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Maye Musk defends Sydney Sweeney's nude sports ad and recalls 12-year path to citizenship
Maye Musk, swimsuit model and mother of Elon Musk, joined OutKickâs "Tomi Lahren Is Fearless" to tackle Sydney Sweeney, government fraud, and her 18 grandkids.
Musk jumped into defending Sydney Sweeney after the actress caught online heat over going nude for a sports ad.
Lahren noted that Musk, who famously graced the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover at age 74, knows a thing or two about the industry.
SYDNEY SWEENEY FIRES BACK AT TROLLS AFTER FACING CRITICISM ONLINE FOR PROVOCATIVE SPORTS AD
"Sheâs a model," Musk told Tomi. "Well, sheâs an actress, but sheâs a model and modeling, you can look sexy and acting, you can look sexy and have fun."
"I think sheâs fabulous," Musk added. "I mean beautiful, fabulous and she seems to have a great sense of humor. So sheâll need it."
To Maye, women can use their looks to build massive careers and have fun without taking a lecture from progressives.
Musk also slammed tax dollars funneled to dead people and fake nursing homes, praising independent journalist Nick Shirley as "cheeky," "smart," and "funny" for exposing millions sent to an empty Minnesota learning center.
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Then, things got real when Musk recalled her own 12-year grind to earn American citizenship.
"When I moved to America, it took me 12 years to become a citizen," Musk said. "When I was there with the ceremony, I was just crying. I was so happy to be a citizen."
Maye contrasted playing by the rules with illegal migrants receiving taxpayer-funded hotels and benefits, questioning why Americans are footing the bill.
Musk wrapped things up with a simple rule for her 18 grandkids: no Christmas presents, just hugs.
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"You never have enough hugs," Musk said. "Hugs count."
Maye's next move ... hit a Tennessee Volunteers football game with Lahren in Knoxville. Go Vols.
Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com / Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela
Reaction to âTed Lassoâ shows left-wing critics are never satisfied, so why does Hollywood keep trying?
Appleâs major hit show "Ted Lasso" centered its return on womenâs soccer and nearly every grievance progressive critics prioritize. They still said it failed women.
It should serve as a reminder to Hollywood that trying to please people who are never satisfied is a losing battle. And Hollywood really should stop ruining good shows trying to chase that approval.
Now, I loved the first two seasons of "Ted Lasso." The third season wasn't as good, but I watched the entire thing.
So, when Apple brought the show back after a three-year hiatus, I was willing to give Season 4 a chance.
I didn't make it through the premiere.
During the opening sequence, Ted is working at a Kansas City grocery store and casually stealing food from his employer. When a coworker asks whether he worries about getting caught, Ted says he doesn't, "probably due to my deeply ingrained white male privilege."
It was a throwaway joke that arrived almost immediately, before the show established its new story or gave viewers much of a reason to care. It felt deliberate, like the writers were telling the audience exactly what kind of season this would be.
RIDICULOUS USA TODAY COLUMN PROVES THAT THE DEMAND FOR MISOGYNY IN SPORTS FAR EXCEEDS THE SUPPLY
Then came the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum scene.
Leslie Higgins visits the museum after discovering that the American Jazz Museum is closed for a private event. A tour guide explains how Black baseball players, including Satchel Paige, were denied opportunities in Major League Baseball because of segregation.
Higgins responds by comparing their experience to women once being prohibited from playing soccer in England.
Using the color barrier in American baseball as a narrative bridge to the challenges facing a fictional English women's soccer team felt painfully forced and over-the-top.
My wife rolled her eyes. I looked at her and asked whether there was any reason to keep watching.
She agreed there wasn't.
So, we turned it off.
I couldn't stomach watching the remaining episodes, but I did review the transcripts of all seven that Apple has released as of Sept. 17. I paid particularly close attention to the first four episodes, which were among those provided to television critics before the season premiered.
Those transcripts confirmed exactly what the opening episode suggested: Gender politics aren't a minor component of the new season.
They are the season.
The second episode revolves heavily around whether Rebecca is sufficiently feminist after hiring Ted to coach AFC Richmond's new women's team.
Alice Chilton, who helped construct the team, tells Rebecca she is resigning after being passed over for the head-coaching position. Before leaving, Alice asks Rebecca whether she considered her for the job.
Rebecca says no.
Alice then asks whether Rebecca considered any woman.
Again, Rebecca says no.
This sends Rebecca into a panic over whether she is supportive enough of women. She begins reading feminist literature and delivers a painfully awkward press-conference speech declaring that women are "just as capable and compelling as men" and that "the future is female."
She then introduces the manager of Richmond's women's team, "who just happens to be a man."
The show plays Rebecca's desperation for laughs. But the underlying conflict is whether Ted, as a man, should have received the opportunity at all.
Remember what Ted accomplished with Richmond. He took the club through relegation, earned promotion back to the Premier League and then led it to second place after entering the final day of the season with a chance to win the championship.
Ted was overqualified to coach a brand-new second-division women's team. Yet the show treats Rebecca's decision to hire him as evidence that she might have failed women.
The first four episodes introduce several predictable progressive talking points surrounding supposed oppression of women in sports: lower salaries, inferior facilities, inadequate media coverage and a lack of financial support. One might argue that those are products of capitalism and not some nefarious plot to hold down female athletes, but I digress.
Then comes a cascade of storylines centered on female athletes, as if the writers had a checklist and had to make sure they hit them all. One player leaves the team after becoming pregnant. A single mother brings her child to open tryouts because she couldn't arrange childcare. Sponsors threaten to abandon the team, while male shareholders mock the entire idea as a waste of money.
Then Zelda Southport, a wealthy investor in women's sports, delivers a speech accusing executives of using women's soccer for "reputation-laundering" while hiding their "fake allyship." She invokes the "patriarchy" for good measure.
Again, the writers aren't trying to hide their political messaging. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The political messaging is the entire plot.
On Aug. 5, the day Season 4 premiered, "Ted Lasso" co-creator Brendan Hunt appeared on Sarah Spain's podcast. Spain is a radical left-wing activist who has referred to Vice President J.D. Vance as a "demon" and launched a disgusting personal smear of Sophie Cunningham for having the temerity to argue against "biological men" in women's sports.
Hunt chose Spain's show to help promote the new season, which felt like a very intentional promotional choice.
The following night, Jason Sudeikis, Hunt, Juno Temple and several members of the new cast appeared at an exclusive "Ted Lasso" event at the Paley Museum. Megan Rapinoe, another radical far-left-wing activist, served as the moderator.
The people behind "Ted Lasso" knew whose approval they wanted and went directly to Sarah Spain and Megan Rapinoe to seek it.
The interview with Hunt also made clear how central the women's team was to the show's return. He said Sudeikis kept thinking about doing the series with a women's team after Season 3. That idea led to a small writers' retreat intended to determine whether the show remained "fertile ground."
The writers decided it did.
In other words, women's soccer wasn't simply the setting selected after the decision to revive "Ted Lasso." It was the idea that convinced the creators to revive it.
Despite my reaction, plenty of people watched the Season 4 premiere.
According to Nielsen data provided by Apple, the episode generated 296.6 million viewing minutes in the United States across Aug. 4 and Aug. 5. More than 200 million minutes came on Aug. 5 alone, making "Ted Lasso" the most-streamed program in the country that day.
Apple called it the biggest launch in Apple TV history.
That's impressive, but it also isn't terribly surprising.
"Ted Lasso" was one of the most popular streaming shows in America during its original run. It won 13 Emmy Awards, became Apple's signature television series and disappeared for three years after what many viewers believed was its finale.
Of course people wanted to see it return.
Nielsen's first weekly report was also strong. "Ted Lasso" generated 866 million viewing minutes across 35 available episodes, including the first three seasons, during the week of Aug. 3 through Aug. 9. The Season 4 premiere accounted for 36% of that total, and the show ranked second among streaming originals.
But those figures establish only that people were interested in the return of "Ted Lasso." They don't tell us whether the audience stuck around as the season progressed.
OutKick/Fox News Digital reached out to Apple and asked for episode-by-episode viewing totals for the subsequent Season 4 episodes. We also asked whether the company had internal data showing how many viewers who started the premiere finished it and continued watching the season.
Apple did not respond.
The company eagerly supplied the figure that allowed it to announce the biggest premiere in the history of its streaming service. It became much less communicative when asked for the numbers that would show whether those viewers kept watching.
If the later episodes were setting similarly historic marks, it is reasonable to think Apple would be just as eager to publicize those numbers.
Instead, the company that celebrated the premiere hasn't released any viewing data on the show in over a month.
While that doesn't prove viewership collapsed after the premiere, there is no public evidence that the record-setting launch translated into equally historic retention.
TIME critic Judy Berman received the first four episodes of Season 4 for review. So, she saw Ted invoke his "white male privilege," Rebecca admit that she never considered a woman for the coaching job, Alice confront her over that decision, players struggle with pregnancy and childcare, sponsors abandon the women's team and wealthy investors get lectured about the patriarchy and their "fake allyship."
The show couldn't have worked harder to establish its progressive credentials.
Despite all of that, Berman's headline read: "Ted Lasso Doesn't Know What to Do With Women's Soccer."
Berman argued that Ted's presence could come across as "paternalistic" and said the character sometimes resembled a "cringey, try-hard male feminist." She complained that Rebecca and Keeley still felt filtered through the "male gaze" and noted that many qualified female coaches could have received Ted's job.
"A different coach is going to have to inspire those locker rooms, because Ted Lasso just doesn't belong," she concluded.
You know, for a group of people who constantly complain that men think women "don't belong" in sports, they sure don't seem to have a problem proclaiming that men don't belong in women's sports. Well, except the men who "identify" as women, of course. Those men are to be celebrated.
Variety critic Alison Herman wrote that "feminist commentary was never the series' strong suit" and argued that despite the show's pivot toward women, longtime male characters like Ted, Beard and Roy remain "load-bearing" and "space-occupying" protagonists.
The Times of London critic Carol Midgley criticized the decision to sideline Alice in favor of Ted and argued that other storylines played into gender stereotypes, concluding that "occasionally you could argue the show itself is sexist."
Apparently, building the season around women's sports, sexism, representation, unequal funding and male privilege wasn't enough.
Even one of the people enlisted to celebrate the season found another way the show elevated a man at women's expense.
At the end of Spain's interview with Hunt, she recounted a conversation in which Malala Yousafzai argued that the series should really be called "Rebecca." Her reasoning was that Ted's compassionate coaching style is possible only because Rebecca, as the club's owner, permits it. Spain said Malala believed a male owner would have fired Ted and hired a more traditionally masculine manager.
Spain later asked Sudeikis what he thought of Malala's argument.
"They're not changing the name," he replied, according to Spain.
Hunt was far more accommodating. Spain quoted him calling Malala "incredible" and saying, "Everything she says makes sense," before joking that Warner Bros. probably didn't want to relabel all the merchandise.
Think about the moving target here. "Ted Lasso" resurrected itself around a women's team, filled its opening episodes with feminist grievances, pushed its title character toward the sidelines and promoted the season alongside Sarah Spain and Megan Rapinoe.
The response was still that the woman wasn't receiving enough credit and perhaps the man's name should be removed from the title.
As of this writing, Season 4 holds an 88% critics score and a 69% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Based on those numbers, critics generally approved of the season's direction more than the audience did, yet prominent progressive reviewers still found new ideological shortcomings to condemn.
What was "Ted Lasso" supposed to do?
Hollywood studios repeatedly bend popular franchises around the demands of progressive critics. Writers center the "correct" political issues, diversify the cast, elevate female characters and turn familiar stories into vehicles for approved social messages.
The audience gets a less entertaining product and critics still aren't satisfied. So, what's the point?
You see, for the left-wing media, satisfaction would undermine the entire industry. A critic whose influence comes from identifying perceived sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and whatever other "isms" and "phobias" they will invent in the next few years has little incentive to declare that a mainstream television show handled everything correctly.
The standard changes because the criticism is the product.
Hollywood keeps playing along, presumably because executives want favorable coverage, awards and protection from the online backlash that comes with refusing to follow the approved script.
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Yet "Ted Lasso" demonstrates how little that protection is worth.
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The show's creators resurrected a beloved series and rebuilt it around the issues progressive television critics claim to care about most. They then took it directly to sympathetic figures in left-wing sports media for promotion.
The progressive critics still weren't happy.
At some point, Hollywood might consider making shows for the people watching them instead of people professionally committed to manufacturing grievances on behalf of whichever "marginalized group" the show has supposedly wronged.
Country music star pulled her Bible into bed with her to get through 'awful' divorce
Accustomed to performing under the bright lights of concert halls as well as TV studios during her time as a finalist on "The Voice," country music star Karen Waldrup of Nashville never anticipated the darkness and despair that would accompany a divorce.
But she told Fox News Digital this week in a moving interview how she got through the most "awful" times in the fall of 2025, even while recording new songs, including "Keeping the Faith" and "Just in Case," which is out Friday, Sept. 18.
The songs and the phrases have deep resonance with her Christian faith, she said.Â
105 YEAR-OLD CREDITS THE GOOD LORD FOR HER LONG LIFE: âEVERY DAY IS A BLESSINGâ
"'Keeping the Faith' is one of my favorite songs I've ever been a part of," she said.
It's not just about "keeping the faith, it's about keeping the hope, keeping the dream, keeping the focus, keeping the optimism. I went through a really challenging time in the fall of 2025. ... It was awful. So many people know the disheartening horror of that experience, and it was terrible."
"But I decided to make a song, âKeeping the Faith,'" said the Louisiana-born singer-songwriter.Â
"And the day that I tracked that song was a tough day. It was the toughest day that I've ever been in the studio. And I didn't know if it was even going to come out good because I felt so broken.Â
âQUIET QUITTINGâ IN MARRIAGE: THE SUBTLE SIGNS A SPOUSE HAS EMOTIONALLY CHECKED OUTÂ
"But I think in the end, the song came out great because of the brokenness," she said. "I think you can kind of hear it in the vocal, the desperation of keeping the faith and saying, âHey, you know what, no matter what goes on, you got to get back up and go, you got it. Pick it up. You got to keep the faith.â And so I'm proud of that song."
Waldrup was not only a top 5 finalist on Season 25 of "The Voice," sheâs a BMI songwriter and a member of the Recording Academy (NARAS) and the Country Music Association (CMA). She's won 12 Nashville Industry Music Awards and has seven studio albums and over 50 songs released worldwide. She married Cody Henderson in Sept. 2020.Â
"After a lot of time, reflection and prayer, Iâm ready to share that my marriage has ended in divorce," she wrote to fans in February on her Facebook page. "This has been a deeply personal journey, and Iâve taken the time I needed to process it privately. Iâm grateful for the love, grace and support around me, and I appreciate kindness as I continue to move forward."
She told Fox News Digital, "There's a bridge [in the song âKeeping the Faithâ] that says, 'There's a reason I'm still standing here stronger than I ever knew."
"And I think after you go through something like that, your whole dream of a lifelong marriage goes away and is no longer a part of your life â it's so heartbreaking. But after you come out of it, I truly believe that you are stronger. People are stronger from this experience."
"My faith definitely carried me through that season, the fall of 2025. I was very vulnerable," she said.Â
"We were working on the record, and I had to keep going. I look at people like Dolly Parton or Reba [McEntire], and I think about how many times they had somebody pass away, and they had to get back up on stage â or they had their mom in the hospital or something, and they had to go play a show," she added.Â
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"And when I was going through that, I was actually sleeping with my Bible every single night, in the bed with me at night. I was waking up every morning, opening my scripture and reading it. My faith was definitely the foundation of what got me through that."
She said her friends made a difference as well.
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"My friends believed in me. They believed I would get through it. They never doubted me. And one of the things I did, I made a list of the top six people â one being God, so God plus five people â that I felt like I could really talk to about what I was going through without them making me feel worse."
"And I tried to really only talk to those five people," said Waldrup. "Sometimes when you're going through something like a divorce, everyone has their opinions. Everyone has all these different things that people want to say. And so I found that was a really helpful thing.
"When you're going through something tough in life, rather than listening to the opinions of 50 people, you can kind of go, OK, these are the five people that, when I talk to this person, make me feel like I'm gonna get through this. And those are the people that I really leaned on. So my faith, my scripture and my friends."
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Waldrup said she believes she is "living God's purpose for my life."
"I do think part of my purpose in music is to inspire. I don't make my musical experience all about me," she said. "This music is a gift, this show is a gift, this moment is a gift."
And "I believe in giving," she added.Â
"I don't really need to be important. All I need to do is do God's work. ⌠He gave me this voice. And we're talking about faith, we're talking about music, we're talking about joy, we're talking about friendship, and about love â or the lack thereof. There are so many things that we are called to talk about in life. And I do feel like I'm living God's purpose for my life."
Waldrup has performed in more than 15 countries.Â
Her newest single "Just in Case" is available now.Â
Buffalo Bills fans pay eye-opening prices for beer and food at Highmark Stadium opener
The sun is shining this morning in Buffalo, New York as I pump out an edition of Friday Screencaps before hopping in the car for the drive back around Lake Erie to a whole different world from what I just experienced in Orchard Park.
My mission going in from my boss was simple: Go ask questions, talk to the people and document the opening of the new Highmark Stadium. What I experienced was what I suspect it's like to be on a drug-induced trip like those people in San Francisco experience where they're taking dumps in the streets and hunched over in paralysis as the drugs run wild through the bloodstream.
Gameday in Buffalo is unlike anything I've ever experienced, and I've been to all the biggest mainstream sports experiences in the U.S.
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The locals don't even blink at the sight of guys like this who are about to delete 32 beers.
The real members of Bills Mafia have their own looks. Thousands of looks. They don't even blink at a 400-pounder walking around with his rack hanging out. This is a place where adults make the pilgrimage to the legendary Pinto Ron and Pizza Pete tailgate spot in the Hammer Lot where Pinto Ron's team of merry pranksters pour shots of liquor into a bowling ball finger hole.
Drinking the shot is just one part of the routine. Throwing the ball to the ground and then blowing on a vuvuzela is also included in the bit. For the ladies, Ron's crew provides cherries that are dangled over their faces. Most of the classy women will not suck the cherry off the stem. Some, however, go for the full experience.
I assume the cherries have been soaked in moonshine.
BUFFALO BILLS' LATEST EDITION TO THEIR NEW STADIUM IS PREDICTABLY (AND PAINFULLY) ON BRAND
Hundreds and hundreds of people drink the shot out of the same hole over the course of a tailgate. Sanitation isn't a thing here. The liquor kills the germs.
Pinto Ron's team also cooks right on the hood of the most famous Pinto in Buffalo. Bacon and dogs were on the menu Thursday. Yes, I'm told the Pinto runs.
LIONS AVOID FRANCHISE-WORST COLLAPSE AS DEFENSE STOPS SAINTS TWO-POINT CONVERSION IN OT
Meanwhile, about 20 yards from Ron's holy grail of tailgating, Lions fans had their own headquarters. That's where the infamous Tubgaters held court with their traveling hot tub that is mounted on a trailer. The owner tells me that when he rolls into town, he'll pull up to a house and ask the locals if he can fill up his tub. On Thursday, he had the water up to 98 degrees, but he assured me it could get up to 115 degrees for those really cold winter nights.
Buffalo Bills games are Disney World for NFL tailgating debauchery, but there's a method to the madness. People are cordial. Free food is very common. It's everywhere. Free liquor is everywhere. Friendship isn't hard to come by. You can arrive by yourself and leave with dozens of friends.
Needless to say, I'll be back. My dad needs to see this.
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When I think of loud stadiums, I think of places like Autzen Field in Oregon or Arrowhead. Highmark Stadium IS LOUD. It's loud from the second you walk in. The music being played pregame was LOUD, super loud. The in-game experience is the same thing. I'm talking piercing noise.
The other big takeaway for fans has to be concession pricing. Not that we should be shocked. I found this couple who just exited a concession room where they picked up the prized Bills beer horns and some food.
Here's what you get for $113:
⢠Two beers (16 oz, I believe)
⢠Two of the prized beer horns â yes, they have lids so you don't spill beer as you're walking around
⢠A bucket of popcorn
⢠A personal pizza
Other food prices that I spotted:
⢠Souvenir bucket of popcorn: $19
⢠Dill pickle popcorn: $10
⢠Pierogies: $14
⢠Sweet Italian sausage on a sub roll: $14
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⢠Order of chicken wings (I assume you get six): $18
Other observations from Highmark:
â The concourses are a mess in the areas where they're selling the beer horns. In one area of the 300 level, an escalator dumps fans into an area where fans had waited over an hour for the horns. "How long have you been waiting for a beer," I asked one guy. "An hour and fifteen minutes," the guy replied.
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I thought he was screwing with me. "Are you serious," I fired back. That's when others in line spoke up. He wasn't lying. An hour or more wait was common.
But, if you were to ask a Bills fan if the lines, and prices, and insanely packed concourses were worth it after the Bills worked over the Lions in their new stadium, they'd tell you it was all worth it to watch Josh Allen have another career night. All was right in the world as long as you don't look at your credit card statement.
################
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And with that, I'm going to close down my Buffalo operation and get home to Ohio. Thank you to Buffalo. It was a trip I won't soon forget.
Have a great day. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow.
The AI revolution could become a national security disaster if we aren't careful
Reindustrialization is alive in America. Yet the recent backlash on artificial intelligence (AI) data centers reveals we have not learned from our offshoring mistakes: creating dependencies that will not be easily reversed.
Whether or not AI data centers are built in America, AI is here to stay. Either we choose to shape the trajectory of AI technology by embracing the AI data center buildout or cede this advantage to other nations that are eager to lead the AI race. China, for example, announced nearly $300 billion in data center investment through 2030, not including private sector spending. India is offering a 20-year tax holiday for foreign cloud operators and the Republic of Korea is offering regulatory relief. Meanwhile, many Americans are calling for moratoriums.
The national security consequences of who hosts AI data centers go beyond competition with China. If we do not build AI data centers in the United States, we risk everything that is inside the data centers: the data, compute and intellectual property (IP) that drive innovation, protect privacy and enable sovereignty. We will also forfeit our ability to set the security standards for this critical infrastructure.
LIZ PEEK: CHINA IS CHEERING AS THE LEFT BLOCKS AMERICAâS AI INFRASTRUCTURE
If AI data centers are the engines of AI innovation, data is the fuel. A significant amount of data is required to make AI useful, all of which must pass through AI data centers. Data, therefore, must be handled carefully â especially for privacy reasons â and viewed as a national asset.
Adversaries will view data routed through AI data centers as an opportunity to advance their own AI ambitions. Data may be collected for espionage purposes or to accelerate adversariesâ own AI models, as we have seen China do time and again in cyberspace and through adversarial distillation. Adversaries may also conduct adversarial attacks during model training, which could, without our knowledge, degrade and manipulate data that determines the performance of AI models. Either way, insecure or compromised data impacts everyone â from large businesses to individuals â and exposes potentially sensitive information. Then there is compute. America currently hosts 75% of global high-performance compute, making it a true strategic advantage.
CHINA-LINKED HACKERS INFILTRATED US GOVERNMENT NETWORKS BEFORE FBI TAKEDOWN
Strong export controls on advanced compute enable us to widen Americaâs AI lead against adversaries and work with allies and partners to shape the trajectory of AI. Our commitment to increased domestic semiconductor production through implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act is reinforcing our lead with new U.S. capacity. But where do chips go once we have them? Many of them go to AI data centers.
By sending AI data centers overseas, the chips will follow â and potentially the businesses that supply them. Re-offshoring will have a detrimental impact on U.S. resiliency and the U.S. economy, which has prepared for the reindustrialization of semiconductor manufacturing for the past four years.
CHINA IS BUILDING AN AI WAR MACHINE. WASHINGTON MUST WAKE UP BEFORE ITâS TOO LATE
Today, Chinaâs semiconductors are a few generations behind the leading-edge due to U.S. export controls on high-end chips and equipment. But if chips are increasingly housed overseas where we cannot enforce security standards, we may increase the ease of remote access instead of closing this loophole, further enabling China to accelerate its own AI development.
Relying on overseas AI data centers will also kneecap us in the event of a global crisis because other nations â not the United States â will decide where to surge compute. There is no guarantee that America will receive any of that capacity, but what we do receive will be slow because it will not be on our shores.
Compute capacity is already severely constrained and will only become more limited as demand grows for AI tools. This will impact our military, which already faces a potential compute bottleneck, and our innovators powering new breakthroughs, including researchers, students and startups. Having AI data centers in America ensures we can comfortably prioritize access during a crisis while continuing to foster our innovation economy and technical workforce.
Tying together data and compute is AI IP, which includes the AI models and model weights that have enabled America to stay at the frontier. IP is already a well-known target for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and this extends to AI. China has already engaged in IP theft through adversarial distillation to compete with proprietary, American frontier models. Sending AI data centers overseas is like handing IP over to the CCP, which they will continue to use for their own market dominance and, presumably, their military advantage. Luckily, America currently hosts the most AI data centers. However, given about 60% of announced projects for this year have yet to begin construction, this lead cannot be taken for granted. As companies and policymakers seize this moment to reframe the narrative about resource use and benefit to local communities, three immediate actions can build public confidence and ensure Americaâs security interests.
CHINESE BOT FARM CAUGHT RED-HANDED TRYING TO INFLUENCE HEATED AI DATA CENTER DEBATE
First, America should leverage federal land to start rapid AI data center buildout. In July 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order to open up federal land and streamline permitting for commercial AI data centers. By using this authority, America can ensure AI is viewed as a common good instead of a local burden. It also puts the responsibility on the U.S. government, rather than local communities, to work with data center developers to scale AI using modest resources.
Second, the Commerce Department should leverage the AI Exports Program to promote secure, global AI data center buildout with allies and partners. Allies and partners need AI capacity as much as the United States, and we should help enable their success. Standards for cyber and physical security of AI data centers are vital to securing and shaping AI use, but are still in development. The AI Exports Program, which aims to share the American tech stack with allies and partners, can be the enforcement mechanism to standardize safe and secure AI data center operations overseas. Through this program, we can mitigate the impact of insider threats and natural disasters; failures of interdependencies, such as water and energy; and compromise of data, compute and IP. By setting these expectations through an established program, companies can confidently build and other countries will know how to leverage the American tech stack for their own advantage, reinforcing it as the secure alternative to Chinaâs tech stack.
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Third, we must save room for AI data center improvements. Although we do not want to stall AI data center buildout, which erodes their value, it is worth asking if the pace of this buildout is necessary to stay ahead in AI. Not every data center proposed is expected to be built, but estimates project that we could reach $7 trillion in global AI data center investment by 2030. The domino effect of more compute is greater opportunity to innovate better methods to power AI that may not require a massive data center, or to improve AI models so that they do not need as much power. We must give innovators time to make these breakthroughs, and give us the flexibility to adapt.
America is poised to lead or lose the AI industrial revolution â a physical representation of its security interests. It must choose to lead by embracing AI data center buildout in the United States.
Ex-Dem insider reveals why Biden's daughter threatened to sue her: 'Bordered on parody'
Ashley Biden, the daughter of former President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, threatened to sue a former Democratic fundraiser for spilling secret internal discussions about her fatherâs cognitive and political decline in the 2024 presidential election.
Lindy Li, a former Democratic fundraiser who switched her party affiliation over unheeded warning signs about Biden's decline in the 2024 election, said Ashley Biden posted the threat to Instagram in February of last year.
"They wanted to scare me. That was the goal," Li told Fox News Digital.
Liâs account of the threat, in her view, was one of the many attempts to intimidate her that she received after deciding to speak out about the fear, disorganization and secrecy that had paved the path for Biden to run for re-election in 2024 despite looming concerns about his age. Also, the fact that those threats never materialized is evidence to Li that even her critics recognize the validity of her testimony.
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Li described the threat from Ashley Biden in her book, "Unburdened."
"Ashley later threatened to sue me for saying there was a cover-up of her fatherâs decline, lashing out on Instagram with a bravado so crude it bordered on parody: âThis woman is a bonavide [sic] liar. Karma is a real bad b----, Lindy,â" she wrote.
"âI donât know you but canât wait to meet your a-- in court. Ready for a lawsuit? Letâs go! I wonât put up with this BS anymore.â"
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Li showed screenshots of the post, which she said was taken down just a day later.
She recalled thinking it was odd; beyond the lawsuit threat, Ashley Biden claimed she didnât know who Li was. But Li had met Ashley Biden on a number of occasions and shared pictures of the two of them with Fox News Digital as proof.
"Doesnât even pass the smell test," Li said.
EX-DEM INSIDER DROPS BOMBSHELL ON WHERE HARRIS RANKED IN SECRET POLL FOR BIDEN REPLACEMENTS
As a top fundraiser for both Biden and Harris, Li worked closely with top donors, high-profile members of the party and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). When she decided to go public with revelations about Bidenâs age, she said the retaliation began immediately.
"When I went on Shannonâs show to say Biden needs to step aside â and three hours later he did â my access immediately vanished and all my fears about speaking up were justified," Li told Fox News Digital.
"I knew that if I spoke up my life would be ruined and frankly, in that respect, it was. I was never invited to the White House again, never spoke to Biden again. Prior to that, I was invited to the White House every two to three weeks. There was always some event."
When Li brought Ashley Bidenâs threat to her legal representation, her lawyers dismissed the possibility but said that the Bidens would likely try to avoid a painful disclosure battle that could drag more details into the public eye over his cognitive decline.
EX-DEM INSIDER EXPOSES WHAT HARRIS TOLD TOP DONORS DAYS BEFORE BIDEN DROPPED OUT: 'INSULTING'
"My lawyerâs eyes lit up: âYou want her to use you. The discovery would be incredible,â" she recalled. "Truth, after all, remains the strongest shield against defamation."
"Everything I said was true so... Iâm still waiting to hear exactly what I said that is legally actionable," Li said.
Representation for Ashley Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Can tech really get you off your phone and into real life?
How many times have you picked up your phone to check one thing and found yourself still scrolling 30 minutes later? I know I've done it.
Our phones make it incredibly easy to stay connected. Yet something interesting seems to be happening at the same time. Many people are looking for more reasons to put those phones down and spend time with other people in the real world.
Run clubs are growing. Local gatherings are drawing attention. Phone-free events are popping up. People seem hungry for experiences that feel a little less like another feed.
That raises an interesting question: Could the same technology that keeps pulling us online also help get us back into real life? That idea is behind NewTree Social, an early-stage community events app from 29-year-old founder Maddy O'Connor. She wants people to use their phones to discover something happening nearby, make a plan and then go experience it. And the timing may be right.
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There is some real data behind this shift. Eventbrite's 2026 Social Study surveyed people ages 18 to 35 in the U.S. and U.K. It found that 79% planned to attend more events in 2026. Among Gen Z respondents, 46% said they were limiting screen time and 74% said in-person experiences were more important than digital ones.
Now, keep in mind that this research comes from Eventbrite, a company whose business revolves around live events. Still, those numbers line up with something we are seeing play out in the real world.
Eventbrite says phone-free experiences listed on its platform grew 567% globally between 2024 and 2025. Attendance at those events rose 121%. The company based those numbers on events that used "phone-free" terminology in their title or description.
For people who have spent years with a smartphone within arm's reach, intentionally putting it away feels significant. It also creates an unusual opening for technology. Instead of asking how an app can keep you scrolling longer, what if the goal becomes helping you find something worth closing the app for?
That is where O'Connor comes in. She told CyberGuy that the idea for NewTree grew partly from her own experience living in Washington, D.C., without an established group of friends. Her experience changed depending on where she lived and whether she could find places where meeting new people felt natural.
At the same time, she was watching interest grow around run clubs, wellness events, social clubs and other in-person experiences. So she started building around that behavior.
NewTree is designed to help people discover local activities and meet others through something they already want to do. I think that part is important.
Walking into a room of strangers solely because you are supposed to meet people can feel awkward. Walking into a fitness class, community event or gathering you already find interesting gives you a reason to be there before you ever introduce yourself. For someone who recently moved or simply wants to expand a social circle, that could make taking the first step a little easier.
Open NewTree and the basic experience should feel familiar. There is a feed. You browse events nearby. You can RSVP and get reminders about something you want to attend.
But the idea behind that feed is a little different. O'Connor comes from a graphic design background and told CyberGuy that she deliberately wanted NewTree to feel more like a social platform than a traditional events directory.
The app currently focuses on community, fitness and wellness events around Tampa, St. Pete and Clearwater. Apple describes it as an app for discovering local events, RSVPing and meeting new people.
Hosts can add photos and videos to event listings. Users can browse what is happening around them and RSVP from their phones. O'Connor also wants reviews to play a bigger role in what people discover. She says reviews of a host's events can affect how those events perform in the feed instead of simply sitting on a profile.
There is something almost funny about the concept. You open another social-style app because you want to spend less of your social life inside apps. But maybe that is exactly the point.
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NewTree is entering a crowded space. Meetup, Eventbrite and Facebook already help people discover events nearby, and both Meetup and Eventbrite offer personalized recommendations.
So what is NewTree trying to do differently? O'Connor says she wants the experience to feel more like a social platform built specifically around getting people together in person. She also says reviews can influence how a host's events perform in the feed, so better-reviewed experiences can potentially receive greater visibility. During NewTree's early pilot, O'Connor is personally reviewing and approving hosts before their events can appear publicly.
None of those ideas completely reinvents event discovery. The bet is that putting them together in a more curated, community-focused experience will give people another useful way to find things to do and meet people nearby. Whether that gives people enough reason to add NewTree to the apps they already use is one of the biggest things the company still has to prove.
Here is what I would be watching. Does NewTree help people make plans they actually follow through on? Getting someone to download an app is one thing. Getting them to put on shoes, leave home and show up somewhere is much harder.
The idea works if you spend a few minutes browsing NewTree, find something interesting and eventually put the phone back in your pocket because you have somewhere to go.
It becomes a lot less interesting if people simply scroll through another feed filled with things they might someday do. O'Connor is very open about just how early NewTree is.
She told CyberGuy that NewTree is pre-traction and pre-revenue. Tampa Bay is the starting point because she wants to prove that people will use the platform in one market before trying to expand throughout Florida and eventually nationwide. So there is a long way to go. But the behavior NewTree is betting on already appears to be taking shape.
Of course, using an app to find events where you may meet strangers brings some very real safety questions. O'Connor says she has taken a hands-on approach during NewTree's MVP stage. She told CyberGuy that she personally reviews and approves hosts before their events can appear on the platform. Users can report content or other users and block people. Hosts can also remove or report attendees.
NewTree's current support page says business profiles are reviewed before they can post. However, there is an important limitation. A verified badge means NewTree says it has confirmed that the business is who it claims to be. It does not mean NewTree is endorsing or guaranteeing a specific event.
NewTree's terms go further. They say events are generally operated independently by outside hosts and that NewTree does not ordinarily perform criminal background checks or identity verification on users, attendees, hosts or organizers.
So I would still do some homework before showing up at an unfamiliar event. Look up the organizer independently. Check the venue. If you are uncomfortable going alone, bring someone you trust. Technology can help you find people. It cannot remove all of the risks that come with meeting people you do not know.
Privacy deserves a close look too. O'Connor told CyberGuy that NewTree collects basic account information, including your name, email, date of birth and location. She says the app can use a saved profile location or, with your permission, your device location.
She also said the information is stored through NewTree's Supabase database, with database-level access controls designed to limit who can access different information. When someone RSVPs to a free event, O'Connor says the host receives the attendee's name, email and location information so they can manage and communicate with attendees.
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Another detail could cause some confusion. Apple currently gives NewTree a 13+ age rating. NewTree itself says you must be at least 18 years old to create an account or use the platform.
O'Connor told CyberGuy that Apple's 13+ label reflects its content-based App Store rating rather than the minimum age NewTree allows on the platform. So, despite what you may see on the App Store listing, NewTree says the service itself is for adults 18 and older.
Right now, Apple lists NewTree as an iPhone app. O'Connor told CyberGuy that Android support is planned but not available yet.
The business model is still taking shape too. O'Connor says she is leaning toward keeping the app free for users while eventually offering optional premium tools for businesses and hosts. Exactly what those paid features would include has not been decided.
So I would look at NewTree for what it is today: a very early app built around a much larger change in the way some people are thinking about technology.
Most of us could probably use a few more reasons to put the phone down and do something in the real world. Our phones have become where we communicate, work, watch videos and fill just about every empty moment.
Sometimes the screen starts taking the place of the experiences it was supposed to help us find. Maybe the better approach is expecting more from the technology we already use.
If an app helps you discover a local event, try something you would never have considered or meet someone you otherwise never would have crossed paths with, the phone becomes the starting point. Then it can get out of the way.
I like that idea. Use the technology to find something worth doing. Then look up from the screen and go do it.
What stands out to me here is how good technology has become at keeping us looking down. Notifications pull us back in. Feeds always have something else waiting. Before you know it, another chunk of your day has disappeared into a screen. Now we are seeing signs that many people want something different. They still want technology, but they also want more opportunities to be around people in the real world. NewTree has a lot to prove. But I like the problem O'Connor is trying to solve. Your phone already knows how to keep you home and entertained for hours. Maybe the next really useful social app will be the one that gives you a good reason to leave.
Would you use an app designed to get you off your phone and out meeting people, or does downloading another social app defeat the whole purpose? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
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Flock CEO, tech rivals called to testify before senators over AI camera privacy concerns
FIRST ON FOX: The CEOs of four companies, including Flock Safety, are being called to testify before a Senate panel next week as lawmakers look to crack down on AI-powered surveillance camera tracking Americansâ movements, Fox News Digital has learned.
A number of lawmakers and several governors have called for investigations into alleged privacy violations regarding the handling of images and data generated by AI-backed surveillance cameras.
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism will hold a hearing titled "Always Watching: Flockâs Nationwide AI Surveillance Network" on Sept. 23.
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"Americans do not surrender their privacy rights when they drive to work, drop their kids off at school, or go to church," subcommittee Chairman Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Iâm investigating these companies to determine WHO has access to hundreds of millions of Americansâ data - and what theyâre doing with it."
Garrett Langley, CEO of Flock Safety, Rick Smith, CEO of Axon Enterprise Inc., Greg Brown, CEO of Motorola Solutions, and Filip Kaliszan, CEO of Verkada, have all been invited to testify before the committee.
Fox News Digital reached out to the four companies invited to testify.
AI-powered surveillance cameras have been heavily scrutinized by lawmakers over concerns that the cameras track individualsâ movements without reason, regardless of whether a crime is being committed.
FORMER PENTAGON AI CHIEF WARNS FLOCK CAMERAS COULD CREATE 'CHINA-LIKE SURVEILLANCE STATE' IN THE US
A number of politicians have taken action against the devices, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordering the removal of all license plate reader cameras from Florida state roads and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordering all state agencies to stop spending state money on Flock Safety cameras.
Flock Safety cameras, along with other similar brands and technology, use artificial intelligence to automatically track and identify vehicles and license plates for local law enforcement use. Nationwide concern has grown about whether the AI-backed system should be allowed to track the movement of vehicles without a warrant or the consent of drivers.
A total of about 120,000 Flock Safety cameras are operating in the U.S. in every state except Alaska.
Opposition to Flock Safety cameras has created an unlikely political overlap, with Republicans and far-left activists criticizing the technology for very different reasons. Republican lawmakers have largely centered their objections on privacy rights, government overreach and warrantless surveillance, while socialist and communist organizers have incorporated the cameras into broader campaigns opposing artificial intelligence, law enforcement, immigration enforcement, data center development and what they describe as an emerging "police state" or "AI surveillance state."
LICENSE PLATE CAMERAS ARE TRACKING DRIVERS EVERYWHERE
President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he supports the idea of Flock Safety cameras "because of law enforcement" and the aid AI-powered cameras provide to police and local law enforcement.
Over the last year, several far-left organizations tied to a network funded by Shanghai-based tech businessman Neville Roy Singham have organized local opposition to Flock Safety cameras while simultaneously campaigning against new data center projects. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders have continued to champion data center construction as part of the administration's broader technology and infrastructure agenda.
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The Party for Socialism and Liberation's Denver chapter teamed up with Indivisible and the far-left Sunrise Movement in May to promote a public forum focused on the alleged link between data centers and mass surveillance, contending that both exist to serve billionaires instead of everyday communities.
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The Party for Socialism and Liberation's Tucson chapter joined "deFLOCK Tucson" and the "No Desert Data Center Coalition" on July 25 for a gathering dubbed "It's ALL Connected," held at the Global Justice Center on E. 26th Street.
Event advertisements posed a question about what mass surveillance, data centers and electricity have in common, responding with a single message: "IT'S ALL CONNECTED."
Ryan Clark again accuses ESPN of leaking his firing to OutKick: Hereâs the real story
Ryan Clark once again accused ESPN of leaking the news of his firing to OutKick to embarrass him. This time, he said so during an appearance on the influential Black radio show "The Breakfast Club."
"Everybody that got laid off got told on Tuesday. Only one person got told on Monday on set. Me. Thatâs the distinction," Clark told the hosts Tuesday. "It was also purposeful. It was also meant, in my opinion, to humiliate. In leaking it to OutKick, you now know if anybody is going to curry favor for you in this decision, itâs going to be them because itâs me."
ESPN informed Clark of his firing during a commercial break of the July 22 edition of "NFL Live." He did not return to the program.
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He continued, "Thereâs so many reputable sports publications. Whether itâs you know Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, The Athletic. If this is going to be as big a news as it turned out to be, why not give it to them? Because you knew who you were giving it to. You knew the small amount of people within that building that knew it. Then the humiliation that you at least purposed it to come along with me being laid off."
"I do feel like it was about that humiliation, and he wanted to save me from that. It was already going to be enough written. It was already going to be enough laughs, enough jokes that I worked that day anyway. So I appreciated him."
This is not the first time Clark has made that claim. Nor is it the first time listeners of "The Breakfast Club" have heard it.
The day after OutKick reported the news, one of the showâs hosts claimed a source told them ESPN executive Burke Magnus leaked the information to OutKick to spite Clark. It is possible the source was someone who spoke with Clark â or Clark himself.
The version of events Clark and the showâs hosts are presenting, however, is not accurate. I would know. I am one of three people who know how OutKick obtained the information and why ESPN informed Clark of his firing during a live program.
So letâs go step by step.
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We must first return to Super Bowl week in February. Although the game aired on NBC, agents, executives, and on-air talent from various networks routinely descend on the host city for meetings and negotiations. One of the most notable pieces of information to emerge that week was that Clarkâs standing at ESPN had deteriorated ahead of the networkâs first Super Bowl broadcast in 2027.
Sources told us Clark was unlikely to remain part of ESPNâs "Monday Night Countdown," which was scheduled to serve as the networkâs Super Bowl pregame and halftime show. They also questioned whether he would remain with ESPN at all.
The rumblings were not entirely surprising.
Despite what Clark says, he was not universally loved inside ESPN. He had supporters, including Stephen A. Smith, ESPN NFL studio executive Seth Markman, and Mina Kimes. But he also had plenty of detractors.
Complaints about Clark included his handling of previous contract negotiations, including videos and regular updates; demeaning comments about Robert Griffin III for marrying a white woman; an on-air and behind-the-scenes blowup with Peter Schrager; reckless comments about Louisiana police; and multiple headlines that had little to do with sports.
ESPN would not fire Clark over any single incident. The network tends to tread carefully when dismissing Black talent because of the risk of false accusations of racism, accusations Clark eventually made anyway.
Waiting for a broader layoff period made sense.
Those rumblings continued throughout the spring and summer, especially after ESPN omitted Clark from its upcoming Super Bowl plans during the networkâs May upfront presentation.
Before July, OutKick also reported several times that Clarkâs future with ESPN was uncertain.
RYAN CLARK MADE IT TOO DIFFICULT FOR ESPN TO JUSTIFY KEEPING HIM AFTER YEARS OF CONTROVERSY
Now letâs jump to July.
On Friday, July 17, a friendly media ally told me they had heard ESPN planned to let go of Clark the following week, when the network was expected to announce layoffs. For context, this person was not a source. Everything we discuss is private and off the record. They did not give me the information for publication, and I had no plans to report it.
Two days later, on Monday, others in the industry began asking whether I had heard about the layoffs, who was on the list, and whether Clark was among those who'd be dismissed. That afternoon, I learned that my OutKick colleague Dan Zaksheske had also heard that ESPN planned to lay off Clark on Tuesday.
Zaksheske and I then gathered the information and confirmed it with two additional sources. We typically avoid reporting transactional media news, but Clark had become a significant figure in the broader sports conversation because of his racial and political commentary.
We decided the story was substantial enough to report.
Around 4 p.m. ET that day, in accordance with our standard editorial policy, we informed ESPNâs public-relations department that we planned to report Clarkâs firing. ESPN PR said it would get back to us. Around 4:48 p.m., the network responded that it had no comment.
We published our story, only to learn that The Athletic had reported a bare-bones version at approximately the same time.
We later learned that ESPN informed Clark of his firing during the commercial break, right around 4:48 p.m. â before sending us its response.
The timeline makes clear that ESPN did not work with OutKick. No one high up at the company leaked the information to us or intended, as Clark put it, to "humiliate" him.
So why did ESPN handle it this way?
ESPN has told multiple people who inquired about the situation that management did not think OutKick would hold the news until after "NFL Live." The network feared Clark would learn about his firing from our report.
The executive who informed Clark â and told him OutKick knew about it â was Seth Markman, one of Clarkâs allies. It appears Markman made that decision because he believed Clark was better off hearing the news directly from him.
In our view, Markman handled the situation poorly and helped create the secondary storyline surrounding Clarkâs firing: the OutKick angle.
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ESPN also deserves blame for assuming OutKick would not hold the story until it addressed the layoff with Clark. The fact that we reached out to the network indicated that we would wait. The network then added to the circus by tipping off The Athletic that we had the story.
As for why Clarkâs firing was announced a day before the rest of the layoffs, the answer is simple: He was the only person whose name moved the needle.
Cam Newton was the second-biggest name laid off. OutKick reported his termination the following morning.
For all the drama, headlines, and accusations, OutKick did not contribute to the situation beyond reporting the news.
We heard about a story from sources and reported it after seeking comment from ESPN. Every other subplot was the product of ESPNâs poor handling of the situation and Clark accusing us of conspiring with his former bosses. To avoid another situation like this, ESPN should stop assuming our intentions are poor and do a better job keeping sensitive information concealed.
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Perhaps unbeknownst to ESPN management and Clark, his impending firing was relatively well known in and around ESPN. People talk. And OutKick has never needed an intentional leak to learn what is happening inside ESPN.
Dave Rubin breaks down Hasan Piker's transition from Twitch streamer to political player
Hasan Piker may be a major name in online political media now, but when he got his start at The Young Turks, a network co-founded by his uncle, Cenk Uygur, he was a young, loud guy looking to make a splash in the online political discourse. Dave Rubin, who formerly worked on The Young Turks, recalls Piker as "a big dude" who was "really loud."
"[Cenk] just put Hasan on air, even though virtually everyone there wanted to be on air," Rubin recalled in a conversation with Fox News Digital. Rubin said that most of the staff at The Young Turks wanted to be on camera, but "once [Hasan] just showed up, he just got on camera. Cenk just gave him the keys to the kingdom and I guess he became some sort of personality since then."
While Piker has continued to profess anti-capitalist and progressive views while building an audience of loyal followers, Rubin later had a political epiphany and realigned himself with the right. In a 2017 PragerU video, Rubin explained that the left had gone from being "progressive to regressive," pointing to cancel culture and calls for censorship, among other things.
HASAN PIKER IS BECOMING THE 'FACE OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT,' FORMER DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVE WARNS
Rubin said he was not surprised that Piker had gone from Twitch streamer to what he called the "brain trust" of Democratic Socialists. "The Rubin Report" host explained that he saw Piker as filling a void for the left as the right saw a rise in online personalities. Rubin also pointed to the ways in which Piker differed from the typical left-leaning personalities, which he said have made the Twitch streamer resonate with young people.
"There weren't that many entertaining new people on the left online. As I said, the right had this rich group of people that was growing and growing and going, whether it was Ben Shapiro or Jordan Peterson or me or Steven Crowder or whoever it might be. There was this long list of people. The left had a couple peopleâŚ. They were all sort of dorky, effeminate, weird, kind of limp-wristed, low testosterone," Rubin said.
"And he came on, and again, he's big, he kind of jacked, you know, he wears his fancy clothes, he is aggressive, it's not really what progressives are," he said.
Beyond Pikerâs physical presence and media rise, Rubin argued that the streamer's ideology is anchored in an aggressive critique of Israel, something that he said has become more common among left-wing personalities. He argued that progressives "have an endless obsession and hatred of Israel," which he said "is just an extension of hatred of the Jews."
FAR-LEFT STREAMER HASAN PIKER EQUATES ISRAEL'S 'RIGHT TO EXIST' TO NAZI GERMANY
"You don't have to agree with everything any government does or anything else, but when you have no standards for any other country, and then you hold only one country to any standard whatsoever, and that country happens to be the place where the Jews live, maybe it has a little something to do with Jews," Rubin said.
Piker has faced accusations of antisemitism and sparked backlash with a recent comment about Jewish Americans' support for Israel.
During his Aug. 20 stream, Piker said, "People don't f--- with Israel any longer. And if Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they're singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone will come around and take action not against Israel, mind you, but against American Jews."
Several lawmakers condemned the remarks, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who campaigned with Piker, responded to the streamer's remarks, saying "I believe all Americans deserve the right to advocate for what they believe without fear of violence."
EL-SAYED DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM HASAN PIKER AFTER DISTURBING REMARKS ABOUT JEWISH AMERICANS
Rubin believes that one of the reasons behind the focus on Israel is that "Jews don't fit into the intersectional calculator." He said that, while Jews had been historically persecuted, their success in America has made it so they don't fit the mold of an "oppressed minority" the way other groups do.
"If you're an oppressed group that's not oppressed, it debunks their whole ideology," Rubin said.
According to Rubin, the central hypocrisy comes down to Piker's lifestyle versus the beliefs the streamer professes to hold. This dynamic, Rubin warns, could leave Piker's audience bearing the consequences of his ideas.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
"I have no doubt he lives like a capitalist while promoting socialism, and he won't be eaten by the revolution the way some average kid who gets confused by his ideas and then probably gets out there and does something stupid will," Rubin said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Piker and The Young Turks for comment.