Fox News host Sean Hannity decried what he called “the state-run legacy media mob” while hosting his show in front of dozens of Republican lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol.
With President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, the GOP controls the White House and both houses of Congress. Conservatives also hold a 6-3 supermajority on the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, it was reported
that Hannity would visit the Oval Office to interview his friend Trump. Hours later, the host went to the Capitol to do his show in front of a live audience of Republican members of Congress.
Hannity took issue with a sermon delivered at the National Prayer Service, which Trump attended earlier in the day. The bishop pleaded
with the president to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now” thanks to the president’s stated policies.
“In every corner of Washington, D.C., that is what Republicans are up against,” Hannity said. “And that is especially true for the state-run legacy media mob that I argued died on November the 5th. They have learned no lessons from the 2024 election. They’re still droning on and on about the end of the world as we know it.”
He then played two clips from MSNBC’s inauguration coverage in which Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow criticized Trump.
After the clips ended, Hannity again referred to “the state-run legacy media mob” – this time to bash pundits who criticized Elon Musk for making a salute
not unlike those performed by the baddies in films about World War II.
Hannity has frequently referred to MSNBC and other liberal-leaning networks as “state-run,” but with President Joe Biden’s departure from office and full GOP control of the government, it doesn’t quite work as a dunk anymore.
In 2022, it was revealed that Hannity had been coordinating with the Trump White House between Election Day 2020 and the end of Trump’s first term. The Fox News host repeatedly texted
with Mark Meadows, Trump’s then-chief of staff. On the day of the election, for example, they had this exchange:
HANNITY: Hey… NC gonna be ok?
MEADOWS: Stress every vote matters. Get out and vote… On radio
HANNITY: Yes sir… On it. Any place in particular we need a push
A critical moment prompted a high school basketball
player in Oklahoma to put aside competition. When Randy Vitales, 16, went into cardiac arrest in the opening minutes of a basketball game Jan. 9, Magnus Miller rushed to his aid.
According to Oklahoma City news station KOCO-5, Dover High School was competing against Life Christian Academy in Orlando, Oklahoma, when Vitales collapsed about three minutes into the game. Dover coaches determined Vitales did not have a pulse, according to King Fisher Press.
Miller reportedly had undergone lifeguard training and used an automated external defibrillator to help Vitales. The high school student also took the lead in performing CPR.
The Guthrie Fire Department
credited Miller for his actions, telling KOCO-5 the student-athlete “without a shadow of a doubt” saved his opponent’s life.
Miller said there was no hesitation once he became aware of the situation.
“I didn’t have any second thoughts about it,” the 18-year-old told the news outlet. “I just jumped in and took control.”
Miller admitted that being described as a lifesaver was somewhat unsettling.
“It’s weird hearing someone say you saved their life,” Miller said. “But it wasn’t really me. It was God just being there for me and him. Obviously, I didn’t go there to play basketball that day.”
Dover Public Schools previously confirmed Vitales was transported to an Oklahoma City hospital
and eventually placed in the intensive care unit (ICU). Once Vitales was admitted, doctors said an abnormal heartbeat caused the cardiac arrest.
“Randy is undergoing several tests and will be moved to ICU,” a statement released Jan. 9 said. “Doctors did say that the quick response by our coaches and the training they received is probably what saved his life. Counselors and some area pastors were at the school when our teams returned to talk and pray with our students.”
The Oklahoman reported Vitales was breathing without the assistance of a ventilator as of Jan. 11.
Fox News host Jesse Watters struggled to find an excuse for Elon Musk’s controversial hand gesture on Tuesday, arguing that the billionaire Trump surrogate was “asking for it” by making such a suspicious-looking salute.
Musk received backlash after he made a hand gesture
at President Donald Trump’s inauguration which critics argued bore a strong resemblance to a fascist Roman salute.
“Elon’s thing, to grab your heart with one hand and then to shoot it out in the sky,” reacted Watters, as he struggled not to laugh. “You’re just– you’re asking for it. You’re asking for it.”
The Fox News host suggested, “Maybe he’s just not very well coordinated, I don’t know. But I’m sure it was fine. Didn’t he go to Israel to like help save the hostages?”
Jesse Watters Primetime Guest Michael Shellenberger replied, “Well yeah, and also, of course, Elon went
to the death camps.”
He continued, “I mean, one of his closest friends is Jewish. You know, I mean, this is ridiculous. Elon Musk and Donald Trump have done more for free speech over the last two years than Democrats have done in the last 20, and I just think that that gives them the moral power that President Trump has needed. You see Zuckerberg falling in line for them to go and push a free speech agenda around the world.”
While Musk received heavy backlash
over the gesture, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) claimed
on Monday that it did not resemble a “Nazi salute.”
“This is a delicate moment. It’s a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety,” the organization declared. “It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge.”
The ADL concluded, “In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The White House’s Office of Personnel Management notified heads of agencies and departments that they must begin taking steps to close all Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
offices by the end of the day Wednesday and place government workers in those offices on paid leave, Fox News Digital has learned.
Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management Charles Ezell sent a memo to heads and acting heads of departments and agencies Tuesday evening directing them to, no later than 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 22 to:
Photo by: WILL OLIVER/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
The television ratings for President Donald Trump’s second inauguration are in, and they dropped 27% from President Joe Biden’s in 2021 and were nearly 20% lower than Trump’s first swearing-in in 2017.
Unsurprisingly, Fox News dominated the ratings for the festivities in the nation’s capital, beating out both their broadcast and cable competitors, and drawing in the second-highest ratings for Inauguration Day coverage in the network’s history, according to a Fox News press release. An average of 10.3 million viewers tuned into Fox News from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm ET Monday, including 2 million in the advertiser-coveted demographic of ages 25-54.
CNN averaged 1.7 million viewers during that same time period, MSNBC 848,000 viewers (the network has traditionally come in third for Inauguration Day coverage), ABC 4.7 million viewers, CBS 4.1 million viewers, and NBC 4.4 million viewers, according to early viewing numbers from Nielsen reported
by The Wrap’s Loree Seitz.
Altogether, Trump’s triumphant return to the White House drew an average total viewership for the day (tracking from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm ET) of 24.59 million viewers, reported The Wrap. That figure is based on combining viewer numbers from fifteen networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, Merit Street Media, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, CNNe, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation, and PBS.
That number of 24.59 million viewers was 27% lower than Biden’s 2021 inauguration (33.76 million viewers tracked from 17 channels) was 19.75% lower than Trump’s first inauguration in 2021 (30.64 million viewers across 12 networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, Univision, Telemundo, CNBC, Fox Business Network, Galavision, and HLN).
The Wrap also analyzed the demographic breakdown of the viewers. Monday’s audience drew 1.43 million viewers ages 18-34, 4.67 million viewers ages 35-54, and 17.4 million viewers over 55, while the audience from 2021 was 2.85 million viewers ages 18-34, 8.21 million viewers ages 35-54, and 21 million viewers over 55.
Additional data from the early Nielsen numbers provided to Mediaite:
11:30 AM – 1 PM/ET
FNC: 10.3 million P2+; 2 million A25-54
CNN: 1.7 million P2+; 534,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 848,000 P2+; 104,000 A25-54
FBN: 282,000 P2+ ; 16,000 A25-54
ABC: 4.7 million P2+; 1.1 million A25-54
CBS: 4.1 million P2+; 907,000 A25-54
NBC: 4.4 million P2+; 1.2 million A25-54
More than 80 people were killed in the country’s northeast over the weekend following the government’s failed attempts to hold peace talks with the National Liberation Army
, a Colombian official said.
Twenty others were injured in the violence that has forced thousands to flee as Colombia’s army scrambled to evacuate people on Sunday, according to William Villamizar, governor of North Santander, where many of the killings took place.
Among the victims are community leader Carmelo Guerrero and seven people who sought to sign a peace deal, according to a report that a government ombudsman agency released late Saturday.
Officials said the attacks happened in several towns located in the Catatumbo region near the border with Venezuela
, with at least three people who were part of the peace talks being kidnapped.
Thousands of people are fleeing the area, with some hiding in the nearby lush mountains or seeking help at government shelters.
“We were caught in the crossfire,” said Juan Gutiérrez, who fled with his family to a temporary shelter in Tibú after they were forced to leave behind their animals and belongings. “We had no time to grab our things. … I hope the government remembers us. … We are helpless here.”
Colombia’s army rescued dozens of people on Sunday, including a family and their pet dog, whose owner held a pack of cold water against the animal’s chest to keep it cool as they evacuated by helicopter.
Defense Minister Iván Velásquez
traveled to the northeast town of Cúcuta on Sunday where he held several security meetings and urged armed groups to demobilize.
“The priority is to save lives and guarantee the security of communities,” he said. “We have deployed our troops throughout the entire region.”
Officials also prepared to send 10 tons of food and hygiene kits for approximately 5,000 people in the communities of Ocaña and Tibú, the majority of them having fled the violence.
“Catatumbo needs help,” Villamizar said in a public address on Saturday. “Boys, girls, young people, teenagers, entire families are showing up with nothing, riding trucks, dump trucks, motorcycles, whatever they can, on foot, to avoid being victims of this confrontation.”
The attack comes after Colombia suspended peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, on Friday, the second time it has done so in less than a year.
Colombia’s government has demanded that the ELN cease all attacks and allow authorities to enter the region and provide humanitarian aid.
“Displacement is killing us here in the region,” said José Trinidad, a municipal official for the town of Convención, located in the North Santander region. “We’re afraid the crisis will worsen.”
Trinidad called on insurgent groups to sit down and hammer out a new agreement so “us civilians don’t have to suffer the consequences that we’re suffering right now.”
The ELN has been clashing in Catatumbo with former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a guerrilla group that disbanded after signing a peace deal in 2016 with Colombia’s government. The two are fighting over control of a strategic border region that has coca leaf plantations.
In a statement Saturday, the ELN said it had warned former FARC members that if they “continued attacking the population … there was no other way out than armed confrontation.” The ELN has accused ex-FARC rebels of several killings in the area, including the Jan. 15 slaying of a couple and their 9-month-old baby.
Army commander Gen. Luis Emilio Cardozo Santamaría said Saturday that authorities were reinforcing a humanitarian corridor between Tibú and Cúcuta for the safe passage of those forced to flee their homes. He said special urban troops also were deployed to municipal capitals “where there are risks and a lot of fear.”
The ELN has tried to negotiate a peace deal with the administration of President Gustavo Petro five times, with talks failing after bouts of violence. ELN demands include that it be recognized as a political rebel organization, which critics have said is risky.
Editor’s note: The following column was first published in City Journal.
On Monday, President Trump
signed an executive order abolishing the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” bureaucracy in the federal government.
The move marks a stunning reversal of fortune from just four years ago, when Black Lives Matter, critical race theory, and DEI seemed unstoppable. Following the death of George Floyd
, left-wing race activists made a blitz through America’s institutions, rewriting school curricula, altering government policy, and establishing DEI offices in major universities, big-city school districts, and Fortune 100 companies. The Biden administration immediately followed suit, mandating a “whole-of-government equity agenda” that entrenched DEI in the federal government.
No more. President Trump has rescinded the Biden executive order and instructed his Cabinet to “terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions,” and “all ‘equity action plans,’ ‘equity’ actions, initiatives, or programs.” In other words, President Trump has signed the death warrant for DEI within the federal government.
How did we get here? Through patiently building a movement and winning the public debate. At the beginning of 2023, I worked with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to launch the “abolish DEI” campaign. We began by terminating the DEI bureaucracy at New College of Florida
, a small public university in Sarasota, where I serve as a trustee. The reaction from the racialist Left was intense. Protesters descended on the campus and the left-wing media published hundreds of articles condemning the move. But we held firm and made the case that public institutions should judge individuals based on their accomplishments, rather than their ancestry.
The argument began to take hold. The polling data indicated that Americans supported a “colorblind society” over a “race-conscious society” by large margins. Even the New York Times, one of the largest boosters of left-wing racialism, started publishing pieces that criticized DEI. At the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement was ensnared in scandals and the leading intellectual voices of DEI, such as Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo, faced sustained public scrutiny and seemed to disappear from the spotlight.
We pushed onward. Gov. DeSantis led the way, signing legislation abolishing the DEI bureaucracy in all of Florida’s public universities. A dozen other red states followed, restricting DEI programs and banning DEI-style discrimination in their public institutions. The process became a virtuous cycle: each state that passed an anti-DEI bill reduced the risk of the next state doing the same. The campaign moved from the realm of debate to the realm of policy.
Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris
on November 5 sealed DEI’s fate. Corporate America, including companies such as Walmart, and Meta, interpreted the event as an incentive to change, voluntarily terminating their DEI programs before Trump took office. Mark Zuckerberg made it explicit, arguing that the country had reached a “cultural tipping point,” which convinced him to stop DEI programs. And Zuckerberg, along with numerous other tech titans, were prominently seated at the inauguration on Monday.
In one way, Trump’s executive order on Monday was priced in—people knew it was coming. Still, it is a crowning achievement for those who have built this campaign from the ground up. There will be many fights ahead—the bureaucracy will attempt to evade the order, and more needs doing on civil rights reform in general—but, for the moment, we should celebrate. The forces of left-wing racialism are on the defensive, and the forces of colorblind equality are on the move.
None of it was inevitable—and nothing will be going forward, either. It has taken courage, hard work, and more than a little luck. But this is undoubtedly a moment to feel optimistic.
America’s institutions are not beyond correction, as many feared. The American people were wise enough to realize that their country might not have survived four or eight more years of government by DEI
. They spoke on November 5, and now President Trump is acting accordingly.
Ali Fedotowsky-Manno has no regrets about leaving Los Angeles
behind for good.
“The Bachelorette”
star shared insight into her decision to leave the West Coast for a quieter life with her husband and two children during an appearance on Savannah Chrisley’s “Unlocked” podcast released Tuesday.
Fedotowsky-Manno, 40, first found fame as a contestant on Season 14 of “The Bachelor,” before returning one year later as the star of season six of the popular dating competition series, “The Bachelorette.”
While her engagement to “The Bachelorette”
winner Roberto Martinez didn’t last, she later found love in the arms of radio and TV host Kevin Manno. The couple married in March 2017 and have two children.
“We were living in LA. We were both working in the entertainment industry — my husband’s a radio host. … I worked in television on Hallmark Channel up until the day we left LA,” Fedotowsky-Manno told Chrisley.
“I said to my agent, ‘I’m done. I don’t want to work in Hollywood anymore. I’m done with the industry. I want to move to Nashville
with my family. I want to have like a quiet little life.’ And that’s what we did.”
Chrisley was curious what prompted the decision for the former television star to leave the bright lights of Hollywood behind.
“There’s a lot of bullying in the entertainment industry, and I don’t think people see it,” Fedotowsky-Manno said. “It’s very cutthroat, and I just felt in a lot of different circumstances, just a lot of hate. … I did not care for all of that.”
She added, “I was just like, ‘I’m so over this. I’m so tired of it.’ I really wanted to get that out of my life. But then I realized when I moved, that kind of exists everywhere, just in a different way. There’s always a social hierarchy in any circle.”
Despite unavoidable “hierarchy” circles, the former reality star, who starred on Season 3 of “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” admitted her family has a deep love for Nashville. She has one small regret about leaving Los Angeles, though.
“Sometimes I drive around, especially in the fall, and look at the trees, and I’m like, ‘Ahhh, it’s so beautiful here!'” I do struggle with allergies pretty bad, so that is something that is making me maybe not love it as much as I could love it because the allergies here are insane.”
Chrisley agreed, “They’re absolutely insane. They do say, like, if you have local honey every morning… “
“I do,” she insisted. “I’m telling you. … I have thrown so much money at this allergy problem. I’ve done everything from chiropractors, acupuncture, massages — I’m actually getting a lymphatic facial massage, which is different than a full body one, this weekend to see if that helps — I have red light therapy, saunas.
“I have been to multiple ENTs. I’m on allergy drops. I do local honey. I have like these machines. I do the sinus flush.”
Manno said the only thing she hasn’t tried so far is surgery to fix her deviated septum.
Ichiro Suzuki
, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner were all given the sport’s highest honor on Tuesday and are headed to Cooperstown.
Ichiro is the first Japanese-born player to receive Hall of Fame honors. He received 99.7% of the vote, one vote shy of becoming the second player unanimously voted. Players need at least 75% of the vote to be elected.
Ichiro joined the majors in 2001 as a highly-touted Japanese prospect, hitting .353 during his nine seasons playing in his home country where he won three MVPs and was a seven-time All-Star. Joining the Seattle Mariners at age 28, he immediately lived up to the hype, winning the AL MVP and helping that year’s Mariners team to a record 116 wins.
From 2001 to 2010, Ichiro was named an All-Star in each season while also winning a Gold Glove Award every time. In that span, he earned three Silver Slugger Awards and two batting titles while putting up a .331 average and .806 OPS. In 2004, he set the all-time single-season record with 262 hits, and he’s the only player in MLB history to register 10-straight 200-plus hit seasons. He also stole over 500 bases and is one of just seven to record 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases.
After just his 11th MLB game, his career average never again dipped below .300. He retired with a .311 average, 3,089 hits, and a 60.0 WAR. In the live-ball era (since 1920), he is one of just 21 players with at least 10 seasons of hitting .300 (among qualified hitters), and only one of seven to do it in 10 straight years. Ichiro spent the majority of his career with the Mariners, having pit stops with the Yankees and Marlins.
Sabathia, like Ichiro, got the nod
in his first year on the ballot. He is one of just 19 pitchers to record 3,000 strikeouts and dominated the 2000s. From 2007 to 2011, he finished in the top-five of Cy Young Award voting each year, winning the award in 2007. One of those seasons, though, was the 2008 campaign when he finished in fifth in the NL vote despite being trading from Cleveland in the American League to the National League’s Brewers in July. But, during his short stint with Milwaukee (17 starts), he threw seven complete games and pitched to a 1.65 ERA, with plenty of his work coming on three-day rest as the Brewers made a postseason push.
The lefty won a World Series with the Yankees in 2009, in his first season on what was then the largest contract ever given to a pitcher. He struggled from 2013 to 2015, pitching to a 4.81 ERA as his alcoholism had become a detriment to his career and life. After rehab, though, he re-invented himself as a finesse pitcher and recorded three more seasons of sub-4.00 ERA. In all, he retired after the 2019 season with a 3.74 career ERA, 3,093 strikeouts, 251 wins, and six All-Stars. On the final pitch of his MLB career, he dislocated his shoulder, and he quipped that he pitched until he no longer could.
Wagner got the nod on his final year of eligibility after coming up just five votes short last year. And while he even admitted it’s been a “nightmare” to wait, his numbers certainly scream that he’s deserving of the honor.
Since 1920, among relievers with 500-plus innings, his 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings are the fourth-most in MLB history. His 422 saves are the seventh-most, while his 2.31 ERA is second, behind only Mariano Rivera. Wagner was elite from start to finish – in fact, his lowest ERA in a season came in his final one, when he posted a 1.43 ERA in 2010. He also has the highest strikeout rate and lowest batting average against among pitchers with 900-plus innings.
Spending time with the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Red Sox, and Braves, Wagner was a seven-time All-Star and twice received Cy Young Award votes. Sabathia got 86.6% of the vote, while Wagner received 82.5%.
Dave Parker and Dick Allen were elected last month by the classic era committee, and the five of them together will be enshrined this summer.
Erin Routliffe
may be the only person unhappy that robots haven’t taken over the world.
The tennis pro from New Zealand and her partner, Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada, were competing in the third round of women’s doubles at the Australian Open
Sunday when Routliffe exploded into a brief tirade after she believed her opponent’s serve skimmed the net.
The contentious point came during a tiebreak in the first set with Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil serving. The chair umpire did not call a let, and the point was awarded to Haddad Maia and her partner, Laura Siegemend.
“Oh my god, we have robots everywhere, but we don’t have one for the net?
Oh my goodness,” she said, contesting the umpire’s ruling.
Despite her protest, the call stood. But Routliffe and Dabrowski went on to win the next point and eventually the match, advancing to a semifinal match Thursday.
After a clip of Routliffe’s outburst went viral on social media, she admitted her behavior might have been “dramatic” but stood by her stance.
“I feel like I have a point but also why so dramatic,” she said in a post on X.
