Oh the irony. Back there in the stone age of the 1970’s, two young, talented rising stars at The Washington Post- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein by name - rose to fame and fortune investigating the unraveling Nixon White House. And what was eventually labeled the “Watergate" scandal. So named in honor of the massive office and apartment complex in Washington that housed the Democratic National Committee. Which, in June of 1972, was where operatives from then-President Nixon’s re-election campaign were caught burglarizing the DNC and salting some listening devices around the place. Woodward and Bernstein, assigned as young newcomer journalists to investigate, wound up following and detailing all manner of bad business which was soon being published regularly in The Post. The rest, as they say, is history. The Woodward and Bernstein investigation uncovered more and more and more, and eventually, swamped in legal prosecutions and massive seriously bad publicity, the President was forced to resign. And The Washington Post and its suddenly star young reporters was covered in honors and awards for its journalism. The aftermath also included this particular Woodward and Bernstein bestseller: The Final Days. And now. As said, oh the irony. This minute The Post is getting headlines like this:  The Federal: From Watergate to mass layoffs: Washington Post’s 8 biggest controversies CBS News: Washington Post begins sweeping layoffs as it scales back news coverage FOX News: Washington Post closes sports department as part of sweeping layoffs  CNBC: Washington Post begins widespread layoffs, sharply shrinking storied newspaper’s reach NPR: Bezos orders deep job cuts at 'Washington Post’ PBS: Sweeping layoffs at The Washington Post will do 'enormous damage,' former editor says The PBS story reports this: The Washington Post is laying off a third of its work force across both the newsroom and its business operations, a massive blow at a storied newspaper that has struggled in recent years to stay profitable and retain subscribers. The cuts reportedly affect more than 300 of the approximately 800 journalists in the newsroom and include eliminating its sports desk and books section entirely. In fact, this kind of reporting from PBS is more than representative of the current reporting all around the Internet on the current state and internal goings on at The Post. It is also, curiously, coming out in the same time period in which another major newspaper’s struggle story was reported in this space. That headline:  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Shuts Down: A Local Journalistic Icon Calls It a Day The obvious question with all this is the obvious: Why? And what in the world is going on with these two major city newspapers that one would shutter for good while the other, this one the major paper of the nation’s capital, would find itself in a major struggle to survive? There are the usual answers about these papers leaning so far left that their readers simply stopped reading them. Not to mention that in the 21st century era, there is the  arrival of the Internet and the ability to get news and information from anywhere on the globe instead of once stable old time newspapers.  To recall Watergate again, once concluded with Nixon gone from the White House, well aside from Woodward and Bernstein, there was soon a flood of books from ex-Nixon White House insiders, slowly peeling back the onion of inside stories centered around the fall of their President.  It takes no imagination to believe that as this column is written there are journalists at The Washington Post and The Pittsburgh Post Gazette who are already writing notes for a future book about the rise and fall of their respective journalistic homes. It is, though, very safe to say that something is afoot at both papers. One, in Pittsburgh, has already announced its closing. The other, in Washington, is so far merely awash in the leaks of serious internal damage. Will there be more bad news to come from The Washington Post? Will it soon join The Pittsburgh Post Gazette in the heavenly journalistic here-after of famous, powerful newspapers that could no longer survive? No idea. But in terms of The Washington Post, one can only imagine that somewhere former President Nixon is chuckling.

Most Americans are aware of the controversies involving ICE, and the attacks aimed at their agents. If you are in the media, you have to know about the statements made against ICE by the man who will be featured in Sunday's Super Bowl Half Time Show, Bad Bunny. Just last Sunday he accepted a Grammy, proclaiming, "Ice Out'. Last year he said he didn't tour in the U.S. because he feared ICE raids. But Friday on CNN's The Lead With Jake Tapper, it was as if Bad Bunny has no problem with ICE. Tapper played a campaign ad put out by Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson, who urged viewers to switch at halftime to TPUSA's alternative show featuring Kid Rock, and asked former Trump campaign official Bryan Lanza what he thought about it, and he disparaged it as wasted millions, as a "gimmick." LANZA:.. But at the end of the day, people just want to watch football and they want to be entertained... I'll be watching Bad Bunny. I won't be turning over to Talking Points Memo [?]... But I just want politics out of my football. I just want to enjoy football. I want to join the halftime show. ..Let's just enjoy football. That sounds like a CNN Republican answer, like someone who doesn't understand why Bad Bunny is....bad. Tapper continued. TAPPER: .. Here's what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said about who President Trump is going to be watching during halftime. LEAVITT: I think the President would much prefer a Kid Rock performance over Bad Bunny.  Could Bunny's verbal attacks on ICE have something to do with it? Tapper and his panel continued to ignore that, as Tapper then asked Democrat Strategist Chuck Rocha: "What do you make of this latest battle in the culture wars?" By not getting into the actual substance, Tapper makes it sound like it's just white rappers in English vs. Latino rappers in Spanish.  Rocha replied: "It's it's ludicrous for a Latino that loves Bad Bunny. This ain't even close. And I'm not trying to compare, but Bad Bunny has 87 million listeners a month on his social media. Kid Rock has five." He added that the NFL is making a business decision, trying to draw in international audiences to the NFL. Rocha said "It's just good business, and he's a whole lot cooler." Because he's not a redneck? Tapper announced: "We should also note the Super Bowl has not only featured American citizen entertainers." But Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican, and they are American citizens. Ooooops. As if that's the problem? He cluelessly asked: "So, what's with the outrage? Is it because Bad Bunny has been outspoken against Trump? Or what do you think it is?" That doesn't help. But Lanza lamely answered that in the "conservative echo chamber," there are now good banks and bad banks (and don't mention debanking), and "now it's "bleeding into our music."  Then Rocha said somehow you can't criticize Latino leftists: "This is a losing argument all the way around. Not about Bryan, not about the Republicans, but about culture. There's one thing in America is that Latinos, whether it's Bryan, whether it's me, whether it's Bad Bunny, Latinos have become a big part of the fabric of this country. And Bad Bunny is just one example from Puerto Rico of what we're seeing all across the country. Your favorite Mexican restaurant, your favorite dance moves, all of these things make us beautiful. " ICE hatred, anybody? Nope. Tapper bizarrely claimed that Bad Bunny isn't like, oh, Robert De Niro, or Kathy Griffin. He's not political?? TAPPER:  And this is just an age old debate about can you separate the art from the artist you don't like. So you don't like Bad Bunny's politics? He's not a fan of Trump. Trump's not a fan of him..  And my personal view is if an actor or a performer is so outspoken, I can't think of anything other than that, when I'm listening or watching. Sure I get it. But like, I don't think that describes Bad Bunny, his music is not political.  Oh poor Jake. Does he not know of Bad Bunny 's 2020 hit Compositor Del Año where he called President Trump a mother-F****er? The same term he used for ICE Agents, along with sons of bitches, last year. Does he not know about his sexually explicit lyrics, as documented by our Jorge Bonilla? Or Jorge's point that Bad Bunny endorsed a far-left candidate for governor of Puerto Rico who loves Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro? Clearly, he could have educated Tapper is he wanted an actual conservative critique, and fought back as Rocha claimed Bad Bunny is "about trying to hold every party accountable in Puerto Rico to do what's right by their people." How in the name of journalism did all of this get left out of this segment? What was Tapper's motivation for not once mentioning ICE?

As the Winter Olympics kicked off in Italy on Friday, MS NOW’s The 11th Hour host Stephanie Ruhle thought it would be an appropriate time to assemble a panel and examine the United States’ relationship with Europe. In a classic example of clueless news shows informing clueless protestors, progressive comedian John Fugelsang called ICE a “fascist goon squad” and declared it was obvious that Italians don’t want them there helping with security because some of them are old enough to remember the Mussolini era. Ruhle was not discussing ICE’s role at the Olympics when she was responding to the idea that Europe can just move on from the U.S., “Like we can be like, oh, ‘they'll have hot girl summer.’ Europe doesn't have a super strong economy. Like, Europe—a lot of European countries do have a huge amount of right-wing influence. So. Trump dumping them isn't like, oh, we can just let this roll. It's very difficult.   Despite the fact that ICE has done security at previous Olympics, progressive comedian John Fugelsang tells MS NOW, "a lot of Italians aren't really fans of having fascist goon squads around. So, grandma and grandpa remember. ICE at the Olympics, I mean—" pic.twitter.com/EClLsCEyD1 — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 7, 2026   That’s when Fugelsang chimed in to add, “They'll be rebuilding, and it'll be painful. But again, looking at the Olympics, a lot of Italians aren't really fans of having fascist goon squads around. So, grandma and grandpa remember. ICE at the Olympics, I mean—“ The real reason why some Italians are protesting ICE is because they have no idea what they are talking about. They are unaware that ICE does more than domestic immigration enforcement and has been present at previous Olympics without incident, and sensationalist headlines about its presence in Italy do not convey the fact that security is still run by locals. ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations arm assists the State Department in providing additional security for U.S. diplomatic facilities, but networks like MS NOW reinforce protestors’ incorrect assumptions by inviting people like Fugelsang to throw around labels like “fascist goon squads.” It takes a special kind of crazy person to make Prof. Christina Greer seem like the relative voice of reason, but between Fugelsang’s false impression of ICE’s job and other doom mongering about the end of the close U.S.-Europe relationship, Greer pleaded, “It might be some rough times, sure, but also, God willing, and the creek don't rise. 2028, there could be a new American boy that comes in town. Or girl. We'll see. But I think that—let's, you know, not take ourselves too seriously. Europe is older than us. They'll figure it out.” Clueless journalists (or comedians) lead to clueless citizens. That’s true in the United States and in Italy. The case of ICE at the Olympics is just another example. Here is a transcript for the February 6 show: MS NOW The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle 2/6/2026 11:46 PM ET STEPHANIE RUHLE: Like we can be like, oh, “they'll have hot girl summer.” Europe doesn't have a super strong economy. Like, Europe—a lot of European countries do have a huge amount of right-wing influence. So. Trump dumping them isn't like, oh, we can just let this roll. It's very difficult. JOHN FUGELSANG: They'll be rebuilding, and it'll be painful. But again, looking at the Olympics, a lot of Italians aren't really fans of having fascist goon squads around. So, grandma and grandpa remember. ICE at the Olympics, I mean— CHRISTINA GREER: And—but here's the thing. It might be some rough times, sure, but also, God willing, and the creek don't rise. 2028, there could be a new American boy that comes in town. Or girl. We'll see. But I think that—let's, you know, not take ourselves too seriously. Europe is older than us. They'll figure it out.

Don Lemon – along with anti-ICE protestors – invaded a St. Paul, MN church that the former CNN anchor later insulted as full of white supremacists. Lemon’s subsequent arrest enraged his cronies in the leftist media, with the likes of his old CNN buddy Jim Acosta blaring that this was Donald Trump “trying to criminalize journalism.”  Before Lemon’s arrest, he and his ilk had spent an entire month attacking ICE agents. The elitist media nastily depicted them as murderous “Nazis” and Trump’s personal “Gestapo” that had disappeared people like the old Soviet Union. This past month also saw lefty celebrities like actors Mark Ruffalo and Giancarlo Esposito call for “revolution” from their privileged places on the Red Carpet. At the Grammys, singer Billie Eilish cursed ICE from the podium. Bruce Springsteen actually penned an anti-Trump ballad. The following are the most obnoxious outbursts from leftist journalists and celebrities over the last month:    Don Lemon After Invading Church: That Type of Christianity Comes from White Supremacy   Don Lemon After Invading Church: That Type of Christianity Comes from White Supremacy— Former CNN anchor Don Lemon on the I’ve Had It podcast, January 19, 2026. pic.twitter.com/Y2YdmKakPF — Geoffrey Dickens (@GCDickens) January 29, 2026   “There is a certain degree of racism there and there’s a certain degree of entitlement. I think people who are, you know, in the religious groups like that, it’s not the type of Christianity that I practice, but I think that they’re entitled and that — that entitlement comes from a supremacy, a white supremacy…It’s religious freedom, but only if you’re a Christian and only if you’re a white male.”— Former CNN anchor Don Lemon on the I’ve Had It podcast, January 19.    Jennifer Welch to Don Lemon: You Are “Prime Bait” for Trump’s White Nationalists   Jennifer Welch to Don Lemon: You Are “Prime Bait” for Trump’s White Nationalists— Host Jennifer Welch to former CNN anchor Don Lemon on the I’ve Had It podcast, January 19, 2026. pic.twitter.com/YUH1ax41XC — Geoffrey Dickens (@GCDickens) January 29, 2026   “That is one of those white evangelical churches that turn out to vote for Donald Trump, 80 plus percent of that sect of Christianity….These are the people who feel like America is for Americans and Americans only. These are white nationalists, and the DOJ got their panties in a wad because these protesters went straight to them and addressed their hypocrisy. You, a gay black journalist, are – I mean, prime bait for them to drum up these charges.”— Host Jennifer Welch to former CNN anchor Don Lemon on the I’ve Had It podcast, January 19.    Trump Is “Trying to Criminalize Journalism,” This Is “Dangerous, Dictator Stuff”   Jim Acosta: Trump is “Trying to Criminalize Journalism,” This Is “Dangerous, Dictator Stuff”— Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta on MS NOW’s Velshi, January 31, 2026. pic.twitter.com/7NuK9N8Jk7 — Geoffrey Dickens (@GCDickens) February 3, 2026   “We’ve now reached the arresting journalists phase of Donald Trump’s authoritarian project in America. And we just have to push back on this with all our might….This is a direct attack on the First Amendment. It’s a direct attack on free speech in this country. He’s [Donald Trump] trying to criminalize journalism….And this is dictator stuff. This is dangerous dictator stuff.”— Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta on MS NOW’s Velshi, January 31.   Don Lemon to ICE Agents: F**k Off, You Dumb Jack-Booted Nazis!    Don Lemon has a MELTDOWN and attacks ICE: "You are fat f*ck losers who just crawled out of a trailer park from some Proud Boy meeting... You are thugs, jack-booted thugs." This is psychotic. pic.twitter.com/FMBXIUN1pN — MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) January 30, 2026   “F**k off, ICE! F**k all the way off! You are low-life losers. And you feel empowered by your dear leader, Donald Trump….You are treating people in an inhumane way and you don’t even understand why because you’re too dumb to figure it out. You are the poorly educated that Donald Trump loves….You’re out there doing his bidding, doing things that are illegal, doing things that are unconstitutional, doing things that are inhumane, like killing someone….You are fat fuck losers who just crawled out of a trailer park from some Proud Boy meeting….You are thugs, jack-booted thugs….You stupid, dumb, ignorant, poorly educated, Proud Boys, Nazis marching through.”— Former CNN anchor Don Lemon on The Don Lemon Show podcast, January 9.   Rick Wilson: This Is Just Like Nazi Germany In 1936   “They’ve got people in the street shooting Americans because they want us to shut up. They’re arresting journalists because they want us to shut up. If you’re wondering, folks, what you would have done in Nazi Germany in 1936, this is the day” – @TheRickWilson at 11:49 AM ET on… pic.twitter.com/9wXEDpPrs9 — Brent Baker

Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr and Washington Post counterpart Kathleen Parker pinch-hit for Jonathan Capehart and David Brooks, respectively, on Friday’s PBS NewsHour, where they teamed up with host Geoff Bennett to invoke Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, chief Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, and Jim Crow all over a conspiracy theory about ICE monitoring the upcoming midterms that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed as “very silly.” During an answer about whether Trump’s call to “nationalize” elections is serious or just bluster, Stohr added a few more election-related concerns, “But I'm concerned about call—not denying that ICE will show up at election stations, that the call for this increasing redistricting, mid-decade redistricting in states in order to try to game the system. Elections are supposed to be sacred in any functioning democracy. And that the president of the United States is the one making the call to disparage them and try to rig the system is really alarming.”   After Jonathan Capehart substitute Kimberly Atkins Stohr claims she finds "not denying that ICE will show up at election stations" and "the call for this increasing redistricting, mid-decade redistricting in states" "really alarming," David Brooks substitute Kathleen Parker adds… pic.twitter.com/22EqLJApyG — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 7, 2026   Of course, Stohr means Republican redistricting because she was silent on Virginia Democrats’ Thursday proposal for a 10-1 map in a state where Kamala Harris received only 51.8 percent in 2024. Double standards aside, Bennett then turned to Parker and wondered, “Kathleen, to Kimberly's point, we have seen this from President Trump before. How much this time feels more organized and, because of that, more dangerous?” According to Parker, Trump’s behavior is part of a trend that dates back to 2020, “And he can't let it go because I think he's taken a page from Mein Kampf, frankly, you know, the saying that if you say—tell a big lie often enough and repeat it, then people will believe it. And the theory was further refined by the propaganda head in Nazi Germany, Mr. Joseph Goebbels. And the idea is, apparently, it's true that—they would know, I guess—that people will believe a big lie quicker than they will believe a small lie.” But Parker wasn’t just recalling 2020. She was predicting 2026 as well, “So Trump goes big, you know, with everything he does, big beautiful bills, big beautiful lie. And I think he's just going to keep going and going and trying to make people lose confidence. Maybe they stay away from the polls. Maybe they get together and his MAGA troops will come together and challenge the election results.” She also declared, “I think you're right that ICE will show up and I think the activists and the MAGA troops, so to speak, will be present at many polling places. So it's very dangerous, because where does that lead, ultimately? It gives Trump an opportunity to say—maybe it gives him an opportunity to challenge the next election, whether it's the midterms or the presidential election in 2026, assuming he allows it to come—to take place.” Bennett then teed up a video of Leavitt talking about ICE, “On the matter of ICE potentially at polling places, our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, asked that question at a White House press briefing this past week, because it was Steve Bannon who floated it, and the White House didn't rule it out. Here's that.” In truth, Leavitt told Landers, “That's not something I have ever heard the president consider, no.” As for Bennett’s claim that “the White House didn’t rule it out,” Leavitt and Landers appeared to have different definitions for “around,” as she told her, “I can't guarantee that an ICE agent won't be around a polling location in November. I mean, that's, frankly, a very silly hypothetical question.”   Despite a clip of Karoline Leavitt saying ICE at polling locations is "not something I have ever heard the president" and "a very silly hypothetical question," Stohr claimed, "And we can use another historic analogy, which is during Jim Crow, the fact that police were often sent… pic.twitter.com/xl1fqtzmrU — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 7, 2026   However, Bennett tried to cling to the idea, “And you can argue it's not a hypothetical question. It's not a rhetorical question, because, in many ways, this is a multifront strategy, legal pressure, DOJ demands, raids at the Fulton County election office. How do you see it?” Stohr replied by trying to add on to Parker’s Nazi analogies, “That's exactly right. And we can use another historic analogy, which is during Jim Crow, the fact that police were often sent around polling stations in order to discourage people of color from casting votes, even though the Constitution was amended to specifically protect that right.” She also claimed, “The law won't protect you if you don't have government that is backing it up and actually flouting it. So all of this is from playbooks from the darkest times in our history, and they can't be ignored. I'm concerned about it, because I don't want people—once people lose faith in their elections, that's a big pillar of democracy that falls in itself.” What if people lose faith in elections because PBS baselessly speculates about “troops” at polling places trying to intimidate people? Here is a transcript for the February 6 show: PBS News Hour 2/6/2026 7:40 PM ET KIMBERLY ATKINS STOHR: But I'm concerned about call—not denying that ICE will show up at election stations, that the call for this increasing redistricting, mid-decade redistricting in states in order to try to game the system. Elections are supposed to be sacred in any functioning democracy. And that the president of the United States is the one making the call to disparage them and try to rig the system is really alarming. GEOFF BENNETT: Kathleen, to Kimberly's point, we have seen this from President Trump before. How much this time feels more organized and, because of that, more dangerous? KATHLEEN PARKER: I agree. It is more organized. And everything he does in terms of, he's trying to undermine confidence and faith in the electoral process all along. And with this whole — now he's still clinging again to the 2020 — we know it was a fully regular election he lost. And he can't let it go because I think he's taken a page from Mein Kampf, frankly, you know, the saying that if you say — tell a big lie often enough and repeat it, then people will believe it. And the theory was further refined by the propaganda head in Nazi Germany, Mr. Joseph Goebbels. And the idea is, apparently, it's true that — they would know, I guess — that people will believe a big lie quicker than they will believe a small lie. So Trump goes big, you know, with everything he does, big beautiful bills, big beautiful lie. And I think he's just going to keep going and going and trying to make people lose confidence. Maybe they stay away from the polls. Maybe they get together and his MAGA troops will come together and challenge the election results. I think you're right that ICE will show up and I think the activists and the MAGA troops, so to speak, will be present at many polling places. So it's very dangerous, because where does that lead, ultimately? It gives Trump an opportunity to say — maybe it gives him an opportunity to challenge the next election, whether it's the midterms or the presidential election in 2026, assuming he allows it to come — to take place. BENNETT: On the matter of ICE potentially at polling places, our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, asked that question at a White House press briefing this past week, because it was Steve Bannon who floated it, and the White House didn't rule it out. Here's that. LIZ LANDERS: Thank you, Karoline. Steve Bannon recently said, quote, "We're going to have ICE around the polls come November." Is that something that the president is considering? KAROLINE LEAVITT: That's not something I have ever heard the president consider, no. LANDERS: So, you can guarantee to be American public that ICE will not be around polling locations or voting locations in November? LEAVITT: I can't guarantee that an ICE agent won't be around a polling location in November. I mean, that's, frankly, a very silly hypothetical question. BENNETT: And you can argue it's not a hypothetical question. It's not a rhetorical question, because, in many ways, this is a multifront strategy, legal pressure, DOJ demands, raids at the Fulton County election office. How do you see it? STOHR: That's exactly right. And we can use another historic analogy, which is during Jim Crow, the fact that police were often sent around polling stations in order to discourage people of color from casting votes, even though the Constitution was amended to specifically protect that right. The law won't protect you if you don't have government that is backing it up and actually flouting it. So all of this is from playbooks from the darkest times in our history, and they can't be ignored. I'm concerned about it, because I don't want people — once people lose faith in their elections, that's a big pillar of democracy that falls in itself.