On Sunday, CNN aired a “Whole Story” special on what it called “The Left Insurgency”, which is Elitist Media shorthand for the DSA takeover of the Democrat Party. The documentary, hosted by Donie O’Sullivan, promised to examine the “new generation” of Democrat voters and include some Democrat dissenters. In the end, though, the doc proved to be little more than a promotional vehicle for Hasan Piker, who infamously said that America deserved 9/11.The documentary is bookended, in fact, by Piker. O’Sullivan opens the doc with their interactions at the 2024 Democratic convention and closes it out with Piker’s prediction that the 2028 Democrat nominee won’t be an Israel supporter. Following that initial interaction with Piker, first mention of David Hogg and a cringe-inducing chat with actress Cynthia Nixon at a No Kings Rally, one gets the first serious indicator that this is little more than a fluff piece. I can already tell this CNN @donie special is going to be an infomercial for the DSA hollowing out of the Democrat party pic.twitter.com/zJz2e5dCz9— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 3, 2026 DONIE O’SULLIVAN: The issues that Piker and Hogg were talking about back in Chicago have come to play a defining role in the fight for the future of the Democratic Party. PANEL MODERATOR: Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza? O’SULLIVAN: Hogg and Piker are now part of an insurgency. KAITLAN COLLINS: Hogg has pledged to spend millions funding primary challenges to what he calls “asleep-at-the-wheel Democrats.” O’SULLIVAN: Hasan Piker, who, to quote Politico…BILL SAMMON: …is driving a wedge in the Democratic PartyO’SULLIVAN: …an insurgency against centrist Democrats, one that is challenging party norms. JONATHAN LEMIRE: These races do seem representative of the real struggle the party is going through right now post-2024.O’SULLIVAN: And energizing young voters. BRIAN ROMERO: Abolish ICE, free Palestine, and tax the (...) rich.O’SULLIVAN: An insurgency that hopes to spark a revolution in the Democratic Party.O’Sullivan then goes on to establish the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) as the heart of this insurgency, by “pulling the Democratic Party to the left”, a big downplay of the DSA agenda. WATCH: @donie casts the DSA candidates as heroic insurgents pic.twitter.com/EMrYyOh56Y— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 3, 2026 RALLY ATTENDEES: DSA! DSA! DSA!O’SULLIVAN: At the heart of the insurgency is the DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America. The DSA is the largest socialist political organization in the country, and it's working to pull the Democratic Party to the left. RALLY HOST: Senator Bernie Sanders! O’SULLIVAN: Today, they are holding a rally here in the Bronx in support of their New York candidates.BERNIE SANDERS: Thank you. It is not Bernie. It is you. It's all of us together. The work that you did to elect Zohran (Mamdani) as mayor will not only impact this city, it is reverberating all over the world. O’SULLIVAN: You're a democratic socialist. DARIALIZA AVILA-CHEVALIER: I am.O’SULLIVAN: You've never run for office before. Darializa Avila Chevalier is one of the candidates running for DSA in New York.AVILA-CHEVALIER: Folks need to be able to see themselves in the Democratic Party again. I, like them, have felt abandoned by the establishment that is sending all our money onto these foreign wars. We need folks who are willing to reinvest that money into our communities, into our babies, making sure that we have universal childcare, free public education from cradle to college.It bears noting that there is no examination of DSA candidate Darializa Avila-Chevalier (DAC) beyond a carefully curated pair of quotes. There is no examination of her history as an organizer of the violent anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, or of her more radical policy positions. For that matter, there is no examination whatsoever of what the DSA actually stands for, except its opposition both to AIPAC and to the Democrat establishment. No mentions of the things they want to seize and/or abolish. Conversely, there is no mention of the DSA’s use for the Democrat Party as little more than a ballot access vehicle.The first segment closes out with, you guessed it: Hasan Piker. Coming back from the break, we get O’Sullivan’s first mention of communism: not as the natural end result of the policies publicly espoused by the DSA, but by invocation of the ghost of Joe McCarthy, and the live Donald Trump. On cue, here's @donie's first narrative whitewash of socialism as not-communism: pic.twitter.com/bO0ug1KUGk— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 3, 2026 JOE McCARTHY: One communist on the faculty of one university is one communist too many. O’SULLIVAN: Communism and socialism have long been bad words in American politics, dating back to the McCarthy hearings and the Cold War. America stood for capitalism. DONALD TRUMP: They use the word Social Democrat because it sounds so nice, but it's really communism you’re talking about. O’SULLIVAN: But that is changing. ANAND GIRIDHARADAS: You understand, I think rightly, this is a social democracy. This is not Gulag socialism. This is not the Soviet Union socialism. HARRY ENTEN: Socialism, on the other hand, up like a rocket. Look at this. 2 in 3 Democrats have a favorable view of socialism. O’SULLIVAN: Capitalism is even less popular among young people. DAVID HOGG: If politicians want to know how to get elected, it is not complicated. Do your job and represent the people. Not the special interests buying out our elections. What I think a lot about is the fact that if we do not start making our political system work for people that feel like they are living in a broken promise where they've done as a generation everything we've been told on average, right? We've gone to college at some of the highest rates of anybody, of any generation in American history. Contrary to popular belief, we've actually voted at the highest rates of any generational cohort at our age in American history. Consistently.There is a fascinating juxtaposition here between the McCarthy quote, the recent palatability of socialism among the younger set and the Hogg line about his generation going to college at the high rate. The institutional rot in our academic institutions has proven McCarthy right!In a disgusting aside, O’Sullivan lumps the shooting of President Trump and the assassination of Charlie Kirk along with the assassination of the United Health CEO- all the purported work of anti-capitalists who lost “belief in the system.” DISGUSTING: CNN's @donie recasts Charlie Kirk's murder as the work of anti-capitalists who have lost "belief in the system", along with Trump shooting and the assassination of the United Healthcare CEO pic.twitter.com/qpNALaxKTs— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 3, 2026 O’SULLIVAN: Often, when belief in the system collapses, civil unrest and violence follow. JOHN BERMAN: The CEO of United Health Care was murdered this morning.The record reflects that the motive for the assassination of Charlie Kirk was overwhelmingly hatred over Kirk's positions on transgenderism. Someone who purports to combat disinformation should be aware of that.The first mention of Democrat opposition to the DSA takeover comes in at the 27-minute mark: a sit-down with James Carville. The first take in opposition to the DSA takeover of the Democrat party: James Carville, 27 minutes in. pic.twitter.com/Qg4b743cSs— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 3, 2026 O’SULLIVAN: Mr. Carville, nice to meet you. I'm Donie O'Sullivan. One might think all the energy and excitement about a new generation of candidates might be a cause for celebration within the Democratic Party. JAMES CARVILLE, WIELDING A BEIGNET: This is what I call a sign of advanced civilization.O’SULLIVAN: But not for party veteran James Carville. How are you feeling about the midterms? CARVILLE: I feel very good. The only thing that can derail us, we could nominate some of the wrong candidates in the wrong place and not be as successful as, I hope.O’SULLIVAN: The wrong candidates. What do you mean by that? CARVILLE: All right, let's take in Michigan. And El-Sayed is highly competent, but he's way left. I see challenges from the quote, “progressive left,” unquote, and these people are too hard headed to know that they're not popular. People don't like them. And, but if you get a skewed turnout in a primary, you might end up losing a race that you should have never lost in the first place. O’SULLIVAN: When you say “progressive left,” you sort of- there's a tone of contempt there.CARVILLE: Yeah. Yeah. So you were very wise. I hope the camera was able to pick up the contempt. O’SULLIVAN: This is high definition. Yes. CARVILLE: They don't win elections. They never run against Republicans. They just run against other Democrats. And their only message is, “we're going to blow everything up.”After some more Democrat dissent over antisemitism concerns and several additional doses of Piker, O’Sullivan balances things out by highlighting Cori Bush’s attempted comeback, and with David Hogg depicting AIPAC support as a moral evil comparable to that of the NRA. After a chat with the Pod Save Obama bros who talk themselves into submitting to the DSA takeover, the doc closes out. Viewers get an upbeat depiction of the DSA candidates and a quick rundown of the issues- particularly Israel. The dissenters get a closing argument but the last word belongs to: you guessed it, Hasan Piker, predicting that the 2028 Democrat nominee will not be “pro-Israel in any way.” WATCH: Hasan Piker guarantees the 2028 Dem nominee will be a virulent antisemite pic.twitter.com/G1b9uBvYJD— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 31, 2026 O’SULLIVAN: Will you endorse the 2028 candidates if they are pro-Israel in a way that you don't like? If you ultimately are about defeating fascism in this country as you describe it surely. Shouldn't you get on board with whoever the main candidate is? PIKER: Luckily, I don't think I'll have to make that calculation at all, because there is 0% chance that whoever the elected Democrat is that wins the primary will be pro-Israel in any way, shape or form. You'll see.This documentary was not so much an exposition of the threat faced by the Democratic Party as it was a call to submission. There is no other purpose this slop could possibly serve given O'Sullivan's treatment of the subject matter, the individuals he chose to elevate, its timing ahead of the critical Michigan primary and the lack of coverage devoted to what the DSA actually stands for.

The Elitist Media have largely avoided the Fauci Diaries since its publication and subsequent hearing with their author before the Senate Homeland Security and American Government Committee. CNN’s Dana Bash tried to perform some narrative hygiene by having Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as a guest on today’s edition of State of the Union. To put it mildly, that effort backfired.Bash framed the interview before its start by dishonestly casting Fauci as a Trump appointee, and got immediately rebuffed when posing the question to Kennedy: WATCH: The contentious Dana Bash-RFKJR interview was doomed from the start. Watch as Dana Bash opens the interview by dishonestly framing Anthony Fauci as a Trump appointee:DANA BASH: Washington was also gripped this week by a blast from the past, as former top trump health… pic.twitter.com/fXGFAlukcD— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 2, 2026 DANA BASH: Washington was also gripped this week by a blast from the past, as former top Trump health official doctor Anthony Fauci repeatedly pleaded the fifth at a congressional hearing over his handling of the covid pandemic, all while the U.S. Faces health challenges from disease outbreaks to rising health care costs. Here with me now is the Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Thank you for being here.ROBERT F. KENNEDY. Jr.: Thanks for having me.BASH: Appreciate it. You have been placing nearly all the blame on the COVID pandemic and the way that the U.S. responded to it squarely with Dr. Fauci. But, of course, he worked for President Trump. Does President Trump also deserve some of the blame?KENNEDY: Well President Trump, as you recall, wanted to end the lockdowns.  I think the thing that did the most damage to our country was the lockdowns, lockdowns that shut down 3.5 million businesses in our country with no due process, no just compensation, all of our churches, closed our schools, and our children are still paying the price for that. And yet we had the worst outcome of any country in the world.BASH: How so?KENNEDY: We have the highest death rate from COVID of any nation on Earth.BASH: Well, let me just say, because I have heard you say that before on the death rate from COVID. That's not accurate, because public health experts say that there is a combination of factors that went into that, higher rates of chronic illnesses, which I know you would agree with, gaps to our health care system, and misinformation about vaccines.KENNEDY: Yes, you just said what I said was inaccurate. What I said was accurate. We had the highest death rate from COVID of any...(CROSSTALK)BASH: Well, there are other countries that had higher, but go ahead.KENNEDY: You can argue about why we had that. But you -- nobody can tell you. I mean, we have -- as you say, we have the highest chronic disease burden in the world. And Anthony Fauci was mismanaging the COVID pandemic and was doing it under the Biden administration. President Trump wanted to end the lockdowns. And, in fact, in Anthony Fauci's diaries, he talks about how President Trump is calling him every day, trying to get him to reopen the country. Anthony Fauci has been in and around Washington since the late 60s. And although he was an active part of the Trump response as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), it was the Biden administration that elevated him to Chief Medical Advisor to the President (and granted him a preemptive autopen pardon). None of that matters, as the goal here is to Trumpwash Fauci and blunt the impact of the Fauci Diaries for purposes of the Kennedy interview.Kennedy had none of that, stomping all over Bash’s narrative and bringing to the fire Fauci’s role in the establishment of the Covid lockdowns.Bash quickly tries to shift the topic to staving off the next pandemic, and tries to pin Kennedy down on gain-of-function research. When she insists on what it takes to prevent the next pandemic, she takes exception to Kennedy’s answer, which leads to this contentious exchange wherein she gets COOKED: WATCH: The full exchange wherein CNN's Dana Bash got COOKED by RFKJRBASH: So, how do you prepare then? How do you prepare for the next pandemic? I mean, that's literally part of your job now, because experts think it's going to happen within the next 10 years again.KENNEDY:… pic.twitter.com/e3D9PMy9Pq— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 2, 2026 BASH: So, how do you prepare then? How do you prepare for the next pandemic? I mean, that's literally part of your job now, because experts think it's going to happen within the next 10 years again.KENNEDY: Yes, I mean, I think we did virtually everything wrong the last time.BASH: So -- but what about now?KENNEDY: The principal thing that we need to do is, we need to listen to what's happening to doctors on the ground. There are 15 million frontline physicians around the world. They're mainly now connected through the Internet. We can tell on the front lines what's working and what's not. If we had listened to those doctors during the COVID pandemic, we would have saved potentially millions of lives. There were therapeutics out there that were working. There were doctors that were having no deaths from COVID and treating in some cases thousands of patients.And we weren't listening to them. Instead, we were doing the opposite. We were shutting them down. And then, Dana, the other thing that I would say is that we need to protect our constitutional rights. That is the primary obligation of our country.BASH: What does that mean?KENNEDY: Well, during COVID, we completely dismantled our constitutional rights. We began censoring people, in violation of the First Amendment.(CROSSTALK)BASH: But you're saying what not to do. I'm asking what to do. But I- but I want to talk about...KENNEDY: Well, that's something to do. That is the number one priority. We protect the Constitution. The Constitution was written.BASH: Forgive me, but you're just -- you're talking about rights, and I'm asking about a potential public health crisis that is coming. But I do want to -- let's...KENNEDY: And one of the mistakes we made in the last time was suppressing those rights so people weren't being heard. Doctors who were saying you're doing it wrong were being marginalized and vilified and...BASH: Yes, because -- because -- again, I really want to move on. But you were saying you were...KENNEDY: Of course you want to move...BASH: Yes, I do.KENNEDY: ... because you were part of the problem.BASH: No, I wasn't part of the problem.KENNEDY: There was absolute press malpractice. You weren't allowing -- your job...(CROSSTALK)BASH: Mr. Secretary, your job...KENNEDY: Your job is a fierce skepticism toward authority.BASH: OK. Yes, I am. I am.KENNEDY: And you weren't doing that. You were beating up on people who were dissenting.BASH: My job is also -- no, OK. Are you going to -- you want to sit here and attack me, or do you want to have conversations about public health?KENNEDY: Well, you're sitting here and attacking me.BASH: I'm not attacking you. I'm asking questions about how to prevent the next pandemic.KENNEDY: And let me answer the question. And I will tell you.BASH: That's what I'm trying to do. But I also don't want to use this interview to allow you to say things that aren't entirely true. You're talking about therapeutics. Fine. It is also factually true that the COVID vaccine worked. The COVID vaccine prevented deaths. There is data upon data upon data. Let's talk about the measles, please, because this is something that is happening as we speak. The cases in the U.S...KENNEDY: You think the COVID vaccine protected children?BASH: I think that what I have talked to scientists and doctors about...KENNEDY: You have talked to scientists. Can you look -- can you show me one study...BASH: Yes, I can. I can.KENNEDY: ... that shows that children were protected by the COVID vaccine?BASH: I can tell you that there are...KENNEDY: That that vaccine did more good than harm to children? Can you show me one study that shows that?BASH: I can tell you that, when it comes to the vaccine, there have been studies that show that, because of vaccine disinformation, disinformation, there could have been 100,000 to 200,000 in the U.S. saved but because people didn't get the vaccine, that's why.(CROSSTALK)BASH: I'm not saying that it entirely -- let me finish. Let me finish.KENNEDY: You are saying nonsense. You are saying something that you cannot show me a single study.BASH: OK. I am not saying nonsense. I'm -- excuse me.KENNEDY: You are talking -- somebody told you.BASH: Excuse me. Let me...KENNEDY: And you -- cite me the study. What study?(CROSSTALK)BASH: No, what studies are you talking about? You're talking about studies that actually don't exist. I want to talk about the...KENNEDY: Cite me the study. You're talking about it. BASH: I'm not here to defend...KENNEDY: You say you have seen studies. Cite me the study.BASH: This is not productive. I am not here to defend all of the -- let me finish.KENNEDY: You're just -- you're talking nonsense. You're making assertions you can't support, and then when I call you on them, you're telling me I'm arguing with you.BASH: OK, do you want to talk about -you want to- talk about assertions that you can't support? I will get there in a second. Let me just say, for the record, that I am not saying that the entire way that the COVID reaction was accurate. It was a scary time, and people made mistakes, absolutely. Let me finish.KENNEDY: You were scaring people.BASH: Why are you saying that?KENNEDY: Because that was the job of CNN...BASH: OK. OK, stop.KENNEDY: ... was to put the Chyrons up about many people are dying to get people to comply.BASH: We were trying to be -- we were listening to the leaders in this country, including the president, who had a daily press conference explaining what was going on, and trying to listen.KENNEDY: Were you listening to the scientists, actually?BASH: I want to talk to -- measles.KENNEDY: Were you reading the science yourself?Not doing the thing that failed last time is a perfectly acceptable response to the question of how to prepare for the next pandemic. Perhaps it wasn’t the response that Bash wanted to hear but it was valid nonetheless. This may well be one of the first times, if not the first, that anyone brings accountability to the Elitist Media for their role in spreading Covid propaganda and helping squash any dissent against the measures; whether the vaccine, the lockdowns, the social distancing, or the school closures. Kennedy called her out and then demanded she bolster her claims with science. And Bash learned the hard way that there is a difference between The Science™ the media pushed and the actual science the people needed to hear.Bash would eventually shift the conversation to the ongoing measles outbreak. Here, again, she got absolutely wrecked.  WATCH: CNN's Dana Bash tries to pin the measles outbreak on HHS Sec'y RFK Jr, gets WRECKED with a Fauci Diaries quote DANA BASH: The measles cases in the U.S. just reached a 35-year high, the second record-breaking year in a row; 93 percent of these cases are among the… pic.twitter.com/U9QGQCTVeT— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 2, 2026 BASH: The measles cases in the U.S. just reached a 35-year high, the second record-breaking year in a row; 93 percent of these cases are among the unvaccinated. The outbreak is happening on your watch. And even before becoming HHS Secretary, for years, you have been one of the leading voices questioning the efficacy of vaccines. Do you accept some responsibility for this measles outbreak?KENNEDY: Absolutely not. First of all, this is an international outbreak. So we're doing better at handling it than any country in the world. Mexico has 15 times the amount of measles per capita that we have. Canada has four times the amount of measles. England has two times the amount of measles. Did I cause those measles outbreaks? BASH: You're the most famous...KENNEDY: Did I cause 137,000 cases of measles in Europe?BASH: You're the most famous vaccine skeptic on the planet.KENNEDY: Let me tell you, because actually Anthony Fauci in his diaries answers the question about why we're having a measles outbreak right now. The reason we're having a measles outbreak is because of the COVID lockdowns, because people didn't -- like, children during that period did not get vaccinated. And, in his diaries, he says this is going to cause massive outbreaks of measles and more children -- he says this -- are going to die.(CROSSTALK)KENNEDY: Let me finish, because you accused me of something. Now let me...BASH: Go ahead. No, I didn't. I asked you a question.KENNEDY: Yes, let me give you the answer. He says in his diaries, more children are going to die from measles because of these lockdowns than COVID. So, if you want to know -- and that age group that should have gotten the MMR when they were 18 months and didn't get it, they're the ones being infected. The people in this country -- and we have stopped the outbreaks at record speed in South Carolina and Texas and Utah and Virginia. We have done better than any country in the world. I dispatched immediately the epidemic intelligence services to those states. I get on the phone with the governor and we stop them in their tracks.BASH: OK.KENNEDY: Nobody else has been able to do that.BASH: You have a bully pulpit.KENNEDY: Let me tell you just one last thing.BASH: Go ahead. Go ahead.KENNEDY: The communities that are suffering from measles are almost all religious communities that just don't vaccinate. The Mennonites have not vaccinated since 1796, since Edward Jenner invented the smallpox vaccine. It's hard to blame that on me, as much as you want to blame it on me.BASH: No, I don't want to blame you. I'm asking you because you have a very powerful voice on these issues for people who are skeptical. (CROSSTALK)BASH: Let me finish. Let me finish.KENNEDY: I have never questioned the efficacy of the MMR vaccine.(CROSSTALK)BASH: OK, let me -- let me finish. What I want you to do is please use your bully pulpit to right now, as we're getting close to back to school, say -- are you willing to say to parents who have not vaccinated their kids that they should vaccinate their kids for measles because it is safe and it will help them save their children's lives?KENNEDY: I tell people on my Web sites, my public...(CROSSTALK)BASH: Right now. Look into the camera.KENNEDY: I will say it right now, that people -- parents should get their children vaccinated for measles. A measles vaccine is effective. It stops measles in about 97 percent of the cases. So, people should get vaccinated.Kennedy would then call Bash out and the media yet again, and in one of the more memorable parts of this highly contentious interview, state that Bash knows nothing but instead parrots the people saying, “trust the experts.”  "All you know how to do is repeat things that people told you and say, trust the experts." RFK Jr. confronts CNN's Dana Bash on the media's role during the Covid madnessROBERT F. KENNEDY Jr: Let me ask you something. Do you see your job as ending vaccine hesitancy, or do you… pic.twitter.com/uxF4NjDHdJ— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) August 2, 2026 KENNEDY: Let me ask you something. Do you see your job as ending vaccine hesitancy, or do you see your job as telling the truth to the American people?BASH: I see my job as telling the truth. And the truth is that there is study after study after study. It's one of the most studied things out there in science.KENNEDY: You're repeating it like a parrot. You're repeating it like a parrot.BASH: So are you.KENNEDY: I have actually read the science. Let's...(CROSSTALK)BASH: You don't want to...KENNEDY: Let's you and I come back here and debate the science.BASH: I don't -- I'm not debating this with you.KENNEDY: Of course you won't.BASH: No, because I'm not...(CROSSTALK)KENNEDY: All you know how to do is repeat things that people told you and say, trust the experts.That's what you did during COVID. Now we know that Anthony Fauci, who was the expert, was lying about everything, about masks, about the social distancing, about natural immunity, about the transmission from the vaccine, about the source of COVID. He was lying, and you were punishing people for not trusting the experts. And now you're rolling out the experts again...BASH: Yes.KENNEDY: ... to talk about something that you have no personal knowledge of.BASH: OK. Well, guess what? That is my job to talk to people.KENNEDY: Your job is to tell the truth to the American public...BASH: Am I allowed to talk? Yes, yes. And my job is to get as much information as I can.KENNEDY: ... and to maintain a posture of fierce skepticism toward government authority.BASH: What we were doing in COVID and still, with regard to these vaccines, is getting the best information, the best science that we can and putting it out there. And, sir, you what you are doing is causing information to be out there that is not accurate.(CROSSTALK)KENNEDY: ... lying to you, who is lying to you.BASH: The National Academy of Sciences, which you just cited, in November, said: "We support the statement that vaccines do not cause autism." This is the National Academy of Sciences that you just talked about.KENNEDY: The National -- look at the National Academy of Sciences' most recent report.BASH: OK.KENNEDY: And you will see.The interview closed out with similar exchanges on autism, vaccines, and ultra-processed foods. Bash did subsequent mop-up by bringing on Biden’s head of Covid response, Dr. Ashish Jha. It should also be noted that this was the only coverage of any kind given to the Fauci Diaries on any of the Elitist Media’s Sunday shows. Given how the exchange went, we can clearly see why.P.S: Dana Bash is mentioned exactly 9 times in the Fauci Diaries. Seven of those are a memorialization of his interviews with her on CNN. One mention records a text message citing Vanity Fair, saying:I received a text from Dana Bash pointing out that Vanity Fair recently had a headline that said: Jim Jordan trips over his own asshole trying to debate Anthony Fauci. And there is the mention of another text sent to Fauci by Bash. Fauci wrote:Dana Bash sent me a text: “I just watched the whole Jordan thing. Again, you’re a better man than I…. As our friend Wolf Blitzer said to me yesterday – no one would have blamed you if you said simply “Mr. Jordan, go f--- yourself” Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on CNN State of the Union on Sunday, August 2nd, 2026:DANA BASH: Here with me now is the Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Thank you for being here.ROBERT F. KENNEDY. Jr.: Thanks for having me.BASH: Appreciate it. You have been placing nearly all the blame on the COVID pandemic and the way that the U.S. responded to it squarely with Dr. Fauci. But, of course, he worked for President Trump. Does President Trump also deserve some of the blame?KENNEDY: Well President Trump, as you recall, wanted to end the lockdowns.  I think the thing that did the most damage to our country was the lockdowns, lockdowns that shut down 3.5 million businesses in our country with no due process, no just compensation, all of our churches, closed our schools, and our children are still paying the price for that. And yet we had the worst outcome of any country in the world.BASH: How so?KENNEDY: We have the highest death rate from COVID of any nation on Earth.BASH: Well, let me just say, because I have heard you say that before on the death rate from COVID. That's not accurate, because public health experts say that there is a combination of factors that went into that, higher rates of chronic illnesses, which I know you would agree with, gaps to our health care system, and misinformation about vaccines.KENNEDY: Yes, you just said what I said was inaccurate. What I said was accurate. We had the highest death rate from COVID of any...(CROSSTALK)BASH: Well, there are other countries that had higher, but go ahead.KENNEDY: You can argue about why we had that. But you -- nobody can tell you. I mean, we have -- as you say, we have the highest chronic disease burden in the world. And Anthony Fauci was mismanaging the COVID pandemic and was doing it under the Biden administration. President Trump wanted to end the lockdowns. And, in fact, in Anthony Fauci's diaries, he talks about how President Trump is calling him every day, trying to get him to reopen the country.BASH: Yes, well, the lockdowns were done by governors. I mean, certainly, Anthony Fauci and the president had opinions, but the lockdowns were done by governors, and largely because -- and largely because they were hearing they were hearing from hospitals saying that their ICUs were overrun and they needed some help while that was happening.(CROSSTALK)KENNEDY: Well, that's not true. Dana, that's just not true.BASH: It is true.KENNEDY: What you're saying is not true. No, they were doing it because Anthony Fauci was telling them from the top, you need to lock down. There were ICUs that were empty all over the country, including in New York at the height.BASH: I'm asking you -- I'm going to go back to what I asked you at the beginning, which is President Trump. And he was the guy in charge. And he -- you tweeted back in 2024 that he let bureaucrats like Anthony Fauci shut down the entire country. Again, the president was in charge.KENNEDY: The president was trying to reopen the country when he left. The country was kept closed for another year, almost a year-and-a-half after that.BASH: Let's talk about how to prevent the next pandemic, because there's a lot of litigating and relitigating that I don't think is really helpful to do with regard to COVID. And the question is about so-called gain of function, which, for people who aren't entirely clear about it, it is a highly risky research process that includes manipulating a virus to study how it behaves as it evolves. Now, what scientists say is that, although it's controversial, it's necessary to prepare for the next pandemic, to get ahead of it, to figure out what these viruses can do. You want to end this gain of function research. Some scientists say, isn't it better just to put better guardrails around it?KENNEDY: People have been trying to put guardrails around it for generations, and it hasn't worked. And, clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic and many other global pandemics that we have, have come from data function research. The RSV epidemic that we have that is the biggest killer of kids in this country today came from these kind of experiments. The Lyme Disease almost certainly came from this kind of research.So -- and the scientists who you say are experts are making the argument that this is necessary for pandemic response cannot point to one instance in history where research that came out of this kind of experimentation has actually provided us something beneficial.BASH: So, how do you prepare then? How do you prepare for the next pandemic? I mean, that's literally part of your job now, because experts think it's going to happen within the next 10 years again.KENNEDY: Yes, I mean, I think we did virtually everything wrong the last time.BASH: So -- but what about now?KENNEDY: The principal thing that we need to do is, we need to listen to what's happening to doctors on the ground. There are 15 million frontline physicians around the world. They're mainly now connected through the Internet. We can tell on the front lines what's working and what's not. If we had listened to those doctors during the COVID pandemic, we would have saved potentially millions of lives. There were therapeutics out there that were working. There were doctors that were having no deaths from COVID and treating in some cases thousands of patients.And we weren't listening to them. Instead, we were doing the opposite. We were shutting them down. And then, Dana, the other thing that I would say is that we need to protect our constitutional rights. That is the primary obligation of our country.BASH: What does that mean?KENNEDY: Well, during COVID, we completely dismantled our constitutional rights. We began censoring people, in violation of the First Amendment.(CROSSTALK)BASH: But you're saying what not to do. I'm asking what to do. But I- but I want to talk about...KENNEDY: Well, that's something to do. That is the number one priority. We protect the Constitution. The Constitution was written.BASH: Forgive me, but you're just -- you're talking about rights, and I'm asking about a potential public health crisis that is coming. But I do want to -- let's...KENNEDY: And one of the mistakes we made in the last time was suppressing those rights so people weren't being heard. Doctors who were saying you're doing it wrong were being marginalized and vilified and...BASH: Yes, because -- because -- again, I really want to move on. But you were saying you were...KENNEDY: Of course you want to move...BASH: Yes, I do.KENNEDY: ... because you were part of the problem.BASH: No, I wasn't part of the problem.KENNEDY: There was absolute press malpractice. You weren't allowing -- your job...(CROSSTALK)BASH: Mr. Secretary, your job...KENNEDY: Your job is a fierce skepticism toward authority.BASH: OK. Yes, I am. I am.KENNEDY: And you weren't doing that. You were beating up on people who were dissenting.BASH: My job is also -- no, OK. Are you going to -- you want to sit here and attack me, or do you want to have conversations about public health?KENNEDY: Well, you're sitting here and attacking me.BASH: I'm not attacking you. I'm asking questions about how to prevent the next pandemic.KENNEDY: And let me answer the question. And I will tell you. BASH: That's what I'm trying to do. But I also don't want to use this interview to allow you to say things that aren't entirely true. You're talking about therapeutics. Fine. It is also factually true that the COVID vaccine worked. The COVID vaccine prevented deaths. There is data upon data upon data. Let's talk about the measles, please, because this is something that is happening as we speak. The cases in the U.S...KENNEDY: You think the COVID vaccine protected children?BASH: I think that what I have talked to scientists and doctors about...KENNEDY: You have talked to scientists. Can you look -- can you show me one study...BASH: Yes, I can. I can.KENNEDY: ... that shows that children were protected by the COVID vaccine?BASH: I can tell you that there are...KENNEDY: That that vaccine did more good than harm to children? Can you show me one study that shows that?BASH: I can tell you that, when it comes to the vaccine, there have been studies that show that, because of vaccine disinformation, disinformation, there could have been 100,000 to 200,000 in the U.S. saved But because people didn't get the vaccine, that's why.(CROSSTALK)BASH: I'm not saying that it entirely -- let me finish. Let me finish.KENNEDY: You are saying nonsense. You are saying something that you cannot show me a single study.BASH: OK. I am not saying nonsense. I'm -- excuse me.KENNEDY: You are talking -- somebody told you.BASH: Excuse me. Let me...KENNEDY: And you -- cite me the study. What study?(CROSSTALK)BASH: No, what studies are you talking about? You're talking about studies that actually don't exist. I want to talk about the...KENNEDY: Cite me the study. You're talking about it. BASH: I'm not here to defend...KENNEDY: You say you have seen studies. Cite me the study.BASH: This is not productive. I am not here to defend all of the -- let me finish.KENNEDY: You're just -- you're talking nonsense. You're making assertions you can't support, and then when I call you on them, you're telling me I'm arguing with you.BASH: OK, do you want to talk about you want to talk about assertions that you can't support? I will get there in a second. Let me just say, for the record, that I am not saying that the entire way that the COVID reaction was accurate. It was a scary time, and people made mistakes, absolutely. Let me finish.KENNEDY: You were scaring people.BASH: Why are you saying that?KENNEDY: Because that was the job of CNN...BASH: OK. OK, stop.KENNEDY: ... was to put the Chyrons up about many people are dying to get people to comply.BASH: We were trying to be -- we were listening to the leaders in this country, including the president, who had a daily press conference explaining what was going on, and trying to listen.KENNEDY: Were you listening to the scientists, actually?BASH: I want to talk to -- measles.KENNEDY: Were you reading the science yourself?BASH: The measles cases in the U.S. just reached a 35-year high, the second record-breaking year in a row; 93 percent of these cases are among the unvaccinated. The outbreak is happening on your watch. And even before becoming HHS Secretary, for years, you have been one of the leading voices questioning the efficacy of vaccines. Do you accept some responsibility for this measles outbreak?KENNEDY: Absolutely not. First of all, this is an international outbreak. So we're doing better at handling it than any country in the world. Mexico has 15 times the amount of measles per capita that we have. Canada has four times the amount of measles. England has two times the amount of measles. Did I cause those measles outbreaks? BASH: You're the most famous...KENNEDY: Did I cause 137,000 cases of measles in Europe?BASH: You're the most famous vaccine skeptic on the planet.KENNEDY: Let me tell you, because actually Anthony Fauci in his diaries answers the question about why we're having a measles outbreak right now. The reason we're having a measles outbreak is because of the COVID lockdowns, because people didn't -- like, children during that period did not get vaccinated. And, in his diaries, he says this is going to cause massive outbreaks of measles and more children -- he says this -- are going to die.(CROSSTALK)KENNEDY: Let me finish, because you accused me of something. Now let me...BASH: Go ahead. No, I didn't. I asked you a question.KENNEDY: Yes, let me give you the answer. He says in his diaries, more children are going to die from measles because of these lockdowns than COVID. So, if you want to know -- and that age group that should have gotten the MMR when they were 18 months and didn't get it, they're the ones being infected. The people in this country -- and we have stopped the outbreaks at record speed in South Carolina and Texas and Utah and Virginia. We have done better than any country in the world. I dispatched immediately the epidemic intelligence services to those states. I get on the phone with the governor, and we stop them in their tracks.BASH: OK.KENNEDY: Nobody else has been able to do that.BASH: You have a bully pulpit.KENNEDY: Let me tell you just one last thing.BASH: Go ahead. Go ahead.KENNEDY: The communities that are suffering from measles are almost all religious communities that just don't vaccinate. The Mennonites have not vaccinated since 1796, since Edward Jenner invented the smallpox vaccine. It's hard to blame that on me, as much as you want to blame it on me.BASH: No, I don't want to blame you. I'm asking you because you have a very powerful voice on these issues for people who are skeptical. (CROSSTALK)BASH: Let me finish. Let me finish.KENNEDY: I have never questioned the efficacy of the MMR vaccine.(CROSSTALK)BASH: OK, let me -- let me finish. What I want you to do is please use your bully pulpit to right now, as we're getting close to back to school, say -- are you willing to say to parents who have not vaccinated their kids that they should vaccinate their kids for measles because it is safe and it will help them save their children's lives?KENNEDY: I tell people on my Web sites, my public...(CROSSTALK)BASH: Right now. Look into the camera.KENNEDY: I will say it right now, that people -- parents should get their children vaccinated for measles. A measles vaccine is effective. It stops measles in about 97 percent of the cases. So, people should get vaccinated.BASH: Can I ask you? "The Wall Street Journal" reported that the president is pressuring you to conduct studies probing the link between vaccines and autism. Is that true?KENNEDY: Did you say probing the link?BASH: What "The Wall" -- I'm just quoting "The Wall Street Journal," that they, that the president wants you to go further to probe the links between autism and vaccines.KENNEDY: He certainly does.BASH: OK. Now, have you talked to him about medical research that have studied this for 25 years and found no link between autism and vaccines? And just that -- this is my question here, because I don't want to litigate that. My question is, why not -- because you are HHS Secretary now. Why not study what could cause autism, which scientists do believe starts with fetal brain development? Why not do some studies on that, whether there's -- since you're an environmental lawyer, whether there are environmental factors that go into contributing to a predisposed genetic situation?KENNEDY: Well, let me say this first. We're doing all those things. And that's one of the ways that we found Tylenol. There's 73 studies out that link Tylenol exposure during later pregnancy and during the perinatal period to autism onset.But you are wrong when you say that this issue has been studied. It has been studied. And you're rolling your eyes, Dana, but this is another example...(CROSSTALK)BASH: I am, because I don't want -- I don't want to have you use our air to say this. There have been more than 40 studies involving 5.6 million people to conclude there is no link between vaccines and autism. This is the head of the Committee of Infectious Diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics.KENNEDY: And now let me tell you what the Institute of Medicine is -- says, which is the National Academy of Sciences, which is the ultimate arbiter on vaccine safety, in which it does not have an interest in this debate. It says that none of the eight vaccines that are administered during the first six months of life have ever been studied for relationship to autism. It found two studies, one on the DTP vaccine that show that it does cause autism, and one on the hepatitis B vaccine that again suggests that it does cause autism.The Institute of Medicine dismissed those two studies because they were based on CDC's database. The studies that you're referring to are all from one vaccine, the MMR vaccine, or one ingredient, thimerosal.BASH: So you are using -- you are actually looking at -- you're starting new studies to try to link autism, but you're also telling me...KENNEDY: I'm not trying to link autism to anything. I'm trying to find out, why has autism gone from...(CROSSTALK)BASH: Are you also trying to find out how it interacts with people's DNA, what's predisposed to have an autistic child? Are you doing both?KENNEDY: Yes. But, Dana, you probably don't understand this because you're not a scientist.BASH: Well, you're not either.KENNEDY: But genes don't cause -- genes don't cause epidemics.BASH: I understand. Genes -- epidemics?KENNEDY: They can provide a vulnerability, but you need environmental exposure.(CROSSTALK)BASH: Environmental. That's what I'm asking. Are you studying the environmental exposure?KENNEDY: We're looking at all the different environmental exposures. But your statement -- you have been fooled. Your statement that this has been studied is not true. It's categorically not true, not for any of the study.(CROSSTALK)BASH: It is considered decided.KENNEDY: Considered by who?BASH: By every scientist who has studied this.KENNEDY: That is not true.BASH: It is true.KENNEDY: I can give you hundreds of scientists who have looked at this and say, why is the...(CROSSTALK)BASH: So, on the one hand, you are -- do you understand why people aren't getting...(CROSSTALK)KENNEDY: This is the National Academy of Sciences. What greater authority do..(CROSSTALK)BASH: Do you understand why people are not getting measles vaccines? Because they're hearing you say that it could cause autism.KENNEDY: You're trying to change the subject.BASH: I'm not. It's very much related.KENNEDY: And, look, show me one of the studies that's been done on the first eight -- the vaccines during the first six months of life. You will not find them. The National Academy of Sciences states they do not exist.BASH: So, if that's the case, then why are you telling people to get the measles vaccine?KENNEDY: If people -- because that is one of the vaccines that has been studied.BASH: OK.KENNEDY: It's the only one that has been studied.BASH: Do you want people to get the MMR vaccine?KENNEDY: Yes, I said that already.BASH: OK.KENNEDY: So I know you're flustered now, and it is...BASH: I don't -- I'm not flustered at all.KENNEDY: It is frustrating because people...(CROSSTALK)BASH: I am frustrated. The reason I'm frustrated is because I -- you are the HHS Secretary, and you are talking about things that lead to vaccine hesitancy in this country. And it is something that causes problems for people, when there is not anything...(CROSSTALK)KENNEDY: Let me ask you something. Do you see your job as ending vaccine hesitancy, or do you see your job as telling the truth to the American people?BASH: I see my job as telling the truth. And the truth is that there is study after study after study. It's one of the most studied things out there in science.KENNEDY: You're repeating it like a parrot. You're repeating it like a parrot.BASH: So are you.KENNEDY: I have actually read the science. Let's...(CROSSTALK)BASH: You don't want to...KENNEDY: Let's you and I come back here and debate the science.BASH: I don't -- I'm not debating this with you.KENNEDY: Of course you won't.BASH: No, because I'm not...(CROSSTALK)KENNEDY: All you know how to do is repeat things that people told you and say, trust the experts.That's what you did during COVID. Now we know that Anthony Fauci, who was the expert, was lying about everything, about masks, about the social distancing, about natural immunity, about the transmission from the vaccine, about the source of COVID. He was lying, and you were punishing people for not trusting the experts. And now you're rolling out the experts again... BASH: Yes.KENNEDY: ... to talk about something that you have no personal knowledge of.BASH: OK. Well, guess what? That is my job to talk to people.KENNEDY: Your job is to tell the truth to the American public...BASH: Am I allowed to talk? Yes, yes. And my job is to get as much information as I can.KENNEDY: ... and to maintain a posture of fierce skepticism toward government authority.BASH: What we were doing in COVID and still, with regard to these vaccines, is getting the best information, the best science that we can and putting it out there. And, sir, you what you are doing is causing information to be out there that is not accurate.(CROSSTALK)KENNEDY: ... lying to you, who is lying to you.BASH: The National Academy of Sciences, which you just cited, in November, said: "We support the statement that vaccines do not cause autism." This is the National Academy of Sciences that you just talked about.KENNEDY: The National -- look at the National Academy of Sciences' most recent report.BASH: OK.KENNEDY: And you will see.BASH: I don't -- I want to ask you one other question because it's something that really did help Donald Trump get elected, and that is the MAHA movement and specifically the question of processed foods.KENNEDY: Of what?BASH: Processed foods and the fact that people want to feel that their food is safe. My understanding is that you're pushing for reforms on food safety and ultra-processed foods that have been slowed, in some cases blocked by people in the administration who are working on behalf of the industry. Is that true?KENNEDY: No, that is not true.BASH: So you feel that you will be able to get these reforms done without any problems?KENNEDY: I think the GRAS -- the two big reforms that you're probably talking about is ultra-processed food definition...BASH: Exactly.KENNEDY: ... and the GRAS standards.BASH: Yes.KENNEDY: And they have both gone through extensive interagency process. I'm very confident that we will get them both out there within probably a month.BASH: Well, I'm sorry that this -- and that's good news for people who are very -- moms, and I'm one of them, who are very worried about making sure that our kids eat food and we eat food that is that is healthy. I'm sorry that this turned into a very contentious conversation, and my job is to try to get the best information out there. And it does concern me when you come in and say things that have -- I...(CROSSTALK)BASH: Yes, people who have scientific backgrounds, and who I know have tried to talk to you as well. Thank you for coming in.

Jacob Soboroff Ilhan Omar MS NOW The Connection 8-1-26 On Saturday's edition of MS NOW's Connect with Jacob Soboroff, the host trained his focus on AIPAC’s spending in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary. He lamented "AIPAC has, has played a huge role in the Michigan Senate race...in a state that is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in America."He then read a recent X post from Rep. Haley Stevens directed at her rival, Abdul El-Sayed:“Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.” She added that El-Sayed is a “celebrity and part of the complainer class” chasing “the next book or podcast deal.”Soboroff’s reaction: “I would say some people view it as racist, but it sure sounds racist to me. That’s the way I look at it.”He then turned to radical Rep. Ilhan 'All About the Benjamins' Omar, who was on the ground campaigning for El-Sayed. Omar ignored the substance of Stevens’ charge and instead accused Stevens of having an "underlying tone of Islamophobia, of xenophobia and divisive politics." As if Omar is a unifier?  MS NOW's Soboroff Calls Haley Stevens 'Racist,' Ignores El-Sayed's Antisemitic Connection pic.twitter.com/1DeLT3gQ5k— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) August 1, 2026 Nowhere in the segment did Soboroff examine El-Sayed’s own record. The candidate has made AIPAC and Israeli influence a recurring theme, declaring that “for too long our foreign policy has been handed to us by the likes of the state of Israel and AIPAC, who has made sure that both Democrats and Republicans are doing their bidding.” He has branded AIPAC spending “legalized bribery at its worst” and accused Stevens of being “more committed to the future of a foreign country than keeping your tax dollars here.” Soboroff could barely contemplate that this sounded like antisemitism. Nor did Soboroff mention El-Sayed’s embrace of the vile antisemite, Hasan Piker. The popular Twitch streamer has called ultra-Orthodox Jews “inbred,” referred to a Jewish critic as a “bloodthirsty, violent pig dog,” declared that “Hamas is a thousand times better than a fascist settler colonial apartheid state,” and said he “would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.” Piker has stated, “It doesn’t matter if rapes f***ing happened on October 7—like that doesn’t change the dynamic for me even this much.” Abdul El-Sayed Hasan Piker campaigning in Michigan 4-26 In April, Piker joined El-Sayed for high-profile campus rallies at Michigan State and the University of Michigan. El-Sayed declined to disavow Piker’s comments, dismissing the criticism as “platform policing.” Photos from the events [see screencap] show El-Sayed actively posing with Piker, including taking a group selfie with the streamer at his side.The fact that El-Sayed embraces the endorsement of, and campaigns with, a figure whose odious antisemitic rhetoric has been widely condemned somehow does not bother Soboroff — someone who prepared an emotional NBC Nightly News segment on the miraculous survival of his childhood synagogue in the devastating January 2025 California wildfires in Pacific Palisades. Instead, Soboroff only sees racism in Stevens’ remarks on the influence of Jews. El-Sayed’s own statements, and his association with the likes of Piker, go unremarked. Call it what it is: a textbook case of suicidal empathy.Here's the transcript.MS NOWThe Connection8/1/2610:37 am EDTJACOB SOBOROFF: I wanna talk to you though about an issue that has taken over, both the airwaves there, and a lot of conversations about the race. AIPAC has, has played a huge role in the Michigan Senate race, an affiliated super PAC has spent more than thirty million dollars on behalf of Representative Stevens. That's in a state that is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in America. There's a massive uncommitted movement of folks there. There are other outside groups as well, and I'm just looking at some of the numbers right now that are spending on, on behalf of Stevens as well. The same cannot be true, is not true, of El-Sayed. Outside money pales in comparison. What does it say to you about the influence of outside groups in Democratic primaries, and about this race in general?ILHAN OMAR: That's a really good question, and that has been, one of the things that's been on the minds of Michiganders who are going to the polls at this moment and will make their final decision on Tuesday. They are seeing seventy million dollars being spent to keep Abdul out of the Senate, and they're asking themselves, why is that? What does Stevens promise these groups in order for them to spend seventy million dollars in supporting her candidacy?. . . And I haven't heard from Haley what her actual agenda and her policies are, and what she plans to do for Michiganders. And she hasn't answered for the seventy million dollars that is coming in to support her, and what that support gets them.SOBOROFF: One of the things we have heard, though, from Representative Stevens was the way in which she addressed El-Sayed directly in a post on X, recently. And I wanna read to you what she said in part, in part at least. Quote, "Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans." And she added that El Sayed is a, quote, "celebrity and part of the complainer class who is in the race to secure, quote, "the next book or podcast deal." And she concluded it with, quote, "Bro, I just want to work for Michigan." I would say some people view it as racist. But it sure sounds racist to me. That's the way I look at it. Other people say Stevens was, you know, accusing him of, of antisemitism. What is your response to that post?OMAR: I mean, there is an underlying tone of Islamophobia, of xenophobia and divisive politics.

On CNN's The Arena Saturday, Host Kasie Hunt presented a segment which seemed designed to mourn the loss of bipartisanship in Congress, warmly recalling nine years ago, the late Senator John McCain cast a last minute, decisive vote against a repeal of Obamacare, a legislative middle finger in Trump's face. What Hunt found was news: former Trump aide Marc Short said McCain lied to President Trump just prior to the vote, that he would vote for repeal.Following a clip of CNN's Dana Bash, from the night of the vote, building up McCain, Hunt went to work. BASH CLIP, 2017: He came in here, he asked his doctors, despite the fact that he has aggressive brain cancer, he asked his doctors to let him come back in the arena, this week at this very important, momentous occasion.HUNT: It was nine years ago this week that Senator John McCain showed us all why he was known as the Maverick....That was the moment when the Arizona Republican gave his famous thumbs down on the Senate floor in a very public rebuke of his own party's attempt to roll back the Affordable Care Act. Hunt then provided play-by-play of sorts, of the McCain vote.HUNT: It was 1:29 in the morning. Senator McCain....enters the chamber. You see him there.... McCain waves his hand to get the clerk's attention and then gives that dramatic thumbs down. Wait for it. There it is. There was audible reaction on the floor. Gasps, applause. Cheers. Some groans.Next up, McCain, speaking after the vote:McCAIN: We've been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle. That's an approach that's been employed by both sides, mandating legislation from the top down without any support from the other side. With all the parliamentary maneuvers that requires. We are getting nothing done Hunt seemed moved by that moment of betrayal:HUNT: Wow. Blast from the past in so many ways. There have been these series of moments and most recently, Lindsey Graham's passing in some ways was one of the markers of an end of an era that McCain was talking about.The message seemed to be that we are in the horrible Trump era now. That's weird, considering that in 2010, the "Affordable Care Act" passed without a single Republican vote, including McCain. Obama "mandated legislation top down without any support from the other side."Hunt then turned to Lulu Garcia-Navarro of The New York Times, where the history-mangling thesis was underlined:GARCIA-NAVARRO: What we've seen ever since then has been exactly what he talked about and feared, which is top down legislation not working across the aisle, everyone just passing things in the way that they can..... I think by and large we live in an incredibly partisan and acrimonious time.The Obama years were incredibly partisan and acrimonious, but back then, they painted Obama as above it all. (He wasn't.) Hunt then brought in Marc Short, former Chief of Staff for Vice President Mike Pence, who at the time of the vote was serving as Director of Legislative Affairs at the White House, into the conversation, and he confirmed something that President Trump has long claimed, and has long been denied by the liberal media. HUNT: Take us kind of behind the scenes and to what it felt like in that moment and what it meant.SHORT: I was in the Vice President's ceremonial office right off the Senate floor when John McCain was present for a phone call with President Trump, in which he told the President he'd be voting with him. And so that was really about an hour and a half before the vote. So we all at that point thought that we had this vote and we thought it was done. And about an hour and a half later, he went on the senate floor and gave his thumbs down. HUNT: Did he ever explain why he changed his mind?SHORT: He did not... Senator McCain and the President didn't really have a particularly close relationship. So I'm not sure he felt he owed him an explanation for the change. Short went on to say that Lindsay Graham had even believed that McCain was a yes vote. But these revelations yielded only, "Hmm, wow, remarkable" from Hunt.It's a bit shocking that Hunt seemed unaware that Trump has long claimed that McCain had lied to him about the vote in that phone call, and that McCain's staff and the media denied it. In fact in 2019, an article by CNN's Jim Acosta recounted the entire story. Short's eyewitness account, backing Trump's claim could be big news, but it won't be. This is CNN!

Snapstream As the Democratic Party continues to slide into a "big tent" with authoritarians, socialist primary candidates have found victory after victory in far-left cities and states. In the battleground state of Wisconsin, however, a cocky Democratic DSA candidate is shooting to win the governor’s seat.On this Friday’s FOX America’s Newsroom, co-host Dana Perino interviewed this radical new socialist candidate, Francesca Hong, who is far ahead of her party rivals. The interview began with a clip of Hong and Hasan Piker, a violent extremist on a whole different level. On Piker’s show, Hong agrees to a list of radical leftist political initiatives:[Video of Hasan Piker and Francesca Hong]HASAN PIKER: Rapid-fire. Do you support repealing act ten?FRANCESCA HONG: YesPIKER: Universal childcare?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Free school meals?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Guaranteed paid leave?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Abolishing ICE?HONG: Yes.PIKER: A one year data center moratorium?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Breaking up big Ag[riculture]?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Public grocery stores?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Right to repair?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Legalizing cannabis?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Overturning Citizen’s United?HONG: Yes.PIKER: A worker’s bill of rights?HONG: Yes.PIKER: A free Palestine?HONG: Yes.[Cuts back to live]DANA PERINO: Is there anything in that list of what you told Hasan Piker that you disavow now?HONG: No. On an interview with violent extremist Hasan Piker, DSA Wisconsin Governor Candidate Francesca Hong agrees with his inane list of political items. Piker has supported mass murderers like Mao, asserted that America deserved 9/11, and defended other similar heinous stances. pic.twitter.com/sRa8McQgXa— James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 31, 2026 The list Perino is referring to included support for: a ‘worker’s bill of rights’, breaking up agriculture companies, abolishing ICE, installing a moratorium on datacenter construction, a ‘free Palestine’, and many other radical policies.After Hong verified her extremist views, Perino began to rip into some of her socialist stances. She began by questioning Hong on her views about the public ownership of corporations:PERINO: Would you advocate for public ownership of America's largest corporations or those in Wisconsin?HONG: I have to say, first of all,  we are incredibly proud of our Green Bay Packers, a publicly-owned NFL team. But I believe there are some manufacturing and corporation that is irresponsible to have full public control.PERINO: Like what?HONG: You know, I think it depends really on the type of mega-corporation. FOX's Dana Perino holds Hong accountable to her Socialist claims, forcing her to admit that she supports 'public ownership' of most, if not all, industries. Socialists use obfuscating terms like that all to time to conceal their real ambitions: total state control! pic.twitter.com/omuxvnIrky— James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 31, 2026 Hong initially responded by deflecting from the question and praising a sports team instead. When she finally did get to the point, her answer implied that by default, all corporations should be under state ownership. In her mind, private ownership should be the exception, not the norm. It makes sense Hong believes this, of course; the entire goal of socialism is to subjugate society under the rule of the state.Perino continued by pressing Hong on her statements in the past, specifically her support for police abolition. Hong once again deflected from the issue to save face:PERINO: Why shouldn't people take you at your word when you say that you want to defund the police and go towards abolishing it?HONG: Dana, first of all, I have to say thank you so much for featuring my home state in your novel. And I believe that as a democratic socialist, what that means is that I would like to put working class people first over mega-corporations for-PERINO: How does defunding the police put working class people first?HONG: well, maybe-PERINO: I mean, I think that- you’re gonna enter- you’re about to enter into a general election, likely with Tom Tiffany, the Republican. That's not going to be an easy race.Later in the interview, Hong was forced to roll back her statements about abolishing the police, instead pushing her less extremist policies such as free lunches for students.Dana Perino shines as an example of an excellent host in an interview. While not uncharitable towards Hong by any means, Perino kept her from dodging difficult questions. Whereas the leftist media simply lets their interviewees propagandize on air without pushback, Perino instead digs to find the truth behind the candidate’s campaign.The transcript is below. Click "expand" to view.FOX’s America’s NewsroomJuly 31, 202609:46:18 a.m. Eastern(...)[Video of Hasan Piker and Francesca Hong]HASAN PIKER: Rapid-fire. Do you support repealing act ten?FRANCESCA HONG: YesPIKER: Universal childcare?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Free school meals?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Guaranteed paid leave?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Abolishing ICE?HONG: Yes.PIKER: A one year data center moratorium?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Breaking up big Ag[riculture]?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Public grocery stores?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Right to repair?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Legalizing cannabis?HONG: Yes.PIKER: Overturning Citizen’s United?HONG: Yes.PIKER: A worker’s bill of rights?HONG: Yes.PIKER: A free Palestine?HONG: Yes.[Cuts back to live]DANA PERINO: Francesca Hong is a candidate for Wisconsin governor, and even yesterday it looks like you will be the nominee, as another one of your closest competitors, who was even far behind you, has dropped out of the race. Is there anything in that list of what you told Hasan Piker that you disavow now?HONG: No.(...)PERINO: Okay. Would you advocate for public ownership of America's largest corporations or those in Wisconsin?HONG: I have to say, first of all,  we are incredibly proud of our Green Bay Packers, a publicly-owned NFL team. But I believe there are some manufacturing and corporation that is irresponsible to have full public control.PERINO: Like what?HONG: You know, I think it depends really on the type of mega-corporation. We know here in Wisconsin we would like to bring more middle manufacturing- that when jobs were sent overseas, when there was more desire for profit over the people of Wisconsin, that we can be selective and put working class people first when it comes to jobs and mega-corporations.PERINO: Would you be able to recruit corporations to come to Wisconsin to be then taken over by the state government?HONG: No. I don't think that it would be responsible for the state to bring in a mega-corporation that would potentially be run by the state. I think that we want to create good jobs with good benefits and ensure that people have the freedom to pursue the type of life that they would like. And I think that when I talk to voters all across the state, it is so much about being able to take care of themselves and their loved ones. There is deep concern about people who get to age with dignity in our state. I care a lot about our seniors and making sure we’re one of the states where there is a great opportunity for great public education.PERINO: Okay, so you say people want to take care of themselves, and I agree, but the socialist program is for the government to take care of people. I know that you’ve bristled a little bit about anyone pointing out previous things you have said, but I want to show everybody on the board here, this is some of your far-left posts. They are pretty far-left. For example, you say abolish the Senate. You want ICE out of Wisconsin. I understand abolishing ICE is something you probably still want, but you also said to defund the police four times. And you want to defund the police as a first step toward abolishing the police. Now, President Trump won Wisconsin twice. It is the ultimate purple state. I set my novel there for a reason. It is the place where you have to have the most appeal to both sides, or to independent voters. Why shouldn't people take you at your word when you say that you want to defund the police and go towards abolishing it?HONG: Dana, first of all, I have to say thank you so much for featuring my home state in your novel. And I believe that as a democratic socialist, what that means is that I would like to put working class people first over mega-corporations for-PERINO: How does defunding the police put working class people first?HONG: well, maybe-PERINO: I mean, I think that- you’re gonna enter- you’re about to enter into a general election, likely with Tom Tiffany, the Republican. That's not going to be an easy race. It will be very easy for people to put up on the board and say, “you said: ‘abolish the Senate, defund the police, abolish the police.’” And why should they not believe that you would want to do that? That you would try to do that if you became governor?HONG: I believe that people can evolve. We need Trump voters from previous elections who would like to vote for me who have a sign in their yard-PERINO: So who needs to evolve? The voters, or you?HONG: -the governor cannot defund the police and I won't defund the police-PERINO: So you have evolved.HONG: -but I will invest in the things we know prevent crime, like getting guns off our street, making sure there is justice, places where our kids can go after school and thrive. You know, we can't be tough on causes -- we have to be tough on causes if we would like to be tough on crime. And as governor I cannot defund the police and I’ve reminded folks I won't defund the police.PERINO: Okay. Well, that will certainly- that will be something that your opponent brings up. A poll from Marquette, always a good poll. This is Tom Tiffany at 43/40 if you put you two up together. He has quite a fundraising advantage, but I would say the DSA candidates have a lot of volunteerism. Do you welcome the DSA endorsement and/or volunteers to help on your campaign?HONG: Well, I did not pursue the national DSA endorsement. My home chapter in Madison, we were so proud to run the free school meals campaign to make sure that our kids didn't have lunch debt. And I think that when you look at the polling right now, it’s really so much about making sure that we are talking about the issues and I think that in -- when it comes to my opponent, it's wonderful to see that we have more donors and individual donations than he does. That we already are upping those numbers because- donations from 72 out of 72 counties, every state in the country. And the fact that our ground game is a multi-racial, multi-generational, multi-faith-PERINO: And I’ve read some pieces, big long feature pieces that, where they’ve talked to - I just wanna compliment you - I’ve read pieces where the reporters talked to Trump voters and say “she’s very affable.” They like what you have to say. It will be an interesting race. We'll cover it. One last question for you. Are you personally a dues-paying member to the DSA?HONG: In my home chapter in Madison I have been since 2020; and believe that as a democratic socialist I am less defined by just one organization but clearly our bipartisan coalition means that I am more defined by being a good single mom, that I am a service industry worker, and that I truly believe in legislation that helps everyone, and these are the things that people want to talk about in rural and urban parts of the state.PERINO: Alright. Francesca, we are bumping up against a break. We appreciate you coming on.HONG: Dana, thank you so much for having me.PERINO: Okay, take care, Francesca.