Ahead of Tony Dokoupil's first night anchoring the CBS Evening News on Monday, CBS released a video of Dokoupil making promises to the audience about how he’ll serve them. He’s admitting the networks have a trust problem, acknowledging he has heard people lament coverage of certain stories, such as Russiagate, Hunter Biden's laptop and COVID lockdowns. "The point is that, on too many stories, the press has missed the story," Dokoupil said. "Because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites and not enough on you." Dokoupil insisted he’s been one of the “average Americans” on this, that the news didn’t reflect his life experience. "On too many stories, the press has missed the story. Because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you." That changes now. The new CBS Evening News… pic.twitter.com/NKdvRJjYCS — CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 1, 2026 There were some big promises made:  "You come first, not advertisers, not politicians, not corporate interests. And yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS….I report for you, which means I tell you what I know, when I know it and how I know it. And when I get it wrong, I'll tell you that too. It also means I'm going to talk to everybody and hold everyone in public life to the very same standard. After all, I became a journalist to talk to people. I love talking to people about what works in this country, what doesn't, and not only what should change, but the good ideas that should never change. I think telling the truth is one of them," Dokoupil said. "I'm Tony Dokoupil, the anchor of the CBS Evening News. Hold me to it." It would be unusual for a network anchor to admit they've been inaccurate on anything. It would be even rarer to "hold everyone in public life to the very same standard." The Left cannot abide that. It would mean holding the Democrats as accountable as Trump, and he could start with their Hitler smears.  Professor Larry Sabato took to X to X-emplify the elitist leftist fury at these promises from Team Bari Weiss:  Absolutely! You wouldn't want "academics and elites" who have actually studied a subject to outweigh the off-the-cuff opinions of village idiots. This is how we're seeing the resurgence of measles, and the widespread belief in almost non-existent vote fraud, among many other great leaps backward in the Trump era. Cronkite would be so very proud of you. A rebuttal came from radio host Hugh Hewitt:  Good for Tony Dokoupil. The statement is more than two minutes long but those three sentences totaling 32 words makes for a succinct mission statement as well as a standard on which judgments about his promise can be made going forward. The old saying —trust is gained in ounces and lost in pounds— has applied to legacy media for years now, and the consequence is legacy media’s shattered reputation for truth-telling (much less for candid admissions of error), and the audience numbers show it.... if Tony delivers the actual news —true and objectively told stories built on facts, unbiased in presentation and not delivered in service of an agenda— he can help rebuild the brand of one legacy program, one which could become important again. I believe good folks of the left and the right and those smack in the center have a natural hunger for real “news.” Dokoupol’s pledge is a start. Keeping it is the hard part.

On Friday, ABC’s Good Morning America celebrated a new chapter in their hometown politics of New York City: the inauguration of far-left extremist Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The network couldn’t hide their excitement as fill-in anchor and chief White house correspondent Mary Bruce pivoted away from a deadly Swiss night club fire, with a huge smile on her face to talk about the communist mayor. Of course, there was also mention of his controversial comment. “And now to a new era in New York City. Zoran Mamdani is sworn in as mayor on Thursday,” Bruce beamed, parroting Mamdani’s “new era” slogan. “The 34-year-old is the first Muslim and first person of South Asian descent to lead the nation's largest city.” While ABC had called President Trump’s plans ‘controversial,’ that wasn’t tone given to Mamdani’s despite widespread concern. “The new mayor's first act involved affordable housing, just part of an ambitious progressive agenda that Mamdani insists will set an example for the world,” touted correspondent Aaron Katersky. “Mamdani takes up the progressive mantle from two of its champions who were there in the audience: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders,” Katersky went on to tout. “Now, Mamdani is out to show an affordability agenda focusing on the working-class can thrive in America's wealthiest city.”     Katersky was impressed by how Mamdani was able to charm Trump and took action to undo actions taken by former Mayor Eric Adams: Mamdani's rise from political obscurity stunned the city and the country. He has already confounded expectations, charming President Trump during a visit to the White House. (…) And in his first moments as mayor, Mamdani revoked all of his predecessor’s executive orders signed after September 26, 2024. That was the day former Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges. “And a new era begins,” boasted fill-in anchor Will Reeve before ending the segment. Despite using four soundbites of Mamdani from the event, there was no mention of his controversial comment proclaiming he was going to force communist collectivism down everyone’s throat. “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” he said, touting an idea that had killed tens of millions of people in communist countries around the globe for decades.   MAYOR MAMDANI: "We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism." pic.twitter.com/3LIOVHdKSy — Fox News (@FoxNews) January 1, 2026   Speaking of communism, ABC also failed to mention that Mamdani failed to provide food and restrooms for the “block party” organized to celebrate. “Scores of Zohran Mamdani fans who braved freezing temperatures to celebrate the new mayor as he was publicly sworn into office Thursday were left disappointed by the bash the socialist pol had promised,” reported the New York Post. “Around 10,000 supporters stood outside City Hall during the event — billed as an ‘Inauguration for a New Era Block Party’ by Mamdani’s staff — crammed into several barricaded pens without access to bathrooms or any food concession stands.” Its worth nothing that both CBS and NBC also omitted Mamdani’s comment and the black party snafu. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s Good Morning America January 2, 2026 7:08:24 a.m. Eastern MARY BRUCE: And now to a new era in New York City. Zoran Mamdani is sworn in as mayor on Thursday. The 34-year-old is the first Muslim and first person of South Asian descent to lead the nation's largest city. Aaron Katersky was there at the inauguration and he joins us here now. Hey, Aaron, good morning. AARON KATERSKY: And good morning to you, Mary. The new mayor's first act involved affordable housing, just part of an ambitious progressive agenda that Mamdani insists will set an example for the world. [Cuts to video] This morning, the new mayor of New York is on the job. MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D-NY): I Zohran Kwame Mamdani. KATERSKY: 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani publically sworn in as the first Muslim mayor, its youngest in a century, and first democratic socialist. MAMDANI: To those who insist the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this: no longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives. KATERSKY: Mamdani takes up the progressive mantle from two of its champions who were there in the audience: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders. SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): New York, thank you for inspiring our nation! KATERSKY: Now, Mamdani is out to show an affordability agenda focusing on the working-class can thrive in America's wealthiest city. MAMDANI: There are many who will be watching. They want to know if the left can govern. KATERSKY: Mamdani's rise from political obscurity stunned the city and the country. He has already confounded expectations, charming President Trump during a visit to the White House. PRESIDENT TRUMP: I feel very confident that he can do a very good job. I think he's gonna be -- I think he's gonna surprise some conservative people actually, and some very liberal people, he won't surprise them because they already like him. KATERSKY: Trump, and plenty of others have been spectacle, even hostile, about the ascension of an untested novice, but Mamdani promised thousands of shivering supporters he would win them over with new ideas. MAMDANI: We will do something that New Yorkers do better than anyone else. We will set an example for the world. [Cuts back to live] KATERSKY: And in his first moments as mayor, Mamdani revoked all of his predecessor’s executive orders signed after September 26, 2024. That was the day former Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges. Those were later dropped as part of a deal with the Trump administration. But Will, Mamdani called it a moment when many New Yorkers decided that politics did not work for them. He’s trying to change that. WILL REEVE: And a new era begins. Aaron Katersky, thank you very much.

It should be obvious by now that the cast of ABC’s The View were not pleasant people to be around. Aside from their incitements to violence and Sunny Hostin’s racism, in 2025, there were more than a few moments that proved that politics had rotted their souls so terribly that they couldn’t be described as anything more than miserable crones. They couldn’t even celebrate universally good things or condemn the universally bad. From mocking a literal four-year-old’s name to refusing to give organs to their Trump supporting friends to cheering on rising abortion rates, NewsBusters presents the eight worst times The View were miserable and nasty crones. The View’s Abortion Lovers Decry Trump Plan to Increase U.S. Birth Rate The liberal ladies of The View loved abortion so much that they actively decried and denounced President Trump’s plan to increase America’s birth rate. Between cries of global overpopulation and cries of racism, the shrieking liberals tried to make every argument under the sun against more babies being born. Here’s a sample: HOSTIN: And so, when I looked into that, they're saying that the U.S. birth rate is declining, however, in 2024 there was a one percent increase in U.S. births, but that increase was with Hispanic mothers and Asian mothers. Aha! So, they don't seem to be concerned about that increase. They seem to be more concerned about a decrease in other populations. BEHAR: Say it! HOSTIN: No, I think I've said enough. [Laughter] BEHAR: White children! I’ll say it!     GHOULS: ABC’s 'The View' Literally Applauds Rising Abortion Rates On the flip side of decrying wanting to raise birth rates, the crones cheered for rising abortions rates! Despite their constant refrain that no one was or ever had celebrated abortion and that they weren’t pro-death, the cast led the audience in literal applause for more babies being killed: HOSTIN: There’s a rise. HAINES: There's a massive rise in the number of abortions.  (...) BEHAR: So abortions rose ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned. HAINES: Absolutely. [APPLAUSE] HAINES: They’ve risen every year.     Eternally Miserable: The View Decries Trump Trying to Lower Drug Costs To prove that there was nothing President Trump could do that wouldn’t result in condemnation from them, The View threw a fit over his executive order directed at lowering drug costs (which they praised President Biden for saying he would do too). Moderator Whoopi Goldberg whined that the order didn’t specify which drugs (she was probably hoping it included her weight loss shot Mounjaro) and she also suggested that the drug costs couldn’t be tackled yet because he had not completely overhauled the insurance system: GOLDBERG: We don't know which drugs but lowering costs! And he blamed foreign countries for extorting drug companies by negotiating lower prices that stick the U.S. with the bill. None of that made any sense. (...) GOLDBERG: Well, again, he didn't specify which drugs he's going to target or which insurance programs would be impacted because you see, if you're going to lower the price of the drugs, you got to first fix the broken insurance company because they're -- it doesn't make any sense! Whoopi, Hostin: It’s Worse to Be Black in America Than Live in Iran The liberal victim mentality will lead to its sycophants making insane comments in order to justify hating America. Goldberg and co-host Sunny Hostin proclaimed it was worse to be black in American than live under the oppressive theocratic regime of the ayatollahs in Iran. Hostin also insisted that Israel needed to use “diplomacy” when dealing with an enemy threatening to nuke them, not bombs: FARAH GRIFFIN: Okay. I think it's very different to live in the United States in 2025 than it is in Iran. GOLDBERG: Not if you're black! HOSTIN: Not for everybody! GOLDBERG: Not if you're black! FARAH GRIFFIN: Guys, don't compare us to Tehran. No one at this table should go to Tehran.     The View’s Old Crones Attack Karoline Leavitt’s Looks and Opposition to Wokeness Given the fact that the majority of The View cast was over the age of 50 (Joy Behar was 83 and Goldberg was 70), of course they would attack a female conservative for literally being younger and prettier than any of them. The cast lashed out at White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (28, eight years younger than even the youngest co-host) with false claims about it being her first job ever, and demeaning claims that Trump only hired her because he’s attracted to her: GOLDBERG: I would like -- this young lady who – this is her first job – I would like her to do homework. Because she said something yesterday that pissed me off. (...) BEHAR: And by the way, she's been probably put in the because according to Donald Trump she's a 10. You know that's what it is!     The View Decries Attention Given to Charlotte Stabbing, Blame Trump The stabbing murder of Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail should have been a coming together moment for the county to crack down on crime. But the liberal ladies of The View huffed about the attention the case was getting and how it highlighted how dangerous their Democratic crime policies were. Goldberg even shouted a demand to “stop trying to place blood on people's hands,” while they also blamed President Trump: GOLDBERG: Listen, he was a schizophrenic man. His mother begged them to take him and put him away. So stop politicizing this! This is not political! This has to do with how we take care of our sick Americans when they are in need! (...) BEHAR: But that's why it is political. That's why it is exactly why it is a political situation because in the first 40 days of the Trump administration, this one, they terminated 128 grants from the National Institute of Mental Health. In May, they cut $1 billion in federal grants for mental health services. Whoopi, Behar Bully and Mock Elon Musk's 4-Year-Old Son for His Name You read that headline right. The 70 and 83-year-olds (respectively) mocked and bullied a small child over his name. They clearly thought it was justified because his dad was Elon Musk: GOLDBERG: Yeah. So yesterday Elon Musk took his son X to a press conference -- BEHAR: X? GOLDBERG: I did not name the child. [Laughter] BEHAR: That’s the kid’s name? GOLDBERG: And I don't want to hear any more mess about our names, okay? Okay? Anyhoo, he took little X -- BEHAR: Sorry. And little Instagram.     Behar Would Refuse to Give Kidney to Save Trump Voter, Even If Her Friend Let’s round this out with Behar caring so little for the lives of Trump supporters that she would deny a kidney to one, even if they were friends. How sweet of her. She even claimed she was on the right side of a moral choice: BEHAR: I could be friends with a Trump supporter. I won’t give them a kidney but I could be friends with them. I meaning, the question -- the thing about it is, it's not just about politics, it's about morality, ethics, it's about cruelty, it's about discrimination, and it's about a lot of things. So, those are personal human values. We're not really just talking about “fiscal conservative” who pays more taxes. We're talking about You as a human being. So, it's hard to be friends with someone who signs on to something like that.  

What were President Trump’s “achievements” in 2025? The media use and abuse of this term is an important measurement of bias. Conservative wins don't get the A-word.  Achievements are programs like Obamacare, lauded as Obama’s “signature achievement.” It doesn’t matter if the Affordable Care Act ended up affordable. Capitalism is measured by its results. Socialism is measured by intentions. Well, for conservatives, there were some Trump achievements. National Public Radio was gutted to report: By the end of 2025, some 317,000 federal employees will be out of the government, according to the Office of Personnel Management. Tens of thousands were fired. Far more retired or resigned, many out of fear they would lose their jobs if they stuck around. Hours after his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order cracking down on DEI throughout the government, calling it illegal and immoral. NPR found a sympathetic victim: Mahri Stainnak, who was based in Maine, was put on leave the next day and fired soon after. Stainnak's work with the Office of Personnel Management's DEI office was full of women, minorities, and people with disabilities, she said. NPR related: "Stainnak, who uses they/them pronouns, had actually moved to a new role just before Trump's return to the White House, and still they were fired. Today, they are still struggling to find full-time work." NPR turned to Max Stier, a Democrat partisan who claimed “They’re burning the whole house down.” He runs something called the Partnership for Public Service., which NPR describes as a nonprofit that for decades has worked with both Democratic and Republican administrations to make government better. See? He sounds just like a Democrat, but let’s pretend he’s not. Stier warns that “by getting rid of institutions and people he doesn't care for, Trump is turning the clock back to the 1800s, when the government served the private interests of those in power, not the public good.” NPR let Stier do the burning thing again: "Americans are dissatisfied with what they're getting from their government, and they have some reason to be so. But the answer isn't burning the whole thing down." Drama queens were all over the media coverage again in 2025. Then there's this Trump achievement the media won't recognize. Since January 20, 2025, DHS enforcement operations have resulted in more than 605,000 deportations and 1.9 million illegal aliens have voluntarily self-deported since January 2025. But the media want bad-news angles. Radio host Vince Coglianese pointed out this Washington Post story:  ICE shift in tactics leads to soaring number of at-large arrests, data shows The agency has moved away from focusing on arresting migrants at local jails to tracking them down in communities as the Trump administration presses to increase deportations, a Washington Post analysis found. It was somehow embarrassing that Team Trump is doing more arrests in the streets rather than in jails -- left unacknowledged is that blue states won't cooperate with ICE on aliens in their jails.  Administration officials have set a goal of 1 million deportations in Trump’s first year of his second term, and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has pressed for 3,000 immigration arrests per day. Daily arrests are lagging well behind that number. In a statement, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said 70 percent of the immigrants arrested by ICE have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges in the United States and that some have convictions or charges in their home countries. The Post’s own examination found pretty much the same: that from Jan. 20, when Trump took office, through Oct. 15 about 36 percent of ICE detainees had criminal convictions and 30 percent had pending charges. “This story only reveals how the media manipulates data to peddle a false narrative that DHS is not targeting the worst of the worst,” McLaughlin said. “Nationwide our law enforcement is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists.” Enjoy this audio-only podcast below.  

Among the Republicans that CNN This Morning has permitted into its Group Chat, T.W. Arrighi put in an exceptional performance on Friday's episode. He authored a definitive takedown of NYC's new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and his radical agenda. His key point was that Mamdani's socialist ideas have been tried across the country and around the world and have, inevitably, failed. All Mamdani has done is to wrap up old, failed ideas "in shiny new packaging." Arrighi gave several examples of the ideas Mamdani is proposing that have been tried and failed elsewhere. ARRIGHI: You can look around the country and around the world and see examples of all of his policies, put in shiny new packaging, of many examples of them failing time and time again. You look at rent, freezing rent. Well, St. Paul froze rent recently. Building permits are down 61%. Across the river in Minneapolis, they're up 64%. You talk about grocery stores run by the city. Kansas City tried that. There was rotting food and rats everywhere in a short period of time. We talk about wealth taxes, should that happen. There was a great example in New York in the early 2000s and again in Maryland where they tried these huge increases of taxes on the wealthy. And in Maryland, they lost money on the deal. And people fleed the state, especially millionaires, not billionaires. Millionaires, the people who make up that tax base for that higher rate.  Then, he added other Mamdani views: "That's not even talking about globalizing the intifada, his thoughts on policing, et cetera, et cetera, seizing the means of production, failed in Venezuela. What we're seeing is all these failed ideas of history brought back in shiny new packaging, in a new face. They will fail, and he will be a great lightning rod." And speaking of new faces, Arrighi managed to make his Mamdani takedown while maintaining a pleasant demeanor and a smile on his face. Arrighi even got former Biden aide Meghan Hays to agree with him on the brass tacks: if Mamdani can't keep the streets clean and the city safe, there will be the same sort of change that brought about the mayoralty of former cop Eric Adams.  PS: Two observations on Mamdani's remarks: He proudly rejected those who say that "the era of big government is over." Bill Clinton, author of that remark back in the day, was notably not in attendance. The US debt is currently over $38 trillion and growing fast. The era of big government is over? If only! He boasted that "to fulfill the affordability agenda that we have been running on [by raising taxes] .  . . it is critical in a moment like this to not allow fiscal challenges to become an excuse for austerity." Translation: don't let reality intrude on our pipe dreams!  Here's the transcript. CNN This Morning 1/2/26 6:00 am ET ZOHRAN MAMDANI: I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.  BRIAN ABEL: What his ascent could mean for Democrats trying to win back Congress in the midterms. Zohran Mamdani, now New York's mayor, and he's doubling down on the platform that took him there. Mayor Mamdani was sworn into office by one of his biggest progressive supporters, Senator Bernie Sanders, and used his first address on New Year's Day to declare he would not change his political identity. Instead, He promised once again to pursue his ambitious agenda, an agenda which includes universal child care for children up to five years old, freezing rent prices for two million residents, and making buses free across the city, an agenda which has a price tag of more than $6 billion.  MAMDANI: The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations. We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try? I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist.  ABEL: Joining me now in the group chat, Margaret Talev, senior contributor at Axios, T.W. Arrighi, former senior communications aide to Lindsey Graham and Mike Pompeo, and Meghan Hays, former director of message planning at the Biden White House.  . . .  MAMDANI: To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this. No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers' lives.  ABEL So, Margaret, what's at stake here, not just for Mamdani and New York, but also the greater Democratic party here? Because talking about big government isn't always a winning strategy.  MARGARET TALEV: He's 34 years old. He represents a younger, more progressive wing of the Democratic party.  MAMDANI: To fulfill the affordability agenda that we have been running on is by raising taxes on the 1% of New Yorkers who make a million dollars a year by an additional 2%, and by raising the state's top corporate tax rate to match that of New Jersey. We put this forward because it is critical in a moment like this to not allow fiscal challenges to become an excuse for austerity.  . . .  TW ARRIGHI: A lot of things got him elected, including just the sheer talent the man has as a communicator and as a politician. When I hear him talk about raising taxes, my first thought is, Albany will want to say something about that, because that's their job. It's not his job as mayor of New York.  Also, when he talked about successes and will it work, won't it, we should look at states and cities as laboratories of democracy. And you can look around the country and around the world and see examples of all of his policies, put in shiny new packaging, of many examples of them failing time and time again.  You look at rent, freezing rent. Well, St. Paul froze rent recently. Building permits are down 61%. Across the river in Minneapolis, they're up 64%. You talk about grocery stores run by the city. Kansas City tried that. There was rotting food and rats everywhere in a short period of time. We talk about wealth taxes, should that happen. There was a great example in New York in the early 2000s and again in Maryland where they tried these huge increases of taxes on the wealthy. And in Maryland, they lost money on the deal. And people fleed the state, especially millionaires, not billionaires. Millionaires, the people who make up that tax base for that higher rate.  So it's all failed policies brought, and that's not even talking about globalizing the intifada, his thoughts on policing, et cetera, et cetera, seizing the means of production, failed in Venezuela. What we're seeing is all these failed ideas of history brought back in shiny new packaging, in a new face. They will fail, and he will be a great lightning rod.  But at the end of the day, if the streets are dirty and they're unsafe, we saw this with DeBlasio, who was a far-left mayor, we'll get a change that brought Eric Adams, the former police officer, into the mayorship.  MEGHAN HAYS: That's a really great point. If a mayor can't remove trash and remove snow and keep your streets safe, nobody cares about anything else. So he needs to be able to do the basics before he starts with some of these policies that he wants.  ABEL: I'm not sure what time frame you were referring to, but I did live in Kansas City for a while. That was not my experience with rats.  ARRIGHI: I'm going to share the reporting.  ABEL: Fair enough, fair enough.