The U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic hockey teams both defeating Canada in overtime to win the gold medal should have been a joyous moment for the country. However, too many in the sports media have decided that it is their life’s mission to ruin this great moment by trashing the men’s team for not joining the left’s anti-Trump jihad. The source for this ginned-up controversy was a post-game phone call with Trump where he said, “We’re gonna have to bring the women's team. You do know that, right?” and if he didn't, “I do believe I would probably be impeached, okay?” The fact that the players cheered the idea of sharing the spotlight with the women has been conveniently ignored. The Athletic, which is owned by The New York Times, columnist Jerry Brewer penned an article entitled The U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team won the gold—and then lost the room. Based off of NHL pre-game videos, that isn’t true. Nevertheless, Brewer alleged, “In the immediate aftermath of their victory, the team took a customary, congratulatory call from President Donald Trump, and some players laughed at a misogynistic joke about the gold-winning women’s hockey team that many Americans wouldn’t find funny.” Brewer also condemned them for meeting with Trump, “This isn’t a neutral climate. This isn’t a neutral president. And in a nation this polarized, the proximity carries weight whether the players are being intentional or merely naive. America no longer experiences these rituals in the same way, and it may never again. Athletes would be wise to recognize that, in this climate, celebration is easily repurposed into political capital.” He added, “They misread the moment. In our current state, there is no such thing as incidental symbolism. The images and associations matter. They’re almost as powerful as the accomplishment that led to them. Within 48 hours, their celebration drifted into a partisan orbit, and the unity thinned.” In The Minnesota Star Tribune, sports editor Jim Souhan wrote under the headline: Olympic men’s hockey team allowed itself to be used by Donald Trump. Souhan huffed, “When men do something stupid or disgusting, men should call them out. So let’s welcome home the members of the Wild who performed so well in helping the United States men win their first Olympic gold medal since 1980. That 1980 team is still reaping the benefits of their historic victory. The 2026 team won’t be remembered as kindly by many of us.”  “Their team leaders allowed Kash Patel, FBI director and part of an administration that sent masked thugs to Minnesota to terrorize us, to celebrate in their locker room. President Donald Trump told them on the phone that if he invited the men’s team to the White House, “We’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” as if doing so would dishonor the White House. Most of the men laughed. Because misogyny is so funny.” Souhan also tried to see hidden messages in the women’s team declining to attend the State of the Union due to logistical reasons, “The men allowed themselves to be paraded around as supporters of someone who gave the women every reason to decline their invitation.” Brewer’s Athletic colleagues Aaron Portzline and Mark Lazerus went after NewsBusters’s Curtis Houck on X for objecting to the efforts to drive a wedge between the teams with Portzline telling Curtis, “Hounding? Groveling? You have no fucking clue what you’re talking about” and Lazerus backing him up, “Oh, no, the fine journalists at checks notes NewsBusters are after you, Porty!”  Former ESPN personality Dan LeBatard told his podcast audience, “As long as the players realize that this is an immensely unpopular president with half of the nation and so going to this as a willing pawn is controversial, and as long as they realize that and accept it, then I’m all for it. The USA hockey players may not realize the political mess they're involving themselves in pic.twitter.com/A8rrv3yBih — Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) February 24, 2026  Another former ESPN personality, Keith Olbermann, posted on X, “It's official: US Gold Winning Olympic Hockey team declined invitation to be political props for Trump at the SOTU tomorrow. The women, that is. The men are still too stupid, self-absorbed and misogynistic to realize that going, will stick to them permanently.”  Then there were former members of the women’s soccer team. Megan Rapinoe told her A Touch More podcast audience that “In what I like to call a classic 'ripping defeat from the jaws of victory,' the United States men's hockey team, in their utter moment of glory, childhood dreams come true, sensational, ruined it for themselves. They allowed themselves to be co-opted by a clown. And now you're a clown. You look like a clown."  Rapinoe also took the opportunity to do some self-promotion, saying of Trump “He is using you to do something else. We had this opportunity after 2019 and I said, famously, didn't realize it was on the record, that we would not go to the White House.” Former teammate Abby Wambach and former Team USA midfielder Julie Foudy demanded on their podcast that they be allowed to lecture the men on their allegedly sexist behavior, “Stop laughing. Don't laugh and just, I don't know, knock it all the fucking way off."         View this post on Instagram                         It should be noted that the women’s team has largely rejected this attempt by journalists to white knight for them. They understand the mindset of someone who just won a gold medal after a hard-fought game is not the same as a sports writer trying to pass as a culture warrior.  

MRC Watchdogs churn out breaking news on a daily basis. Don't miss Today's Highlights, where you can keep up with the top MRC content, whether it's the latest study on media bias, a glaring omission from the elitist media, or how the Big Tech companies are serving up the same leftist spin as the media.  Top Stories: 110 to 4: 'Independent Fact Checkers' PILE ON Trump, Spanberger Gets a Free Pass 8 to 0: Google News Rages Against Trump, Pushes Left-Leaning Media Undercutting SOTU SOTU Democrats Don't Stand 'to Protect American Citizens' Trump's Approval Dips to ~42% Despite Major Wins—Blame 92% Hostile Media Smear Campaign   110 to 4: 'Independent Fact Checkers' PILE ON Trump, Spanberger Gets a Free Pass Extreme 110-to-4 imbalance, a 27-to1 ratio:  Fact-checkers ran 110 checks on Trump’s speech vs. only 4 on Gov. Spanberger’s response. All four Spanberger claims were rated accurate or supported; Trump’s were relentlessly attacked. Major outlets ignored Spanberger entirely NPR (28 on Trump, 0 on Spanberger), CNN (22–0), FactCheck.org (22–0).  Opposite standards on the same platforms PolitiFact: Trump got 9 hits like “exaggeration,” “wrong,” “no evidence.” Spanberger’s 3 claims? All praised—“research supports,” “accurate,” “early data supports.” Nitpick Trump, rubber-stamp Spanberger, NYT ran 29 checks on Trump, including pedantic sports nitpicks, yet rated Spanberger’s $1,700 tariff claim “Mostly true.” Textbook double standard: exhaustive attacks on one side, gentle treatment on the other.   8 to 0: Google News Rages Against Trump, Pushes Left-Leaning Media Undercutting SOTU Stark 8-0 bias in top stories Google News promoted 8 left-leaning articles and 0 right-leaning ones in its top coverage of Trump's SOTU—zero balance, all from outlets like NYT, Guardian, NPR, and NBC (per AllSides ratings). Gatekeeping shuts out conservatives In the top 20 stories analyzed the morning after the speech, Google acted as a "digital gatekeeper," excluding right-leaning media entirely while elevating left-leaning sources that undercut Trump. Negative framing dominates Headlines derided Trump’s address as "tedious, tiresome," "littered with false and misleading claims," highlighted Democratic boycotts/protests (e.g., 12+ lawmakers skipping), and emphasized empty seats or mood shifts against Trump. Even "neutral" coverage tilts left The lone center-rated outlet (BBC) buried positives (like U-S-A chants for hockey stars) and focused on conflicts (e.g., ejections, confrontations), while multiple NYT pieces painted Trump as defensive, villainizing Democrats, or on the attack.   SOTU Democrats Don't Stand 'to Protect American Citizens' Direct challenge met with silence Trump explicitly asked Congress to stand if they agreed: "The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens." Republicans stood and cheered; Democrats remained seated in silent rejection. Trump calls out shame on sanctuary policies While pushing to end "deadly sanctuary cities" that shield criminal illegal aliens (including "drug lords, murderers"), Trump rebuked Democrats twice: "You should be ashamed of yourselves, not standing up" and "And you should be ashamed of yourselves." They stayed seated. Clear choice: Prioritizing illegals over citizens By refusing to stand for citizen protection over illegal aliens—and amid over 70 Democrats boycotting the address entirely—Democrats signaled they side against American safety on border security, crime, and fentanyl dangers, as Trump highlighted. These points capture the article's core indictment: Democrats' non-standing visually demonstrated opposition to putting American citizens first.   Trump's Approval Dips to ~42% Despite Major Wins—Blame 92% Hostile Media Smear Campaign Achievements Overlooked Amid Record Negativity Trump delivered big policy wins closing out the year, yet his approval fell from ~50% early in his term to under 42% (per Decision Desk HQ averages)—thanks to relentless media attacks ignoring successes. Legacy TV News Delivers 92% Negative Assault In the first 100 days of Trump's second term, ABC, CBS, and NBC hammered him with 92% negative coverage on their flagship evening shows—reaching 19+ million viewers nightly and far worse than his first term. Big Tech News Apps Bury Conservative Voices Apple News featured zero right-leaning outlets in 620 top stories in January 2026; Apple, Google, MSN, and Yahoo pushed anti-ICE, left-leaning narratives on key events like the Minn shooting—starving conservatives of fair exposure. AI Defaults to Anti-Trump Attacks + CNN Ignores Victims Google and Meta AI automatically slam Trump as a liar even on vague queries; CNN skipped the White House Angel Families event honoring victims of illegal immigrant crime, earning Press Sec. Leavitt's "total disgrace" label for agenda-driven blackout.    

Vice President of MRC Free Speech America Dan Schneider joined Fox & Friends First Thursday morning to deliver a sharp legal reality check on two of the biggest cases currently rocking the American justice system: the high-stakes war against Meta’s addictive algorithms and the Clintons’ long-awaited reckoning over their ties to Jeffrey Epstein. In a landmark social media trial in Los Angeles, Meta is facing a massive case involving 1,600 plaintiffs who allege the tech giant intentionally designed products to hook children. However, the case hit a "fatal flaw" when the plaintiff’s own therapist admitted under oath that social media was merely a "contributing factor" instead of the actual cause of her patient's mental health issues. "Did these companies intentionally design the product to have addiction be the product of it, not like negligence, it has to be intentional." @Schneider_DC gives an update on landmark social media trial in California on @FoxFriendsFirst pic.twitter.com/5jMT2BK5cK — Media Research Center (@theMRC) February 26, 2026 Schneider, an attorney himself, noted that in a court of law, feelings don't beat the four elements of a tort: duty, breach, causation and damage. Regarding the therapist's testimony, Schneider explained: “It's a really, really tough hurdle that their own witness has brought into this case.” He highlighted how the plaintiff’s counsel was forced into a desperate attempt to "rehabilitate" their own witness, calling it a sloppy move for a case of this magnitude. The legal drama shifted from Big Tech to Big Politics as Schneider previewed the closed-door depositions of Hillary and Bill Clinton. The "ultimate political survivors" are finally being grilled by professional prosecutors regarding their relationships with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Notably, these are prosecutors rather than politicians looking for soundbites. "In the end, they are going to be left battered and bruised, and I think they are going to get off scot-free." @Schneider_DC predicts what will happen with the Clintons as the House Oversight Committee investigates their relationship with Epstein pic.twitter.com/KFaHEAaa8m — Media Research Center (@theMRC) February 26, 2026 While the Clintons have spent decades dodging accountability, Schneider warned that this time, the road would be "harder to hoe." Even so, he offered a sobering reminder of the elitist double standard: “In the end, they're goanna be left battered and bruised, and I think they're going to get off scot-free.” Whether it’s Big Tech giants hiding behind legal technicalities or the Clintons navigating yet another scandal, the theme remains the same: a desperate need for transparency. As Schneider’s analysis makes clear, while the evidence might be "black and white," the path to true accountability for the powerful remains a steep uphill battle.  

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The State of the Union speech is an effective annual exercise to measure how journalists feel about a long speech on national TV by Donald Trump. They hate it intensely, like most children hate broccoli. They would like to scrape that steaming plate into the garbage. The New York Times published a front-page editorial by White House reporter Katie Rogers  – lamely labeled as “News Analysis.” It came under the headline “Casting Democrats as Villains, Trump Produces a Spectacle.” You can sense their outrage. Nobody should darkly cast Democrats as villains, especially the people Democrats relentlessly suggest are authoritarians out to end our democracy, but only after they starve children and close hospitals. Like a good Democrat, Rogers insisted Republicans find themselves in a “politically treacherous moment,” while Democrats are “seeing polling moving their way” and “remain confident about the midterm elections.” The usual midterm election trends should inspire confidence, as well as all the partisan “news” products. Liberal outlets sent out their pollsters to find that Trump has “gone too far” on immigration, taken the country in “the wrong direction,” and has all the wrong “priorities.” Their pollsters are always going to keep the “vibes” high for Democrats and paint dark clouds over the Republicans in any election season. They tried in 2024, but the people ruined it for the pollsters. They also pile on Republicans with their so-called “independent fact-checkers.” They pounce relentlessly on Trump, aerobically implying to the public that you can’t believe a word Trump says about anything. They’re trying to put the oomph behind this Jimmy Fallon joke: “Trump’s speech focused on his major accomplishments, and when those eight seconds were up, he just riffed for an hour and a half.” The New York Times and the Associated Press published “fact checks” of Trump before his speech was even made available to the public. When it was over, Times “fact checker” Linda Qiu and other Times staffers posted 29 fact checks about Trump, and they used 20 of them to fill up an entire page of the paper. Online, they had just one note on Virginia Gov. Abby Spanberger, who was assigned the Democrat response – but she was touted as correct. Overall, I found in a quick review of the “fact checks” after Trump’s speech there were 123 for the president and just four for Spanberger – and all four of those ruled the new governor as factual. PolitiFact has featured only six fact checks on Spanberger over her career, and only one was a False. Aren’t they nice? Democrats feel free to unload attack lines that are untrue on their face, like this one from Spanberger’s rebuke: “Our President told us tonight that we are safer because these agents arrest mothers and detain children.” Did Trump literally say “we’re safe because ICE agents arrest mothers and detain children”? No. But everything is fair game when a Democrat is boiling up rhetoric. Your “independent fact checkers” say nothing when Trump is compared to Hitler and the Republicans are compared to the Nazis. Democrats yelled from the House floor that Trump “killed Americans” who interfered with ICE, and no one objected. They exploded in outrage when a Republican congressman yelled “You lie” at President Obama at the 2009 State of the Union, but “you killed Americans” is considered fair. This latest address to Congress underlines the elitist media should not be considered a reliable source in describing which actors in politics are practicing honesty and decency, promoting unity and a bipartisan spirit. They offer none of those qualities in their work.