday that he got a big laugh when he looked back at the way CBS “Late Show” Host Stephen Colbert used a hoax to manipulate the media this week. Rebuking the legacy media’s blind regurgitation of Colbert’s claim that CBS prohibited him from airing an interview with Democrat Texas Senate primary candidate James Talarico because the FCC banned the interview, Chairman Carr pointed out that even CBS says that neither the network nor the FCC prevented Colbert from airing the interview. Instead, the media-savvy Rep. Talarico (D-Texas) and Colbert played a hilarious hoax on the all-too-predictable media, Carr explained. “When I stepped back and looked at the entire arch of the news story yesterday, I was highly entertained. I think it was one of the most fun days I’ve had on the job, watching for the hilarity of how this story played out,” Carr said: “Look, anybody that’s not suffering from a terminal case of Trump Derangement Syndrome could see, right away yesterday, the exact story arch and how it was going to play out. “You had a Democrat candidate who understood the way that the news media work. And he took advantage of all of your prior conceptions to run a hoax, apparently for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks – and the news media played right into it.” “Yesterday was a perfect encapsulation of why the American people have more trust in gas station sushi than they do in the national news media,” Carr said, mocking the way media were duped into doing the bidding of Colbert and Talarico: “And, this was very plainly an effort ginned up to get clicks and to raise money. And you guys ate it up like slop.” What’s more, the media are still refusing to correct their misreporting - even now that the facts have come out - Carr said: “And when it was pointed out that the facts were completely different than what the fake news media was running with, nobody did an about-face and did a fact-correction.” “And, again, I think this is why the American people simply don’t trust the news media, anymore,” the FCC chairman explained. On Monday, Colbert claimed on his late-night talk show that CBS had prohibited him from airing Talarico’s interview because of the FCC’s equal-time rule, which says broadcasters can’t influence elections by promoting one candidate over another. In this case, following the rule would have simply meant providing airtime to other Democrats (Talarico’s Democrat primary opponents). In fact, however, CBS had explained to Colbert that he had multiple options that would have allowed him to air the interview. “As they advised Colbert, there’s lots of ways that you can do this, including having all the legally qualified candidates on,” Carr said, noting that the candidates wouldn’t even have to appear on the same show or at the same time. “But, for some reason, they chose not to do this,” Carr said. “But again, there was one partisan candidate who fed this slop to mainstream national news media and you guys ran for it,” Carr said, chiding the gullible reporters who fell for the hoax: “And I was just laughing, because watching it was clear that this story was going to turn at some point and the truth was going to come out.” “Congress passed the equal-time provision for a very specific reason: they didn’t want the media elites in Hollywood and New York to put their thumb on the scale and pick the winners and losers in primaries and general elections,” Carr said: “The whole idea here is more speech, not less. “You can have more candidates on, you can have zero censorship with the equal-time provision. It’s about empowering people.”

MRC Video Content Creator Justine Brooke Murray joined The Bottom Line on Fox Business Tuesday evening to deliver a blistering takedown of Stephen Colbert’s latest meltdown — one that wasn’t just sloppy comedy, but a blatant lie aired to millions of viewers. Colbert recently claimed that CBS and the FCC blocked an interview with Texas State Rep. James Talerico, who is currently running for U.S. Senate. In reality, CBS said its lawyers provided guidance on FCC equal-time rules, which require broadcasters to offer comparable airtime to all political candidates. The FCC did not prohibit the interview from airing. Co-host Brian Brenberg observed, “It seems like every time we hear from Colbert, it’s some political diatribe.” Murray added, “This is also the same guy who cheered when President Trump was banned from all social media platforms." Stephen Colbert thinks he's above the law... This is also the same guy who cheered when President Trump was banned from all social media platforms. @Justine_Brooke @FoxBusiness pic.twitter.com/okZLCCNHuZ — Media Research Center (@theMRC) February 18, 2026 Colbert tried to spin the story into a false narrative of government censorship, exposing a clear example of left-wing media hypocrisy. Murray said of Colbert, “He thinks he is above the law. Our left-wing journalists apparently think that if they identify as so-called journalists, they can…violate FCC law.” The bias extends beyond politics. Murray also discussed left-wing media attacks on a Valentine’s Day party for young conservatives held in Washington, DC. “This is a mindset that attracts a lot of miserable and desperate people…they see love, they see success, they see those things as oppressive,” Murray said, highlighting how outlets like Vanity Fair mocked young conservatives simply trying to connect. "Leftism is a mindset that attracts a lot of miserable and desperate people who are looking for company. They see love and success as oppressive."@Justine_Brooke slams the media for attacking young conservatives attending a Valentine's Day party. pic.twitter.com/PQdUPdCNKm — Media Research Center (@theMRC) February 18, 2026 Colbert’s meltdown is just the latest example of a broader trend the Media Research Center has repeatedly documented: elitist media bias and a lack of accountability. Late-night shows increasingly put partisanship ahead of comedy. As Murray said, “Now the late shows are all therapy sessions.” Americans deserve late-night hosts who entertain, not turn current events into partisan theater over public airwaves.