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TOP OF THE DAY by Howard Polskin

Feb. 17, 2026

Greetings! In the wake of  the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s death yesterday, Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post, heaped praise on the longtime civil rights leader. Trump noted he provided office space at a Wall Street Trump building for Jackson and his Rainbow Coalition.  Naturally, the MAGA-in-Chief used his tribute for self-aggrandizement and to take a dig at  “Barack Hussein Obama, a man who Jackson could not stand…Bondi bashing from the right: Plenty of pundits had harsh words for AG Pam Bondi’s unhinged Congressional testimony last week in response to questions about the Jeffrey Epstein files.  The right rogues gaggle includes Infowars’ Alex Jones, popular podcaster Megyn Kelly, online influencer Tim Pool, The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, Newsmax’s Greg Kelly and vile America First podcast host Nick Fuentes.  Media Matters has even more names…Crazy contrast: The American Spectator applauds Bondi’s performance and suggests she could be on the 2028 GOP presidential ticket. Cue the gagging….After watching the “CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil” for five straight days, I was prepared  to say nice things about the newly installed anchor for headlining a newscast that finally featured objective reporting and newsworthy story selection after a rocky start. However, last Friday CBS announced that the newbie “Evening News” anchor will moderate the network’s “Things That Matter” town hall March 14 with JD Vance. I withhold judgement until after I see that prime-time program. Dokoupil was widely criticized last month for softball interviews with MAGA kingpins like Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth…If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard