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Fox News Defines Most Americans as Anti-American
In declaring contemporary social movements and the people who support them anti-American, Fox News is essentially designating the majority of Americans as official enemies under Trump's NSPM-7.
Jun 04, 2026
One of the secret strengths of right-wing propagandists is their ability to say a few words that are so wrong on so many levels that they take an essay to untwist. Case in point: a recent Fox News post on Facebook. Summarizing a longer article on contemporary political movements, the post reads in full:
Anti-Israel agitators. Climate activists. Communist groups.
Experts warn a growing activist network united by anti-American sentiment—and in some cases China-linked funding networks—is now targeting America’s AI infrastructure and industrial power.
Fox News Digital found many of the same movements protesting side-by-side across the country, including groups opposing new AI data centers over energy and environmental concerns.
“What all of these protests have in common… is that anti-American trend within them,” Hudson Institute fellow Zineb Riboua told Fox News Digital.
While disguised as serious findings from a scholarly exposé about subversive trends in America, the article mostly just lumps together all the usual enemies of corporate, far-right interests and labels them all “anti-American.” Even as pure propaganda, it’s unsubtle and uncreative.
But with the Trump administration’s recent issuance of National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 (NSPM-7)—a sweeping memo that tries to connect beliefs like these to terrorism and calls upon law enforcement to treat them accordingly—such propaganda now carries more sinister implications.
What unites them is that they are enemies of one aspect or another of the fascist techno-petro-state the Trump administration is attempting to cement. And they all have very real, very valid reasons to hold their positions.
Taken together, the groups in question make up a significant majority of the American population. What unites them is not anti-American sentiment. What unites them is that they are enemies of one aspect or another of the fascist techno-petro-state the Trump administration is attempting to cement. And they all have very real, very valid reasons to hold their positions.
Anti-Israel Agitators
Labeling critics of US-Israeli policy “anti-Israel agitators” is meant to dismiss them as irrational, antisemitic extremists—and, according to Fox News, anti-American. While there’s no room in this article to litigate the issue of Israel-Palestine, suffice it to say the reality is far more complex.
Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza over the last two and a half years, combined with decades of abuse of Palestinians leading up to the terror attacks of October 7, has made them a global pariah. Making matters worse, the US government has given billions of dollars to fund that genocide and provided bipartisan diplomatic cover for it. In addition, many believe—because Trump administration officials have suggested as much—that Israel goaded President Donald Trump into our unpopular, costly, disastrous war with Iran.
All this adds up to a steadily worsening public perception of Israel, with 60% of US adults now having an unfavorable view, according to Pew. Which begs the question: Can 60% of Americans be anti-American?
Climate Activists and Communists
Perennial foes of the big business interests Fox News and the Republican Party represent, neither climate activists nor communists, sadly, have a significant presence in contemporary American politics. But Fox News would never miss an opportunity to put such scary words in front of their audience.
The idea here, to the extent that there is one, is that concern for the climate limits our energy and defensive options, weakening us as our biggest rival, China, is ascendent. Of course there are ulterior motives. One of the biggest goals of the right-wing project is to simply shut down all green energy, as President Trump essentially did in 2025, so that he and the oil tycoons who prop him up can benefit.
There’s nothing anti-American about wanting clean or renewable energy. The Constitution doesn’t mandate that we be a petrostate. It’s also largely agnostic on the question of economic organization. Labeling environmentalism or leftist economic beliefs anti-American is an attempt to shut down the debate before it can happen—lest the American people choose a path that inconveniences the mega rich who are harming the environment and hoarding all the money.
AI Data Center Opponents
Tech oligarchs and corporate pundits repeatedly insist that America needs to win the AI race against China, virtually no matter the cost. But the American people are not yet on board. According to Gallup, 70% of Americans oppose AI data center construction in their communities. And this is largely a bipartisan consensus, with Republicans being only slightly more supportive of data center construction.
Either way, sticking the anti-American label on data center opposition is a tough sell for Fox News. The environmental cost and resource drain of data centers is already impacting communities. At the same time, tech oligarchs like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are frighteningly candid about how AI, which compiles our accumulated knowledge and then sells it back to us in the form of slop, is intended to permanently displace the workforce. There is no serious plan in place to support the millions of people they’re threatening to make unemployed.
No surprise, then, that the massive push for this technology is meeting resistance all over the country. Even in conservative states like Utah, not widely known as a hotbed for political activism, residents are demanding that Big Tech be held accountable for their reckless AI ambitions.
The Chinese Anti-American Subversion Theory
The full article throws together more scary bad guys: “Agitators united by Chinese money, hate for America target data centers… linking environmental, Islamist, and far-left political movements… Climate activists, anti-Israel protesters, and other activist movements with very different agendas have become strange bedfellows united by a shared disdain for America and funding from China.”
The accusation that any of these causes are backed by “Chinese money” is loose and largely unsubstantiated. The article names one accused funder, as if supporting causes was a crime in and of itself: Neville Roy Singham, an American expat who now lives in China. And the only justification that any of this is “anti-American” comes from vague warnings about falling behind China (which, by many metrics, we did long ago) and the fact that China dominates much of the green energy market—all the more reason, one would think, to invest in our own.
Guilt by association can be an effective propaganda technique, though. If Fox can connect all these disparate causes under the banner of anti-Americanism and Chinese subversion, they can encourage their audience to reject any sympathies they may be tempted to feel with such movements—in case they don’t want a data center in their county, say, or they see what’s been done to Gaza.
The Danger of Being Labeled Anti-American Under NSPM-7
In declaring all these causes and the people who support them anti-American, Fox News is essentially designating the majority of Americans as official enemies under NSPM-7. According to NSPM-7, “anti-Americanism” is part of a cabal of threats, along with anti-capitalism; anti-Christianity; “extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.” Each of these beliefs is now treated as an indicator of violent, terroristic inclinations. As such, falling under any such label carries with it the threat of surveillance, investigation, prosecution, and other potential law enforcement actions.
Exactly how, where, and when NSPM-7 has been or will be used is still tough to know. That’s part of what makes it so dangerous: The language is so sweeping that, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of New York, it could target “pretty much anyone who isn’t a MAGA faithful.” The purpose here is to clearly define what a proper American ought to believe, to chill any dissent with that agenda, and to lay the groundwork for criminal investigations of any American who’s uncooperative.
As things continue to break down in this country, and as Trump continues to become more emboldened even as his approval rating tanks, it’s not hard to imagine him weaponizing his corrupt FBI to go after, say, a data center protest organizer. Actually, this may already be happening: leaked reports, covered extensively by Wired, claim that multiple US agencies are already monitoring what they call “anti-tech extremism.” Such so-called extremism apparently includes activities as banal as photography and other constitutionally protected activities.
It’s awfully bold of Fox News to declare the majority of Americans anti-American. Such is the potency of right-wing propaganda’s complete disregard for nuance, truth, or morality. To untangle the minds of the people who consume this stuff on a regular basis, and actually believe it, is a thoroughly challenging project that will likely take generations.
With politics as heated as they are right now, and so close to getting even further out of hand with directives like NSPM-7, it’s important to reiterate the obvious: Not only are environmental protection, support for Palestine, and anti-AI activism legitimate and well-reasoned, they’re also all perfectly American.
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Watch: Trump Admits 'We Shouldn't Have Been in Iran'
The president also simultaneously claimed to have left Iran's military alone and destroyed its navy and air force.
May 31, 2026
President Donald Trump said Saturday during an interview with his daughter-in-law that the US should not have waged war on Iran, while making contradictory claims about destroying Iran's military and leaving it alone.
“You look at what happened with Iraq. We did so bad. It was such a foolish thing what we did. We shouldn’t have been there in the first place, by the way,” Trump told Lara Trump, who hosts Fox News' "My View."
“We shouldn’t have been in Iran, but Iran has the capability," he said, referring to the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
Former US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last year that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and [the late] Supreme Leader Khamanei had not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.” US intelligence agencies have repeatedly come to the same conclusion since the George W. Bush administration.
Trump claimed that without US bombing, Iran "would have a nuclear weapon right now and will be a whole different story."
“If we didn’t hit them with B-2 bombers, nine months ago, they would have a nuclear weapon right now," he said.
"Their military, we've sort of left it alone because we think that their military is somewhat moderate," Trump said right after saying that "their navy is gone, 100%," and "their air force is gone, 100%."
The president also claimed that he will negotiate a "great" end to the war with Iran, or "we'll just go back and finish it off militarily."
"We're close to a very good deal," he said.
You saw Venezuela," Trump said, referring to the country the US bombed and invaded in January to abduct President Nicolás Maduro and bring him to the United States to face dubious narco-terrorism charges.
At least 3,468 people have been killed in US-Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28, according to Iran’s Ministry of Health, including 496 women and 376 children.
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Mamdani Delivers a Direct Message to Trump During Contentious Fox News Interview
"I will not be a mayor, like Mayor Adams, who will call you to figure out how to stay out of jail," Mamdani said.
Oct 15, 2025
Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday went on Fox News on Wednesday to deliver a direct message to President Donald Trump.
During an appearance on "The Story With Martha MacCallum," Mamdani looked directly into the camera and addressed Trump on the off chance he was watching the show.
"I will not be a mayor, like Mayor Adams, who will call you to figure out how to stay out of jail," he said, just weeks after Mayor Eric Adams ended his reelection campaign. "I won't be a disgraced governor, like Andrew Cuomo, who will call you to ask how to win this election. I can do those things on my own."
Mamdani then listed issues that he would happy to speak with the Republican president about in future conversations.
"I will, however, be a mayor who's ready to speak at any time to lower the cost of living," he said. "That's the way that I will lead the city and the partnership I want to build not only with Washington, DC, but anyone across this country. I think it's important because too often the focus on the needs of working-class Americans are put to the side as we talk more and more about the very kinds of corrupt politicians, like Andrew Cuomo, that delivered us into this kind of crisis."
Mamdani: Trump might be watching right now. I want to speak directly to the president. I will not be a mayor like Mayor Adams who will call you to figure out how to stay out of jail or be a disgrace governor like Andrew Cuomo who will call you to ask how to win this election. I… pic.twitter.com/cPaaaTC8XD
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 15, 2025
Elsewhere in the interview, Mamdani directly addressed Cuomo, who is running as an independent and is his top rival in the New York City mayoral election.
"Andrew: You had your chance to lead this state," he said. "You took that time to sell out working-class New Yorkers to your billionaire donors. And instead of actually meeting the needs of people who couldn't afford to live in this city, you gave $959 million in tax breaks to Elon Musk."
Mamdani: "Andrew Cuomo is gonna say a lot of things tomorrow night on the debate stage. And frankly, I wish it was more like Nascar so New Yorkers could see the billionaires that were sponsoring him right on his suit jacket. He watches Fox News as well. So I'll just speak to him… pic.twitter.com/8T3k14lbeW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2025
Mamdani is scheduled to square off against Cuomo and Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa on Thursday night in the penultimate debate ahead of next month's election. Early voting begins October 25.
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Dementia President: Could It Be That Trump Has Truly Lost His Mind?
Given his behavior, it could very well be that the President of the United States is going nuts.
Sep 29, 2025
Over the weekend, on his Truth Social, Trump shared a video purporting to be a segment on Fox News — it wasn’t — in which an AI-generated, deepfaked version of himself sat in the White House and promised that “every American will soon receive their own MedBed card” that will grant them access to new “MedBed hospitals.”
What?
Believers in the “MedBed” conspiracy theory think certain hospital beds are loaded with futuristic technology that can reverse any disease, regenerate limbs, and de-age people. No one has an actual photo of these beds because they don’t exist.
Trump also posted (again, without any basis in fact) that the FBI “secretly placed … 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during” the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, during which they were “probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists.”
Trump added that this “is different from what Director Christopher Wray stated, over and over again!” and went on: “Christopher Wray, the then Director of the FBI, has some major explaining to do. That’s two in a row, Comey and Wray, who got caught LYING.”
In fact, the Department of Justice’s inspector general reported that there were no undercover FBI agents at the January 6 riots. (FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that the few FBI agents present on January 6 were there on “a crowd control mission after the riot was declared.”)
Trump also announced Saturday that he intends to send the U.S. military to Portland, Oregon, authorizing “Full Force, if necessary” to “protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”
Hello? Although protesters have been camping on the sidewalks outside the ICE office for months, the demonstration has dwindled to almost nothing. Of the 29 related arrests, 22 happened on or before July 4, when the protests were at their peak.
What’s been the media’s response to Trump’s bonkers postings and announcements this weekend? Nada. The media either ignored them, mentioned them as part of Trump’s “strategy,” or assumed Trump was just being Trump.
But there’s another explanation.
Trump is showing growing signs of dementia. He’s increasingly unhinged. He’s 79 years old with a family history of dementia. He could well be going nuts.
You might think this would be covered in the news, but he isn’t facing anything like the scrutiny for dementia that Joe Biden did.
Perhaps the most telling evidence of Trump’s growing dementia is his paranoid thirst for revenge, on which he is centering much of his presidency.
The paranoia was becoming evident in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. On November 11, 2023, he pledged to a crowd of supporters in Claremont, New Hampshire, that:
“We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections and will do anything possible — they’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American dream.”
Most media commentators chalked this up to overheated campaign rhetoric.
But since occupying the Oval Office, Trump has demanded that his attorney general target political opponents, urged the head of his FCC to threaten a major network for allowing a late-night comedian to say things Trump disliked, suggested that the government revoke TV licenses of network broadcasters that allow criticism of him, and pulled government security clearances from former officials whom he deems his enemies.
Less than two weeks ago, he demanded that the Justice Department prosecute a handful of named political opponents “now!” — including James Comey, whom Trump fired from his post in 2017 after Comey oversaw the FBI’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election; Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, who indicted Trump; and Adam Schiff, U.S. senator from California, who played an active role in the House hearings on January 6, 2021.
On September 19, Erik Siebert, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (initially selected for the position by Trump) resigned after Trump told reporters “I want him out.” Siebert had concerns about the strength of the evidence against both Comey and James.
The following day, Trump posted a message to his attorney general, Pam Bondi. “Pam,” it began, “Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.’”
He said he was promoting Lindsey Halligan, one of his former personal attorneys, to take Siebert’s place, and fumed: “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
On September 22, three days after Halligan assumed office, she secured a simple, two-count indictment against Comey for allegedly lying to Congress and for allegedly obstructing justice.
“JUSTICE IN AMERICA! One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey,” Trump exalted on social media following the indictment. “He has been so bad for our Country, for so long, and is now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation.”
The Comey indictment was a blip in the weekly news cycle. The media appeared to shrug: Yes, of course Trump is vindictive, so what else is new?
But wait. Are his acts those of a sane person? Or of an aging paranoid megalomaniac?
Even if it’s unclear to which category Trump belongs, shouldn’t this question be central to the coverage of his presidency? At the very least, shouldn’t the media be actively investigating?
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Stop Red-Baiting Zohran Mamdani on Housing
Does Zohran Mamdani represent the second coming of Stalin for New York City? All the red-baiting attacks on him cannot detract from the sensibleness of his call for social housing.
Sep 24, 2025
Since democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary in late June, Fox News has predictably sounded the alarm with heavy doses of red-baiting. For example, politics reporter Alec Schemnel reported on the network’s digital news site in early July the discovery of evidence that claims of Mamdani being a communist “may not be as unfounded as Mamdani claims.” Schemmel wrote that Mamdani was “garnering backlash for previous comments he has made espousing language steeped in radical socialist and communist ideology.”
Schemmel related to readers his titillating discoveries about Mamdani’s communist beliefs: a 2021 video of Mamdani calling for leftists to be uncompromising in pursuit of “seizing the means of production;” a 2020 social media post where Mamdani called for seizing private luxury housing as residences for the homeless during the Covid-19 pandemic; a 2021 speech before The Gravel Institute where Mamdani called for luxury housing to be converted into “communal style living.”
It is on the subject of housing policy where Schemmel concentrated nearly all his effort to prove Mamdani’s commitment to “radical socialist and communist ideology.” He summarized Mamdani’s housing policy as an effort to move “toward the full de-commodification of housing,” a future where housing access is not conditioned by ability to pay but where the government guarantees “high quality housing to all as a human right.”
Mamdani made the above quotations in his capacity as a private left-wing activist; Schemmel was relatively reticent in relating the actual housing policy proposals Mamdani has advanced in his quest to become New York City’s chief executive. Schemmel’s reticence to inform his readers about those proposals is understandable because doing so would complicate his efforts to portray Mamdani as the second coming of Stalin.
There is a very high risk that if Mamdani wins the mayorship, not only will Trump’s thugs try to sabotage his program but business leaders and rich investors will engage in capital flight, withdrawing their money from the city, destroying its credit rating and tax base.
For example, nowhere in his housing policy platform has Mamdani, contrary to Schemmel’s implication, called for “the full de-commodification of housing.” He has called for increased government spending on existing public housing stock, affordable housing, and social housing (a form of public housing) to exist alongside the private housing market. He has called for these policies because rents have skyrocketed in NYC—the Wall Street Journal reported in June that the average monthly rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in the city was $5,280.
Schemmel noted that Mamdani has stated his personal inspiration in the possibilities for social housing—and has specifically cited the model of government-backed social housing in Vienna, Austria as a proper example for a similar program in New York City. The Vienna social housing model has clearly been a success in providing safe, affordable housing with modern amenities for a significant portion of Vienna’s non-wealthy population. Schemmel seemed to subtly admit the success of the Vienna model for he did not try to argue that it had been unsuccessful. Instead, he only briefly referenced it, quoting Mamdani as having “conceded” that residents of such housing in Vienna “still pay part of their earnings in rent to cover operational costs and a sizable chunk of the [Vienna] population lives in private housing.”
In reality, nowhere has Mamdani or his co-thinkers denied that renters in Vienna’s social housing still pay a portion of their income in rent for that housing—or denied that such housing exists alongside a substantial private housing market. The point is that the rent for social housing is significantly lower than in Vienna’s private housing market and provides a significant percentage of the city’s working- and middle-class residents access to high quality housing.
Nearly half of Vienna’s housing is social housing: Half of that total is directly operated by the city government and the rest run by government regulated limited profit corporations. The successful social housing program is perhaps part of the reason why Vienna was named the world’s most livable city for the third consecutive year in 2024 by The Economist. The housing is often constructed in ways allowing residents easy walking access for such amenities as food, healthcare, and education. According to Vienna’s mayor, this massively government-subsidized housing program exists alongside a dynamic capitalist economy: Vienna, with its services and manufacturing industries, represents 25% of Austria’s overall Gross Domestic Product.
For another successful example of social housing—one that has provided affordable and safe housing to a modest but tangible number of working- and middle-class people—one does not have to go outside the United States. Alec Schemmel—like perhaps most Americans and even many New Yorkers—is probably not aware that New York State already has a successful social housing program, created—when American anti-communism was at its highest crest—by the Mitchell-Lama Act of the New York State legislature in 1955. The Mitchell-Lama Act is one of the main subjects of a book—Homes for Living: The Fight for Social Housing and a New American Commons—published earlier this year by Jonathan Tarleton, an urban planner and designer in addition to being a writer.
Tarleton notes how Mitchell-Lama, in the decades after its passage, “funded the construction of 140,000 apartments across 270 developments in New York City (and more across the state). Roughly half of those homes in the city take the form of what’s known as a limited equity co-op.” Limited equity co-ops under Mitchell-Lama receive substantial governmental subsidies. After buying a “share” in a co-op apartment, residents pay a monthly fee that covers the building’s mortgage, maintenance fees, and other costs, paying a monthly rate that is substantially below the average apartment rents in NYC.
Mamdani’s Prospects
There is a very high risk that if Mamdani wins the mayorship, not only will Trump’s thugs try to sabotage his program but business leaders and rich investors will engage in capital flight, withdrawing their money from the city, destroying its credit rating and tax base. This would severely limit Mamdani’s ability to fund his proposed welfare state expansion with regard to housing, transportation, government-run grocery stores, and other areas. New York’s business-friendly Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is also legally empowered to veto Mamdani’s fiscal proposals. She has publicly endorsed Mamdani for mayor but likely had major reservations in doing so as she has previously vigorously denounced Mamdani’s proposals for tax increases and government borrowing.
There is immense pressure on Mamdani to heavily dilute his program. Social movements rooted in ordinary people will have to keep up constant pressure on him to keep his campaign promises.
Correction: A previous version of this article referred to Jonathan Tarleton as the editor of the radical left NYC newspaper The Indypendent. He is not, and the article has been edited to reflect this.
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'Just Kill Em': Fox News Host Endorses Giving Homeless People 'Involuntary Lethal Injection'
"Universal healthcare, housing, and anti-poverty programs are considered more 'radical' on Fox News than mass murder," said one healthcare advocate.
Sep 14, 2025
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade is facing calls to resign after suggesting earlier this week that the state should execute homeless people who decline help during a live broadcast.
Kilmeade made the comments during a Wednesday episode of Fox & Friends, during which the panel discussed the recent shocking video of the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska aboard a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, by a mentally ill homeless man, which has ignited a flurry of often racist vitriol on the right toward Black Americans and homeless people.
Another of the hosts, Lawrence Jones, claimed that the government has "given billions of dollars to mental health, to the homeless population," but that "a lot of them don't want to take the programs, a lot of them don't want to get the help that is necessary."
Jones continued: "You can't give them a choice. Either you take the resources that we're going to give you, or you decide that you're going to be locked up in jail. That's the way it has to be now."
Kilmeade then interjected with his suggestion that instead of jail, they should be given "involuntary lethal injection, or something. Just kill 'em."
As one X user noted, Jones and co-host Ainsley Earhardt, "[didn't] even blink an eye" in response to this call for mass murder.
While the claim that homeless people often "refuse" abundant services is a common talking point, it is not borne out by data. According to a report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness in 2023, more than three-fourths of direct service providers reported that they were forced to turn away homeless people due to staffing shortages.
But even in cases where homeless people are offered services—such as temporary shelter beds—and decline them, they often do so not because they prefer to be on the street but because shelters are often overcrowded and poorly maintained, or have restrictive rules that require them to separate from their families, pets, and belongings.
When homeless people are offered permanent shelter, they are comparatively much more likely to accept it. According to one 2020 study from UC San Francisco, 86% of "high-risk" chronically homeless people given access to permanent supportive housing were successfully housed and remained in their housing for several years, a much higher rate than those given temporary solutions.
But as Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, wrote on X, "Universal healthcare, housing, and anti-poverty programs are considered more 'radical' on Fox News than mass murder."
Kilmeade's calls to execute the homeless were met with horror and disgust from advocates. Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, called for Kilmeade to resign.
“It is dangerous. It shows a lack of human compassion and it is really the worst possible time for that kind of language to be expressed,” Whitehead told the Irish Star.
Jesse Rabinowitz, communications and campaign manager with the National Homelessness Law Center in Washington, DC, noted in The Independent that Kilmeade's comments come as the Trump administration "is proposing government-run detention camps and massive psychiatric asylums" to house the homeless.
In August, the president launched a crackdown against homeless encampments in DC that advocates say has left hundreds of people with nowhere to go and dependent on overwhelmed city services. Meanwhile, his administration and recent Republican legislation have introduced massive cuts to housing funding for homeless people across the United States.
“America’s homeless population includes over a million children and tens of thousands of veterans, many of whom served in Iraq or Afghanistan,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). “Nobody deserves to be murdered by the government for mental illness or poverty. These Fox hosts are calling for mass murder—it’s sick.”
Kilmeade apologized for his comment on Sunday, describing it as an "extremely callous remark.” There is no indication from Fox News that Kilmeade will be subject to any disciplinary action over his remarks, which critics found noteworthy given the punishments other figures in mainstream media have faced for saying far less.
Photojournalist Zach D. Roberts pointed out that earlier this week, MSNBC fired contributor Matthew Dowd for criticizing the "hateful" and "divisive" rhetoric of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk shortly after he'd been assassinated.
"On MSNBC, a contributor got fired for lightly criticizing Charlie Kirk," Roberts said. "Meanwhile, on Fox News, Brian Kilmeade calls for the murder of homeless people for being homeless. Nothing has happened to him. I don't know if there can be a more obvious divide in politics."
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FBI Names 22-Year-Old Tyler Robinson as Charlie Kirk Murder Suspect
Law enforcement sources subsequently told CNN that "the suspect in the murder of Charlie Kirk confessed to his father that he was the shooter."
Sep 12, 2025
This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced on Friday that 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson had been arrested as the suspect in the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Cox said that Robinson was apprehended after being turned in by his family after he allegedly confessed to murdering Kirk on Wednesday.
The Utah governor also elaborated on some of the engravings that were found on bullet casings that were found on the scene. One of the messages, claimed Cox, said, "Hey fascist! Catch!" while another had the words: "If you read this you are gay lmao."
US President Donald Trump was the first to assert Friday morning that law enforcement officials have apprehended a suspect in the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
During an appearance on "Fox & Friends," the president said that he believed "with a high degree of certainty" that law enforcement had the suspect in custody.
"I just heard about it five minutes before I walked in, as I'm walking in, they said, 'Looking real good,' they have the person they wanted," he said. "So you have breaking news, don't you?"
Trump: "I just heard about it five minutes before I walked in ... they have the person that they wanted. So you have breaking news, don't you eh? You always have breaking news, Ainsley. Sean's gonna be very disappointed that we're not doing it on his show." pic.twitter.com/0mBjZk0sNR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 12, 2025
Trump also said that a person who knew the suspect provided information on him to law enforcement officials that led to his arrest, although he offered no details. He said that the FBI would likely make an announcement on the suspect later on Friday.
Shortly after Trump made this announcement, law enforcement sources gave CNN some additional details that seemingly corroborated Trump's claims about having a suspect in custody.
"The suspect in the murder of Charlie Kirk confessed to his father that he was the shooter," wrote CNN's Kristen Holmes in a social media post. "His father told authorities and secured his son until they could arrive to pick him up."
While much remains unclear, several outlets—including NBC News, The Daily Beast, New York Post, and others—identified the individual in custody as a 22-year-old with the name Tyler Robinson. Many of the other details surrounding the individual's arrest could not be independently verified by Common Dreams.
In the hours after Kirk's assassination, law enforcement officials took two people into custody, only for those people to be released shortly after officials determined they had nothing to do with the killing.
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'Unfit and Unqualified': Senate GOP Confirm Pro-Trump 'Attack Dog' Jeanine Pirro as US Attorney
"By confirming Pirro," said one critic, "Senate Republicans made one thing clear: they care more about pleasing Donald Trump than honoring their constitutional duty to advise and consent on presidential nominations."
Aug 03, 2025
The far-right former Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Saturday night in a strictly party-line vote to become the next U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, a position progressive critics and Democratic opponents warn she is deeply unqualified to hold.
Pirro, who has been serving as the acting U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. since May, has a long history of spewing far-right conspiracy theories on air and throwing facts to the wind when it comes to lining up behind President Donald Trump. Pirro was a prominent figure when Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox News for defamation over the outlet's coverage of the 2020 election and she was a vocal proponent of Trump's "Big Lie" that the voting was rigged against him.
Christina Harvey, executive director of the pro-democracy group Stand Up America, condemned Pirro's confirmation.
"Republicans have handed the keys to our nation's capital to a Trump loyalist with zero credibility and a track record of unhinged extremism," warned Harvey. "Keanine Pirro isn't a serious prosecutor—she's a partisan attack dog who's made a name for herself by promoting conspiracy theories and threatening to criminally investigate January 6 prosecutors in the office she was just confirmed to oversee. A Fox News producer once called her a 'reckless maniac.'"
"By confirming Pirro," added Harvey, "Senate Republicans made one thing clear: they care more about pleasing Donald Trump than honoring their constitutional duty to advise and consent on presidential nominations. Qualifications, independence, integrity—none of it matters. Just blind loyalty."
The vote in the Senate was 50-45, with every Republican voting for Pirro and every member of the Democratic caucus voting against. Five senators did not cast a vote.
Congressional Democrats voiced their contempt for Pirro both leading up to the vote and following it.
"Pirro should never be a permanent U.S. Attorney," declared Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, just after the vote was finalized. "She endorsed the firing of January 6 prosecutors. She recklessly spread the Big Lie to the point her *own producers* had to tell her to cool it. Ultimately, she’s a rubber stamp for Donald Trump."
Ahead of the vote, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) explained his opposition to her confirmation, saying Pirro was "deeply unfit and unqualified" and describing her as "a loyal acolyte and sycophant" of Trump.
"She is not objective, she is not independent," said Blumenthal. "Instead she has made her mark spreading damaging, offensive conspiracy theories."
Jeanine Pirro is deeply unqualified & unfit to be the United States Attorney for DC. She is simply a loyal acolyte & sycophant of the President. She is not objective, she is not independent. Instead she has made her mark spreading damaging, offensive conspiracy theories. pic.twitter.com/H8cmQ6ZzvD
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) August 2, 2025
Last week, Rep. Jeremy Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Senate leadership urging against Pirro's confirmation, calling her a threat to the government's independent judiciary and unfit to run the U.S. Attorney's office in D.C., the largest of its kind in the nation.
"Over the past decade, Ms. Pirro has consistently demonstrated that her loyalty lies with Donald Trump the person, not with the Constitution or the rule of law," said Raskin in a letter addressed to Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
"Her blind loyalty to Donald Trump at the exclusion of other principles, her embarrassing support of the 'big lie' that the 2020 election was rigged in the face of all evidence to the contrary and 60 federal and state court decisions rejecting such claims, her unswerving defense of convicted January 6th rioters, and her incendiary rhetoric that urges President Trump to seek retribution against his alleged enemies," continued Raskin, "all make it clear that she lacks the intellectual honesty, personal principles, temperament, integrity, and fundamental constitutional fidelity required to lead this important office."
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Musk Berated for 'Absurd' Social Security Fraud Lies
"Elon and his all-male team lie about Social Security like other people chew gum," said one former head of the agency.
Mar 28, 2025
Elon Musk, the de facto head of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, was berated anew Friday after insidiously tarring millions of Social Security recipients as "fraudsters"—a tactic critics called part of an orchestrated Republican scheme to destroy the vital earned benefits program.
Musk and seven DOGE staffers—all of them men—appeared on Fox News Thursday, where the world's richest person called the Trump administration's crusade to eviscerate the federal government under pretext of improving efficiency "the biggest revolution in the government since the original revolution" in 1776.
The DOGE staffers repeated unfounded claims that Social Security is riddled with fraud; that in some cases, 40% of calls to the Social Security Administration phone center are fraudulent; and that millions of people aged 120 and older are registered with SSA.
Acknowledging that DOGE's wrecking-ball approach to government reform is getting "a lot of complaints along the way," Musk said: "You know who complains the loudest, and with the most amount of fake righteous indignation? The fraudsters."
Musk's comments echoed those of billionaire U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who suggested on a podcast last week that only a "fraudster" would complain about a missed Social Security check.
Responding to what she called Musk's "absurd claim," Nancy Altman, president of the advocacy group Social Security Works (SSW), said Friday that "the truth is that Social Security has a fraud rate of 0.00625%, far lower than private sector retirement programs."
"It is Musk and DOGE who are inviting in fraudsters," she continued. "Scammers are already rushing in to take advantage of the confusion created by DOGE's service cuts."
Critics have denounced the Trump administration for sowing chaos at SSA and other federal agencies by planning to lay off thousands of workers, slashc spending, and implement other disruptive policies. Cuts in SSA phone services were reportedly carried out in response to a direct request from the White House, which claimed it is simply working to eliminate "waste, fraud, and abuse."
"The truth is that Social Security has a fraud rate of 0.00625%, far lower than private sector retirement programs."
This "DOGE-manufactured chaos," as Altman calls it, has already led to the SSA website crashing several times in recent weeks and hold times of as long as 4-5 hours for those calling the agency.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) on Thursday noted that while it would be clearly illegal for President Donald Trump and DOGE to cut Social Security benefits without congressional authorization, there are other ways for the administration to hamstring the agency.
Referencing a new in-person verification rule that was delayed and partly rolled back this week, Warren said:
Say a 66-year-old man qualifies for Social Security. Say he calls the helpline to apply, but he's told about a new DOGE rule, so he has to go online or in person. He can't drive. He has trouble with the website, so he waits until his niece can get a day off to take him to the local office, but DOGE closed that office, so they have to drive two hours to get to the next closest office. When they get there, there are only two people staffing a 50-person line, so he doesn't even make it to the front of the line before the office closes and he has to come back. Let's assume it takes him three months to straighten this out, and he misses a total of $5,000 in benefits checks, which, by law, he will never get back.
"This scenario is a backdoor way Musk and Trump could cut Social Security," the senator added. "That's what I'm fighting to prevent."
Democratic lawmakers and others argue that the Trump administration's approach is "a prelude to privatizing Social Security and handing it over to private equity," as Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said earlier this week.
"Improving Social Security doesn't start with shuttering the offices that handle modernization, anti-fraud activities, and civil rights violations," the senator asserted. "It doesn't start with indiscriminately firing or buying out thousands of workers, and it doesn't start with restricting customer service over the phone and drawing up plans to close field and regional offices."
These and other moves, including the nomination of financial services executive Frank Bisignano as SSA commissioner, belie Trump's claim that he is "not touching" Social Security, upon which 70 million Americans—including nearly 9 in 10 people aged 65 or older—rely for their earned benefits.
So do Trump and Musk's own words. The president has called Social Security a "scam" and Musk recently referred to it as "the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time."
"No one who thinks Social Security is a criminal Ponzi scheme should be anywhere near our earned Social Security benefits or the sensitive data we provide the Social Security Administration," said SSW's Altman.
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Lutnick Urging Fox Viewers to Buy Tesla Stock Decried as 'Abuse of Power for Personal and Family Gain'
One critic noted that the billionaire commerce secretary "conveniently forgot to mention his family business empire holds nearly $840 million in the company" led by government-gutting Elon Musk.
Mar 20, 2025
"Buy Tesla. It's unbelievable that this guy's stock is this cheap. It'll never be this cheap again... Who wouldn't invest in Elon Musk?"
That's what U.S. President Donald Trump's billionaire commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, told viewers of Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime" on Wednesday—comments that watchdog groups swiftly condemned as unethical and illegal.
In addition to serving as CEO of companies including electric vehicle maker Tesla, Musk heads Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, which is leading the administration's sweeping attack on the federal bureaucracy. Musk is also the richest person on Earth, with an estimated net worth of $310-327.5 billion, some of which he put toward electing the Republican president
Earlier this month, Trump hosted a Tesla car show at the White House. His and Lutnick's stunts come as the company faces protests over Musk's work for the administration. Axios reported that "Tesla shares were down about 1.7% in premarket trading Thursday to $231.75. The stock is down 5% in the last five days, 35% in the last month, and 42% so far this year."
The commerce secretary not only urged Fox's audience to invest in Tesla, he also heaped praise on Musk, calling him "probably the best entrepreneur, the best technologist, the best leader of any set of companies in America."
Responding to Lutnick's remarks in a Thursday statement, Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel, and senior director for ethics at Campaign Legal Center, said that "the president's Cabinet members take an oath to serve the American people, and with that oath comes the ability and privilege to exercise a vast amount of power."
"Such power is intended to promote the public interest," Payne continued, stressing that officials like the commerce leader are "legally barred" from promoting their personal business interests. "Secretary Lutnick's actions violate the ethics rules that were enacted to hold public officials accountable to the American people. His statement is part of a pattern of behavior showing that Trump's indifference to ethics is trickling down to his most senior officials."
"The American people deserve a government that prioritizes public good," he added. "Most people will conclude that promoting a stock is not tied to any public good and ethics laws agree. The Office of Government Ethics and Commerce ethics officials should hold Lutnick accountable and reassure the public that their officials will face consequences if they use their public office to enrich themselves or their allies."
Tony Carrk, executive director of the watchdog Accountable.US, not only criticized Lutnick's remarks but also highlighted how the Cabinet member could benefit from them, declaring that "this is what abuse of power for personal and family gain looks like."
"When the billionaire commerce secretary used the Trump administration bully pulpit to try to rocket Tesla stock value, he conveniently forgot to mention his family business empire holds nearly $840 million in the company," Carrk explained. "While Secretary Lutnick is busy making TV appearances in a government capacity to potentially enrich his family business and his close ally Elon Musk, the rollercoaster Trump tariff policies he helped orchestrate are doing little to lower costs for working people—in fact quite the opposite."
Asked about Lutnick's comments on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "I think the commerce secretary was reiterating that the president supports an American-made company like Tesla, who produces a very good product for the American people, which was beloved by the American people, particularly Democrats, until Elon Musk decided to vote for Donald Trump."
"And now we have seen despicable and unacceptable violence taking place across our country at Telsa dealerships, against workers, employees, and also innocent Americans who drive these vehicles," she added. "It's actually a scary time in our country because of this political violence from the left, and the White House and the president's entire administration condemn it wholeheartedly."
As outrage over the Trump administration's promotion of Musk's company mounted on Thursday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
recalled more than 46,000 of Tesla's Cybertrucks—or nearly all of them on U.S. roads—due to concerns about an exterior panel that can detach while driving, creating safety problems.
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