William Vaillancourt

Fox NewsIn 2018, when NBA stars LeBron James and Kevin Durant criticized then-President Donald Trump, Fox News host Laura Ingraham complained that they should just “shut up and dribble” rather than weigh in on political matters.Six years later, Ingraham didn’t have a problem with Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker giving a commencement speech at Benedictine College ranting against President Joe Biden, Pride Month, the “COVID fiasco,” the pro-choice crowd, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, the “tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and the “growing support for degenerate cultural values and media.”Butker, whose mother is an accomplished physicist, also encouraged the women graduates—who had just earned their degrees—to embrace their roles as homemakers and wives.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Fox NewsIt didn’t take long at all for some of Fox News’ most-watched hosts to frame next month’s debate between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, which was announced Wednesday morning, as unfair to the presumptive GOP nominee.On The Ingraham Angle, Jesse Watters Primetime and Hannity, each host made a point to depict the moderators of the CNN debate, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, in a negative light.Laura Ingraham began by claiming the Biden campaign was in need of a “game changer,” and they “hope they will get it with the help of” Tapper and Bash, two hard news anchors whose approach to broadcasting differs entirely from the Fox News model.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Fox NewsDonald Trump—who dozed off on the first day of his criminal hush-money trial in New York last month and has since been closing his eyes often for extended periods of time during the proceedings—is actually not sleeping, but “meditating,” Fox News host Jesse Watters tried to argue Wednesday.In the latest instance of Watters defending the indicted former president, the co-host of The Five told his colleagues that Trump doesn’t really care about coming off as tired—even though his team lashed out at reports they claimed were false on the trial’s first day.“He’s meditating. He’s in a meditative state,” Watters insisted. “When you’re defensive about something, you avoid something. Trump’s not defensive of being old and tired. He can shut his eyes and not feel bad about it like Sleepy Joe.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

MSNBCMSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell took a subtle shot at Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) while describing his experience Monday attending Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial, wryly commenting that the former president’s ally was “taking it all in as best he can, whatever sense he can make of it.”Monday’s proceedings saw Tuberville and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) follow in the footsteps of Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton by making themselves seen at the first criminal trial of a former president. O’Donnell, outside the courtroom during a midafternoon break, recalled the lawmakers’ time there.The pair sat a few rows in front of him, O’Donnell said, in the “vice presidential nominee audition bench” behind the “Eric Trump bench.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Fox NewsFox News host Laura Ingraham didn’t seem to appreciate how CNN reported on Stormy Daniels’ testimony Thursday in Donald Trump’s criminal trial—especially an instance in which she revealed that a past tweet of hers describing an “orange turd” was, in fact, a reference to the indicted former president.A week after taking umbrage at the rival network’s discussion of Michael Cohen calling his former boss “Von ShitzInPants,” and how that crass nickname had come up during the hush-money trial, Ingraham had a similar reaction during her opening monologue.Calling the press “Biden boosters,” Ingraham claimed CNN commentators were “trying to rehabilitate” Daniels in order to help the prosecution’s case.Read more at The Daily Beast.

NewsmaxRepublican National Committee Co-chair Lara Trump made the head-spinning claim Thursday that it’s “obvious” her father-in-law does accept election results, despite his persistent false claims about fraud in the 2020 presidential election.On Newsmax, the former president’s daughter-in-law was asked about Democratic leaders like President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, and former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton each warning that the most recent Republican president may not respect the outcome of the vote. Trump dismissed those concerns.“It’s pretty obvious that Donald Trump does accept election results, even despite the fact that it was a very questionable election in 2020, because Joe Biden is unfortunately sitting in the Oval Office today,” she argued.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty ImagesIf Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) began the month of May trying to set a new standard for tasteless tweets from a sitting member of Congress, he’s off to a great start, thanks in part to a post Wednesday alluding to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and Robert F. Kennedy five years later.Last week, the congressman dished out—and later walked back—praise for mostly white Ole Miss students who jeered at a lone Black pro-Palestine protester. Despite how one such student, who has since been expelled from his fraternity, was clearly seen making primate noises and mannerisms at the protester, Collins wrote, “Ole Miss taking care of business.”On Wednesday, Collins felt compelled to weigh in on how independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was told by a doctor that he had a dead parasite in his brain, The New York Times reported, citing Kennedy’s comments during a 2012 deposition that was part of his divorce proceedings.Read more at The Daily Beast.

NewsmaxSouth Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem still isn’t done lashing out at members of the press regarding the fallout from her story about shooting and killing her 14-month old puppy, this time complaining about a “hit job” interview on Newsmax after a host said he doubted whether Noem is still on Donald Trump’s VP shortlist.The controversial elements of Noem’s memoir, including a story—which she refuses to say is true or not and has since been removed from the book—of her meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, are widely seen as having buried her chances of being the former president’s running mate. A Trumpworld source told The Daily Beast late last month that the likelihood of a Trump-Noem ticket was “less than zero now.” After Wake Up America co-host Rob Finnerty mentioned this reality to Noem, their exchange grew tense—unlike Noem’s prior Newsmax interview on Monday night.“Governor, if you had asked me a month ago who’s at the top of the list to run with Donald Trump, I would have said your name. If you had asked me that same question this morning, I don’t even think you’re on the list.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

NewsmaxNewsmax host Eric Bolling on Monday wondered whether the controversy over Kristi Noem’s admission in her forthcoming memoir that she shot and killed her 14-month-old puppy in a gravel pit was somehow the work of a rogue, “liberal plant” in the book’s publishing house.Bolling prefaced his interview by framing the story as “the liberal media folks” having “a field day over trying to take down a potential Trump vice presidential pick,” even though Noem’s actions have spurred bipartisan criticism.Bolling then essentially told Noem how she was right to complain about her recent interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, having written on X shortly afterwards that the anchor, Margaret Brennan, kept “interrupt[ing]” her. (Noem’s evasive replies often prompted Brennan to try to get an answer out of her, including whether she actually met North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, as she had claimed in the book.)Read more at The Daily Beast.

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty ImagesWhite House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre weighed in Monday on South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s apparent suggestion that President Joe Biden’s dog should be put down by saying the admitted puppy killer is only making things worse for herself.“We find her comments from yesterday disturbing. We find them absurd,” Jean-Pierre told reporters during a briefing. “And we are a country that loves dogs, and you have a leader talking about putting dogs down—killing them—and that’s a disturbing statement to say.”“[What] I would say to her is she should probably stop digging herself in a hole,” Jean-Pierre added.Read more at The Daily Beast.