Just when it seemed that confidence in America's news media couldn't get any worse, last month Gallup reported new record lows.
"Just 16% of U.S. adults now say they have 'a great deal' or 'quite a lot' of confidence in newspapers and 11% in television news," Gallup's Megan Brenan wrote. "Both readings are down five percentage points since last year."
Those numbers are startling—and perhaps well deserved given the current state of our corrupt corporate media. But they're also troubling for America.
Batya Ungar-Sargon, deputy opinion editor at Newsweek, is the author of "Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy." She spoke to The Daily Signal about the media and her diagnosis of what's wrong.
When you turn on the TV these days, you're bombarded with negative stories and talking heads claiming America is a no-good, very bad place. It can be hard to grow up in an environment where it seems like everyone thinks America's best days are behind her.
Many young Americans believe such dark prognostications about the evil of America, and are convinced that their country is a lost cause.
But rapper, podcaster, and life coach Zuby disagrees.
"You should be hopeful, because what is the alternative?" Zuby asks. "The alternative is being pessimistic and negative and black-pilled, and that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don't think you can win the game, why would you even play?"
He adds: "If you live in the Western world, you're American, you're British, you're Canadian, and you exist in this time period, in 2022, you have it immediately, off the bat, better off than at least 90% of people who have ever walked the face of this planet."
Zuby joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss why it's so important to remain hopeful about the nation's future.
We also cover these stories:
Food prices surge even as gasoline prices fall at the pump.
FBI Director Christopher Wray condemns threats made against him and other law enforcement officers on social media.
Twitter introduces new moderation policies designed to combat so-called misinformation on the social media platform before the midterm elections in November.
For many Americans, buying a home is one of their greatest financial goals. And, according to Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., the health of the economy is tied directly to Americans' ability to purchase real estate.
“So goes housing, so goes the economy,” Norman says. “The reason that is, you have over 130 trades [involved in the real estate market] from the architect that draws the plans… to the sheetrock hanger, to the plumber, to the electrician, and the list goes on and on.”
When the real estate begins to stabilize, the economy will improve over all, he says.
“We know the path that we're on is not sustainable,” the congressman says, adding that it will “take all hands on deck to turn it around.”
Norman joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the future of America’s economy and real estate market. He also explains how America can strategically end its dependence on China.
Also on today’s show, we cover these stories:
The consumer price index rose 8.5% since last July.
Former President Donald Trump invokes his Fifth Amendment rights during a deposition with New York Attorney General Latisha James' office.
The Justice Department charges an Iranian operative for plotting to assassinate former national security adviser John Bolton.
The Senate narrowly passed the "Inflation Reduction Act" on Sunday, thanks to a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris. But would the bill, if also passed by the House, actually reduce the record-high inflation faced by Americans?
"The bill drafters will tell you that it reduces deficits, which means it would be less pressure on the Federal Reserve to print money to cover the deficit, which is what they've been doing for the last two years, which is how we got the inflation we had," Heritage Foundation senior policy analyst Richard Stern says. (The Daily Signal is Heritage's multimedia news organization.)
"However, the real truth is, if you go through the bill, it's going to probably increase deficits by $350 billion over the next 10 years, which is a lot of money obviously," Stern says.
The House is preparing to vote this week on the Democrats' tax and spending bill, which likely will be signed into law Friday by President Joe Biden.
Stern joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, its impact on the average American, and why Stern is hopeful that better policy is on the horizon.
Can a civilization survive without faith? It's a question many Americans are considering as a wave of secularism sweeps the nation.
There are those that push back against the idea that faith and religion should be involved in the political process. They point to the establishment clause in the Constitution that prevents the government from establishing a religion as evidence the Founders wanted to keep religion separate from the apparatus of state.
Eric Metaxas, a Christian author and host of "The Eric Metaxas Show," disagrees.
"I think that the Founders knew that a robust faith was at the very heart of keeping the republic. There was no question about that," Metaxas says. "I think the misunderstanding that we've been living with for decades now, that somehow we're supposed to keep our faith out of the public square, is utterly preposterous."
Metaxas joins the show to discuss the role of faith in society and whether America can survive if she loses her faith heritage.
We also cover these stories:
President Joe Biden says he isn’t worried about a possible Chinese response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent visit to Taiwan.
Greg McMichael and his son Travis McMichael are sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges for the death of Ahmaud Arbery.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams calls for federal aid to deal with ongoing busloads of illegal immigrants from Texas.
American author and historian David McCullough is dead.
Last week, congressional Democrats from Minnesota and New York cast doubt on Biden's political future, suggesting it was time for a new generation to step forward. Those public statements came on the heels of Gallup's poll, which put Biden's job approval rating at a personal low 38%.
History doesn't bode well for incumbent presidents who face intraparty challenges, according to presidential historian Tevi Troy. His recent Washington Examiner cover story, "Biden faces a mutiny," examined six examples of 20th-century presidents who faced intraparty challengers—all losers.
Troy, director of the Presidential Leadership Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center and a former senior White House aide, joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to talk about Biden's future, frustrations plaguing his White House, and interesting tidbits about presidential history.
A new report from Heritage Foundation's Brenda Hafera provides unique insights and observations into how the presidential homes of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison are mostly failing to teach accurately about what these men achieved for our country. Mount Vernon is easily the best home, and is faithful to its former owner. But things quickly get bad and Monticello and just ugly at Montpelier.
As Hafera notes: "Madison [and] his accomplishments are relegated to a portion of the house tour. Which guides can write their own script, but they must talk about Dolly and James Madison, the enslaved people, and the Constitution. So Madison is talked about there. He is talked about in a brief video in the visitors center, which also labels the Constitution racist, and Madison a slave owner. But there are no exhibits on James Madison as the fourth president, as the father of the Constitution, as the primary author of the Bill of Rights, or writing a number of the Federalist Papers, which ensured the ratification of that Constitution."
New documents obtained by the America First Legal Foundation have revealed deep collusion between officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its allies in Big Tech to silence dissenting voices.
The documents lay bare efforts by government officials to push social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to censor so-called medical misinformation.
John Zadrozny, deputy director of investigations at the America First Legal Foundation, joins the show to discuss how deep the collusion goes, and what it all means.
We also cover these stories:
Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., dies in a car accident.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspends Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren over his refusal to enforce state laws restricting abortion or prohibiting gender-transition treatments such as mastectomies or cross-sex hormones for minors.
WNBA player Brittney Griner is sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony after being found guilty of attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics into the country.
Five ballistic missiles launched during a military exercise around Taiwan by the Chinese military land inside Japan's exclusive economic zone.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled with a delegation to Taiwan this week, where she met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Taiwan lawmakers despite aggressive rhetoric and threats from the Chinese Communist Party.
Pelosi, who was the first speaker to visit Taiwan since former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., visited in 1997, tweeted about the trip: "Our discussions with Taiwan leadership reaffirm our support for our partner & promote our shared interests, including advancing a free & open Indo-Pacific region."
"It's really important that she do it, a speaker of the house going to Taiwan, demonstrating American support for Taiwan. It's doubly important to do it once a Chinese called her out for it," Walter Lohman, the director of the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation, says. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s multimedia news organization.)
Walter joins the podcast to discuss Speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, if the United States should change its policy toward Taiwan, and if he predicts the visit will spark World War III.
Much has been made of grabbing the coveted youth vote. America's future lies in her young people, so theoretically, whoever influences the young now will be in a much better position to steer the country.
But politicians often seem to look at young Americans as some sort of alien species. What do they like? What matters to them? How do I get them on my side?
Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, now president of Young America's Foundation, argues that young folks aren't that much different than your average voter and mostly have the same concerns.
"Young Americans still have to put gas in their car, their moped, or whatever they're driving these days," says Walker, emphasizing that the economic pain hitting older Americans also affects young Americans.
"If anything, I think [young Americans are] more libertarian than they are liberal, in the sense that at their core, they just want to live their own lives," he says.
When asked whether he thinks Republicans and conservatives can court young Americans who feel betrayed by the Democrats and President Joe Biden, Walker responds:
I think there are others who are less about hardcore right- or left-wing ideological viewpoints being upset and more just being upset in general. I do think there's a tremendous opportunity. But it can't just be that we're against Joe Biden.
Instead, Walker says, conservatives should make the argument for "a better way forward."
The former Wisconsin governor joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" today to discuss what young Americans are looking for in their leaders and how conservatives can best continue to court younger Americans.
We also cover these stories:
The U.S. announces that an American drone strike Saturday eliminated al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Kabul, Afghanistan.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrives in Taiwan under heavy rhetorical fire from China.
President Joe Biden names FEMA regional administrator Robert Fenton as the government's lead on monkeypox.
A group of major news outlets sue the Texas Department of Public Safety over public records relating to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
