Tune in to the liberal media on any given day, and you are almost sure to bear witness to what passes for today's 'journalism'. Panels stacked with liberals, conservative panelists given short shrift, Republican guests are challenged, while Democrats are given a platform to spew their talking points uninterrupted. No show fits that script more than CNN's NewsNight With Abby Phillip, who on Monday, was filling in on The Arena in the afternoon, where she shockingly appeared to change things up just a bit. Phillip, who recently sat by silently on her show, and allowed Bakari Sellers to refer to V.P. JD Vance as an "A-hole", was joined by Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY), to discuss the government shutdown and the related funding of ICE, and she actually sounded like a journalist at times. PHILLIP: Three days in and there appears to be no end in sight in this battle over potential reforms to ICE. A source tells CNN that today, the Democrats have not yet sent back a counterproposal to the White House's latest offer, when it comes to ending this partial government shutdown... And then she asked Goldman about the 'missing' proposal. PHILLIP: I wonder.. when do you think that counterproposal is actually going to be sent over to the White House? And based on what the White House sent over to Democrats, are you seeing any evidence of a willingness to move in your direction on the demands that you're making about ICE? Predictably, Goldman chose to ignore the first question. GOLDMAN: ..No and in fact, there's no basis for their resistance. I mean think about these very basic things that we are asking for. One, unmask ICE agents. No other law enforcement agents are masked...Criminal law enforcement agents are masked. It gives them a feeling of invincibility, clearly, a lack of accountability...Their bogus excuse for why they need to be masked would apply to any law enforcement agency, and that's just not the way democracy works. Second, you need a judicial warrant to search a home under the Fourth Amendment. An administrative warrant is not sufficient to do that. And so this is already the law. So we are effectively asking them to reassert the law that exists right now. That should not be difficult... Phillip allowed Goldman to skip the question of a Democrat counter-proposal,  and she also failed to counter any of his claims about ICE. For example, last week a federal court overturned a California law banning masks for ICE Agents. I guess Phillip was unaware. On the issue of warrants, Congress.gov features, Immigration Arrests In The Interior Of The United States, Section 1226 (a) states, "..upon issuance of an administrative warrant (otherwise known as an ICE warrant), an immigration officer may arrest and detain an alien pending a decision as to whether the alien is subject to removal." Unaware again. But Phillip did later press Goldman: "I also imagine you understand that that's also a risk Democrats are taking, right? I mean, it sounds like you're confident that the American people will not hold you all responsible for a shutdown. How can you be so sure?" The Congressman tap-danced around that one with more talking points, which included, an accusation against Kristi Noem. GOLDMAN: The clear desire and the clear intention to use immigration enforcement to help steal this upcoming election, as Kristi Noem has said that she effectively intends to do, this is a massive massive five-alarm fire that needs to be addressed. And once again, Phillip surprised. PHILLIP: ..So on the Kristi Noem of it all...you just said that she's trying to use ICE immigration officers to steal the upcoming election...What does that look like? Specifically what do you think that they are trying to do? His response was more talking points, not one example of how ICE officers will be used to steal the election. GOLDMAN: They did somehow were able to swear out a search warrant... to search the Fulton County Board of Elections for 2020 results. Then they demanded that Minnesota turn over voter rolls in order for the ICE officers to withdraw. Now, Kristi Noem is saying that she's going to take it into her own control to make sure the right people vote. And what this all is sort of geared around is this completely bogus SAVE Act... They're trying to suppress the vote, they're trying to take over voting machines and voter roles and they're trying to rig this election. Unfortunately, Phillip had no response to these wild accusations, she thanked him for his time. But overall, during the interview, Phillip did play the role of journalist, much more than she usually does on her own show.

The New York Times is forever looking down its snobby nose at uncredentialed conservative journalists exposing inconvenient stories they don’t want to touch, like the Somali fraud ring in Minnesota. There's no Pulitzer Prize bait in that!  Nick Shirley & Co. come under assault in a story by social-media reporter Nathan Taylor Pemberton. He argued conservative creators are increasingly posting "slopulism," low-quality political content that prioritizes populist rage, aiming to provoke policy action. Exhibit A was Nick Shirley probing fraud in Minneapolis, inspiring new videos investigating fraud in San Diego by Amy Reichert. Ms. Reichert is one among many conservative content creators who have become the internet’s busiest sleuths in recent weeks. They create videos that are light on evidence and traditional journalistic techniques but are filled with sinister-sounding claims that neatly align with the Trump administration’s priorities. It’s a novel form of political behavior that has left many political commentators and researchers struggling to articulate what it is. Though many are quick to say what it’s not: investigative journalism. It is also, experts say, more than misinformation or disinformation, terms that fail to capture the nature of these misleading posts and how they are filtering up into the highest echelons of government. Curt Mills, the executive director of The American Conservative magazine, called it “MAGA-muzak.” Kate Starbird, a researcher at the University of Washington who studies online spaces and extreme politics, has called it “participatory propaganda.” “Try ‘entrepreneurial opportunism,’” said A.J. Bauer, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Alabama with a focus on right-wing groups. Now contrast this with The Times, whose work on Russian collusion was "light on evidence, but filled with sinister-sounding claims that neatly align with Democratic Party priorities." Their "high-quality investigative journalism" fell apart like a sloppy Jenga tower. It's mildly amusing at how Pemberton tries to say both right and left make slop, but one is about cruelty and sadism, while the other is for justice! On the right, this can look like gleeful cruelty, sadistic memes, posts that “own the libs” or sensationalized claims about fraud and conspiracy. On the left, it could be social justice messaging, online identity politics or populist economic proposals to, say, tax the rich. Pemberton penned a piece for The Nation last year on "Why the Right Fantasizes About Death and Destruction," complaining about growing up with "my family's lunatic fringe" that talked about Benghazi and all that. The Times piece sounds similar: The new wave of fraud-themed content, made by creators like Mr. Shirley, invokes familiar themes of populist rage and elite resentment. It seems to be the latest evolution in a culture where posting is a primary method of practicing politics — except these posts appear to be made not only to get in on a trending wave, but also to provoke policy action. “Slopulism works by harnessing the excitement and vibe of a moment,” said Neema Parvini, a senior fellow at the University of Buckingham in England who is considered to have popularized the term. He believes it’s a way for populist leaders, like Mr. Trump, to keep their bases content. “It convinces supporters to invest their emotions in story lines rather than the substantive politics or structure behind it,” he said. “It doesn’t lead anywhere, it’s just entertainment.” When conservatives who didn't attend Columbia Journalism School probe progressive sacred cows, there can't be any "public interest" in it. No, Pemberton argued this "slopulism" is just "a political tendency that offers followers emotional gratification through mindless, performative gestures online." Perhaps we should redefine "slopulism" to define all the leftist celebrities and influencers shouting "F--k ICE!" That's emotionally gratifying and mindlessly performative. 

CNN Business’s so-called “senior writer” can’t seem to get the hint that her ongoing narrative war against the Trump economy is flopping harder than Joe Biden’s mental acuity.  After CNN’s Alicia Wallace desperately scrambled to throw cold water on the blockbuster January jobs report showing growth doubling expectations, she tried her hand again with poo-poohing January inflation data which came in significantly less than estimated at a 2.4 percent rate increase year-over year. “Inflation slowed in January, but some prices are still biting,” read Wallace’s ridiculous February 13 headline. Instead of admitting that the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics defied “fears of a tariff-induced hike in overall costs” — as ABC News conceded — Wallace chose to editorialize the story to saturate it with negative spin: However, certain details of the latest Consumer Price Index presented a more sobering picture: Some price pressures aren’t just persisting, they’re accelerating,” putting a spotlight on items such as travel, transportation and recreation prices. But as Wallace herself admitted, “Some of these increases could be tied to new year price adjustments or seasonality. That context literally undercuts the whole argument because it nuances the origins of the price hikes in the sectors she’s bleating about.  Great Scott! Talk about doing the utmost to strain out gnats while swallowing a camel. It’s worth reminding our readers that Wallace is the same supposed journalist who celebratorily declared that “Inflation is nearly back to normal,” when prices were increasing at a 3.1 percent annual rate under Biden’s administration in December 2023. That’s .7 points higher than the current 2.4 rate she’s twisting into a pretzel to fit her Trump economy bad narrative.  Wallace even wielded RSM Chief Economist Joe Brusuelas, who claimed, “‘While mild topline inflation is encouraging, it would be premature to declare victory on inflation.’” That’s a completely different song than the one CNN flunkies were singing a couple of years ago for Biden, such as when CNN Business Executive Editor David Goldman wrote prior to the 2024 election, “America won the war on inflation. You still think the economy stinks.” Wallace made the whole subject of her latest griping hinge on the month-over-month increase in core consumer prices — which excludes volatile food and energy prices — to kvetch over how  it “accelerated to a five-month high of 0.3% from December’s 0.2%.” But this was after she just admitted that annual “[c]ore CPI slowed to 2.5%, its lowest rate since March 2021, right before the pandemic-era inflationary spike.” She then kneecapped her argument further by admitting that “[t]he monthly reads on those categories can sometimes be quite volatile; however, they also can be telling for where consumers are feeling pinched or seeing some welcome relief.” One step forward, two steps back?  Wallace also complained about how “Tariff-sensitive items also went up.” But Wellington-Altus Chief Market Strategist James E. Thorne underscored February 13 in an X post that the latest inflation data shows prices are being "overwhelmingly" driven by shelter, but “[t]here is still no evidence of any tariff-related inflationary pressure.”  Just take the “L,” Wallace.

During their Presidents Day episode on Monday, ABC’s The View made it clear that they believed only some criticisms were worth the breathe used to make them. The cast didn’t really like that some Americans dared to criticize those Olympic athletes who used their opportunity on the world stage to criticize the country they were there to represent. They also suggested that when President Trump left office, citizens would rush out into the streets to tear down his name and statues. After moderator Whoopi Goldberg mocked Vice President V.D. Vance for getting booed at the opening ceremony and suggesting Trump was just the “president of ICE agents,” co-host Ana Navarro spoke up first to lash and suggest something was “wrong with you” if you didn’t hate the Trump administration: And I think, you know, my question is, if you're not having mixed feelings about loving your country and being proud of your country, but disdaining what this government is doing, what the hell is wrong with you? She also noted that those American Olympians who were criticizing their home were saying things that wouldn’t fly in other countries, and that they had the right to do so as Americans: One of the things that distinguishes America is our right to free speech. And that includes athletes, that includes actors, that includes every single American. There's places in the world where if athletes did what these athletes did in Italy, they would be jailed or tortured or killed. But not in the United States. And I think that they -- they are articulating what a lot of Americans are feeling.   The View's Ana Navarro: "If you're not having mixed feelings about loving your country and being proud of your country, but disdaining what this government is doing, what the hell is wrong with you?!" pic.twitter.com/OPvpsWUEE3 — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 16, 2026   Near the end of the segment, Goldberg chimed in again to bemoan the criticism of the criticizers. “The problem for me is, people at home who are calling them losers and all these kind of names,” she griped. Seemingly to Goldberg, the only things they could say America were negative: But here's the issue. You know, they are entitled to feel how they feel. That is their right. And they are saying, I don't agree with everything. It's like, when I was a kid, people said, my country, right or wrong. No! If you're wrong, you're wrong! And people are going to say, you're wrong. While Goldberg wanted to stop the criticism of those few athletes, she went off about how they had that right: So, you know, all of these people who are criticizing these folks, saying, stop talking -- because in this country, we are still allowed -- we are still allowed. It has not been outlawed. They can threaten it, but they haven't stopped it. We are allowed to say what we think and what we feel.   Whoopi demands you stop criticizing Olympic athletes who are criticizing American overseas because they have the right to criticize. Are some criticizers better than others? pic.twitter.com/A6S0PBA0FC — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 16, 2026   “Stop calling people losers! And get out and do a little exercising and maybe you can compete with them,” she exclaimed. Later in the show, during their actual Presidents Day discussion, Navarro went off on Trump putting his name on different government buildings and the planning of monuments. “First, why he's doing it. Because he's got a frail little ego. Because he’s a narcissist. Because he's insecure and a narcissist,” she chided. Her comments then shifted into a mixture of a warning to Trump and a prediction of what would happen after her left office. “[A]round the world, anytime in history, when a bad period ends. When an authoritarian leaves, an authoritarian falls, the first thing that happens is that citizens run out and topple the statutes, take the names off the buildings,” she touted.   Ana Navarro says Trump should be careful putting his name on so many things because when he's out of office ("when a bad period ends"), it will be like whenever an "authoritarian falls" and "citizens run out and topple the statutes, take the names off the buildings." pic.twitter.com/I0T6OFmapm — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 16, 2026   The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View February 16, 2026 11:03:45 a.m. Eastern (…) ANA NAVARRO: One of the things that distinguishes America is our right to free speech. And that includes athletes, that includes actors, that includes every single American. There's places in the world where if athletes did what these athletes did in Italy, they would be jailed or tortured or killed. But not in the United States. And I think that they -- they are articulating what a lot of Americans are feeling. You know, I'm not an Olympic athlete. I play pickleball, badly. But I think, particularly, when you are outside of the United States, and – we all represent the United States. If you have a U.S. Passport and you are an American citizen, you're representing the United States. And every time you set foot anywhere else on the United States right now, and you know this, because you spent so much time in Italy, they think we've gone insane! And I think, you know, my question is, if you're not having mixed feelings about loving your country and being proud of your country, but disdaining what this government is doing, what the hell is wrong with you? (…) 11:06:59 a.m. Eastern WHOOPI GOLDBERG: The problem for me is, people at home who are calling them losers and all these kind of names-- SUNNY HOSTIN: The president called him a loser, yeah. GOLDBERG: You know, there -- NAVARRO: I’d like to see him ski down a hill. GOLDBERG: But here's the issue. You know, they are entitled to feel how they feel. That is their right. And they are saying, I don't agree with everything. It's like, when I was a kid, people said, my country, right or wrong. No! If you're wrong, you're wrong! And people are going to say, you're wrong. So, you know, all of these people who are criticizing these folks, saying, stop talking -- because in this country, we are still allowed -- we are still allowed. It has not been outlawed. They can threaten it, but they haven't stopped it. We are allowed to say what we think and what we feel. And when we are across the pond, they did it the right way. They said, I'm not -- with everything that's happening. They didn't say, the country should go to hell. That's not what they said at all. Stop calling people losers! And get out and do a little exercising and maybe you can compete with them! We'll be right back. (…) 11:14:19 a.m. Eastern NAVARRO: First, why he's doing it. Because he's got a frail little ego. Because he’s a narcissist. Because he's insecure and a narcissist. Also look, how does this usually work? It usually works like somebody is president or somebody does something extraordinary in America, serve, and after they're gone, the people have such admiration and respect and fond memories of them, that they want something named for them, right? That's how it's happened until now. What is he trying to do? He is trying to extort states by tying federal funding to them changing the name. But I'll just remind them of this. Anytime -- and anywhere around the world, anytime in history, when a bad period ends. When an authoritarian leaves, an authoritarian falls, the first thing that happens is that citizens run out and topple the statutes, take the names off the buildings. HOSTIN: I think you’re absolutely right. (…)

A 3,000-word “news analysis” by New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker on Trump’s supposed cult of personality was headlined cheekily: “A Superman, Jedi and Pope -- Trump’s Relentless Bid to Mythologize Himself.” The online version was more insulting: “Trump’s Relentless Self-Promotion Fosters an American Cult of Personality-- President Trump has engaged in a spree of self-aggrandizement unlike any of his predecessors, fostering a mythologized superhuman persona and making himself the inescapable force at home and around the world.” The story included a photo of a gold-leaf copper statue of Trump, tilted on its side -- a statute paid for by outside private sources selling crypto coins. After a year back in the White House, Mr. Trump’s efforts to promote himself as the singularly dominant figure in the world have become so commonplace that they no longer seem surprising. He regularly depicts himself in a heroic, almost godly fashion, as a king, as a Superman, as a Jedi knight, as a military hero, even as a pope in a white cassock. While Mr. Trump has spent a lifetime promoting his personal brand, slapping his name on hotels, casinos, airplanes, even steaks, neckties and bottled water, what he is doing in his second term as president comes closer to building a cult of personality the likes of which has never been seen in American history. Other presidents sought to cultivate their reputations, but none went as far as Mr. Trump has to create a mythologized, superhuman and omnipresent persona leading to idolatry. .... His White House is pressuring the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery to display portraits of Mr. Trump by his supporters. A group of cryptocurrency investors has shelled out $300,000 to forge a 15-foot-tall gold-covered bronze statue of Mr. Trump called “Don Colossus” to be installed at his golf complex in Doral, Fla. For the record, late Minneapolis resident George Floyd had three memorial services while residing in a 14-karat gold-plated coffin, but no one would dare insinuate that Floyd's supporters were a “cult of personality.” As for fellow presidents, it would be hard to top Barack Obama hero worship from the entertainment community, like Black Eyed Peas musician will.i.am’s infamous celebrity video for Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, “Yes We Can,” which the Times greeted favorably. The Obama worship often spread to the elitist media itself. It began with a Washington Post front-page story gawking at his “chiseled pectorals” and ended with Times columnist Frank Bruni gushing "We’re going to miss this man, America. Whatever his flaws, he’s been more than our president. Time and again, he’s been our national poet.” Baker himself wrote a gushy Obama tribute book complete with color photographs titled Obama: The Call to History. Amazon includes this sugary blurb:  "Very likely not since tributes to the assassinated John F. Kennedy will a book of photographs of a president so recently departed make millions of Americans want to cry."―James Goodman, The New York Times Book Review But that’s all in the dustbin of history; Obama’s only mention in this long Baker piece is as the racial victim of a clip reposted by Trump. Baker mentions several other U.S. presidents to put up against Trump, who comes out as by far the most cultish American leader, approaching Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-Tung territory. Cults of personality are traditionally associated with dictators and demagogues, not democrats. They are figures like Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Benito Mussolini and more recently the shirtless, horseback-riding Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. But Mr. Trump does not seem concerned that he might be heading down a dangerous path. Baker did some cherry-picking to establish a pattern of commentators and Democratic politicians accusing Trump of encouraging a personality "cult," then came back to the Trump statue, which remains un-erected. The efforts to exalt himself, however, have accelerated in the past year far beyond his first term and have increasingly come to resemble eccentric regimes in far corners of the world. To those who have spent time in the former Soviet Union, the “Don Colossus” statue bears a striking resemblance to the rotating gold statue erected by Saparmurat Niyazov, the megalomaniacal former dictator of Turkmenistan who called himself Turkmenbashi and even renamed the months of the year after himself and his family. Trump’s “Don Colossus” statue, tacky or not, was not commissioned by the president, and February is not yet known as “Trumpuary."