John –

Less than a week ago, Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Defense Secretary seemed doomed. The Fox & Friends host is objectively unqualified for the role and faces serious allegations of sexual misconduct and public drunkenness.

Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst, a combat veteran and advocate for survivors of sexual assault in the military, was publicly skeptical of Trump’s pick. In normal times, Ernst might have stood her ground and led the opposition to Hegseth.

But these aren’t normal times. In the end, the right-wing media did Trump’s bidding, bullying Ernst into submission and breathing new life into Hegseth’s nomination.

We’ll explain how in a moment, but if you’re ready to help build a progressive media network strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the right’s fascist media machine, can you chip in $25 now to help COURIER protect democracy and defend the truth?

The moment Ernst showed signs of wavering, the right-wing media unleashed its full arsenal:

• Elon Musk weaponized X, threatening to fund primary challenges against any Republican who opposed Trump’s cabinet picks.
• Fox News ran a story quoting Trump insiders, warning Ernst she would pay a “political price” for stepping out of line.
• MAGA influencers followed Musk and flooded X, calling Ernst “spineless” and demanding a primary challenger in 2026.
• Megyn Kelly’s viral TikTok accused Ernst of betraying Trump, racking up millions of views.

The message was clear: defy Trump, and you’ll pay the price.

And it worked. Ernst reversed course, praising Hegseth and dismissing the allegations against him unless accusers came forward publicly. Suddenly, the unqualified, scandal-plagued Fox & Friends host had a path to overseeing the most powerful military in the world.

This is straight out of the authoritarian playbook: use media dominance to silence dissent, rewrite the narrative, and force compliance to Trump at all costs.

In 2024, we saw just how unfit the legacy media is to fight back. It’s up to us to build a progressive media network that can counter the right, hold them accountable, defend the truth, and stop Trump from causing irreparable damage to our democracy.

Chip in $25 now to help COURIER take on the right-wing media machine and stop fascism in its tracks.

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