By David Lieberman: Winners include Smartmatic, Dominion’s PR agency and the private equity company that owns Dominion. Losers include Paul Ryan (find out why).
Publication: A Righting Original
Right Wing Media Cheer Trump’s Call to Defund the FBI and DOJ
By Kevin Howley: There’s nothing new about Republican calls to defund the DOJ and FBI. It’s a well-worn trope in MAGA country – part of a broader linguistic strategy that appropriates words like “defund” and “woke” used by activists and academics to capture forthright criticism of a fundamentally flawed criminal justice system predicated on white nationalism.
The Ballad of the Tennessee Three: Right Wing Media Edition
By Kevin Howley: Mainstream media coverage of the expulsion of two of the three Tennessee lawmakers, both young African-American men, is largely sympathetic. Predictably, right wing lawmakers (sic) and their media enablers have a noxious, NRA-worthy perspective teeming with false equivalence and racial animus.
Major Theater Chain May Stay in Right Wing Camp Following Executive Shuffle
By David Lieberman: Cinemark’s Trump-supporting chairman has resigned, but don’t expect the major exhibition company to change its political direction. Also: our Right Wing Biz Watch columnist looks at the problems at Truth Social and Rumble’s prospects for next year.
Right Wing Media Cheer as DeSantis Destroys Education in Florida
By Jaden Satenstein: According to right-wing media, American education is a liberal brainwashing machine, and DeSantis is the hero coming to rescue our kids.
The NHL’s Anti-Pride Backlash Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
By Michael Lovito: Widespread acceptance of Pride events among NHL players is a signal that things are slowly changing. (Image: Pixabay)
Famed Liberal Susan Estrich Is Glad Newsmax Publishes Her Column
By Jaden Satenstein: High-profile lawyer, writer and Democratic campaign manager Susan Estrich didn’t know that the popular right-wing news outlet Newsmax was publishing her syndicated column. Then she started getting email from readers calling her a “stupid liberal.”
Transgender Activist Challenges “Baseless Attacks” from Right Wing Pundits and Pols
By Denise Brogan-Kator: I believe it is especially important at this time in our struggle to be part of the American story to counter the negative and destructive narrative that some legislators and far right commentators have been spinning out these past several months.
Right Wing Biz Roundup
For the debut edition of our ongoing feature, columnist David Lieberman looks at radio giant iHeart Media’s controversial choice of election denier Tudor Dixon as its latest talk show talent. Lieberman also unpacks Truth Social’s rocky finances and the big paydays for Salem executives while shareholder value tanked.
Trump’s Truth Social Has Barely Grown in a Year of Operation
By Howard Polskin: Truth Social appears stuck in rut bigger than a Trump International sand trap. Since launching a little more than a year ago, the conservative-friendly social media platform has barely grown its audience, according to our exclusive research based on Comscore data.
Woke: It’s Just Not for Breakfast!
By Kevin Howley: Like any serviceable wingnut conspiracy, the antiwoke crusade neatly accounts for recent calamities, while presciently anticipating every eventuality. (Image: Pixabay)
Is the Murdoch, Carlson, DeSantis Three-Way Over?
By J. Max Robins: Rupert Murdoch has a history of dictatorially jettisoning his most potent Fox News stars when they become liabilities. That’s what happened with Glenn Beck when he sailed off the reality rails with his rallies and proto-QAnon conspiracy mongering. Likewise, Bill O’Reilly, when he got caught up in multiple sex scandals. (Image: Flickr)
Meet the Online Right’s Most Offensive Cartoonist
By Michael Lovito: Vibrant in illustration but crude in content, what cartoonist George Alexopoulos describes as his “current events strips” take aim at the abortion rights movement, the LGBTQ community, vaccine mandates, and even progressive trends in the comics industry with a vicious, spiteful tone that aims to provoke.
Ron Desantis and the Perils of “Anti-Woke” Populism
By Kevin Howley: His brand of extremism is genuinely disturbing. The Florida governor has made no secret of his capacity for crass opportunism, press intimidation, and political payback. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Is Right Wing Podcaster Michael Knowles Eyeing a Future in Politics?
By David Andrew Stoler: Thirty-three-year-old Michael Knowles is going to play the role as written, and right now the Right demands outrage from its podcast hosts. Knowles is so good at it, one can’t help but wonder if he’s got his eyes on a bigger prize: that of public office. (Image: Flickr)
Right Wing Media Coverage of Lighfoot Loss Follows Pattern of Racist, Sexist Attacks
By Jaden Satenstein: Since losing her reelection campaign last month, Chicago’s mayor has been a target of right wing media looking to tear down a Black gay woman. Powerful Black women like Lori Lightfoot represent a direct threat to the systemic and structural forms of racism that right wing media uphold, and scorn is the only way they know to strike back. (Image: Flickr)
Salem’s Soft Financial Results May Signal Money Problems for Right Wing Media
By David Lieberman: Salem shares fell more than 22 percent March 10 after it warned that revenues in the current quarter could decline from the same period in 2022. Despite its relatively small size, the publicly traded company offers one of the clearest insights into the financial health of right-wing media.
Kat Abu Hate-Watches Tucker Carlson for a Living (But Still Loves Her Job)
By J. Max Robins: Want a weekly sampling of vintage Tucker Carlson nationalist whines, without having to hate-watch his Fox News gabfest? Then let 23-year-old Kat Abughazaleh be your ultra-right-media sommelier.
MTG’s Call for a National Divorce Reverberates in Right Wing Media
By Kevin Howley: Of all her stunts, provocations and protestations, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Presidents’ Day call for a national divorce is the most insidious.
The Hungarian Conservative Is the European Journal Right Wing Americans Love
By Michael Lovito: Despite its title, the Hungarian Conservative is an exclusively English-language journal and doesn’t limit its pool of contributors to Hungarians. Recently published authors include The American Conservative’s Rod Dreher. Former Margaret Thatcher speechwriter John O’Sullivan is one of the journal’s editors-at-large.
Tucker Carlson Feared Newsmax for Good Reason
By Howard Polskin: In the 11-month period following the contentious 2020 presidential election, traffic to Foxnews.com cratered, while the audience to Newsmax grew dramatically. It was the realization of the fear that Tucker Carlson had expressed to his producer.
Conservative Commentator Megyn Kelly Is Out for Revenge
By David Andrew Stoler: The former Fox News and NBC News anchor is, above all, a preeminent “media personality” who knows her audience, and the fact that she was booted for her racist views dovetails nicely with the current Republican focus on the culture wars.
Right Wing Media Celebrate Tucker Carlson’s J6 Footage Exclusive
By Kevin Howley: Last month, Tucker Carlson dismissed the House Select Committee’s findings and downplayed the significance of the J6 insurrection, describing it as “a forgettably minor outbreak…” Carlson’s gift for understatement tells you all you need to know about what his “investigation” will uncover.