Friday’s roundtable on MS NOW’s The 11th Hour concluded by naming their MVPs of the week and there were some interesting selections. MS NOW’s online editor Anthony Fisher selected Judge Randolph Moss for his nonsensical ruling that said NPR and PBS are private companies and that President Trump’s defunding of them violated the First Amendment. Meanwhile, Independent Veterans of America CEO Paul Rieckhoff picked the crew of Artemis II, which was a completely understandable selection, except he did so because he thought they provided a noticeable contrast to Trump. Fisher began by declaring “My MVP is Judge Randolph Moss, U.S. district judge out of D.C., who ruled that President Trump's executive orders that defunded NPR and PBS were illegal, constituted viewpoint discrimination. It does not mean that the federal government is going to now refund NPR or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is done.”   MS NOW editor Anthony Fisher says his MVP of the week is the judge who "who ruled that President Trump's executive orders that defunded NPR and PBS were illegal, were—constituted viewpoint discrimination...we need judges to be able to continue. We need judges to continue to say… pic.twitter.com/zS2I8AF2OC — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) April 4, 2026   Taking his victories where he can get them, Fisher continued, “So, there is a bit of a symbolic victory here, but as you mentioned before, we still are a nation of laws. And this judge—” Guest host Catherine Rampell then interrupted to cheer, “For now. Yay!” Fisher then resumed, “This judge at least said that this was unconstitutional. It was against the First Amendment. It was viewpoint discrimination. And we need judges to be able to continue. We need judges to continue to say these things, because it is my hope that the First Amendment survives this administration.” In the very first sentence of Moss’s opinion, he states that National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service are “private entities,” and therefore withholding grants from them on the basis of their liberal bias is illegal. But, of course, NPR and PBS are not private entities, and so the whole opinion was nonsensical. As for Rieckhoff, he began by declaring that his opposition to the war in Iran is as popular as the Artemis mission, “Something special happened this week. America was united and not just against the war in Iran, but when Artemis took off and everyone saw the prowess and the excellence and the visionary possibility of Artemis and of NASA, this country was united. This country was inspired. This country was proud.” He then tried accusing Trump of ruining it with his Iran speech earlier in the week while also suggesting Trump would have canceled the mission if he knew one of the astronauts was Canadian, “Now, Trump spoke a couple of hours later and, kind of, crapped on all of that. But for this moment and still now, there is a real feeling of pride in this country, in these incredible astronauts who are also diverse, and even includes an ally from Canada. And thankfully, maybe Trump didn't find out otherwise, he would have shut it down.” In the real world, Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney had a phone call on the day of the launch. Nevertheless, Rieckhoff continued in his hopes that Artemis could be a counterweight to Trump, “But Artemis is right now in space as role models for our children and giving a new generation reason to be proud to be Americans, we needed some hope. Hope is the oxygen of democracy. And we got it this week from Artemis.” Artemis was and is a unifying moment, so why does MS NOW have to try to ruin that by making it about their opposition to Trump? Here is a transcript for the April 3 show: MS NOW The 11th Hour 4/3/2026 11:51 PM ET ANTHONY FISHER: Speaking of separation of church and state, my MVP is Judge Randolph Moss, U.S. district judge out of D.C., who ruled that President Trump's executive orders that defunded NPR and PBS were illegal, constituted viewpoint discrimination. It does not mean that the federal government is going to now refund NPR or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is done. So, there is a bit of a symbolic victory here, but as you mentioned before, we still are a nation of laws. And this judge— CATHERINE RAMPELL: For now. Yay! ANTHONY FISHER: —this judge at least said that this was unconstitutional. It was against the First Amendment. It was viewpoint discrimination. And we need judges to be able to continue. We need judges to continue to say these things, because it is my hope that the First Amendment survives this administration. RAMPELL: Paul. PAUL RIECKHOFF: Something special happened this week. America was united and not just against the war in Iran, but when Artemis took off and everyone saw the prowess and the excellence and the visionary possibility of Artemis and of NASA, this country was united. This country was inspired. This country was proud. Now, Trump spoke a couple of hours later and, kind of, crapped on all of that. But for this moment and still now, there is a real feeling of pride in this country, in these incredible astronauts who are also diverse, and even includes an ally from Canada. And thankfully, maybe Trump didn't find out otherwise, he would have shut it down. But Artemis is right now in space as role models for our children and giving a new generation reason to be proud to be Americans, we needed some hope. Hope is the oxygen of democracy. And we got it this week from Artemis.