• Fox’s Sean Hannity called for “a political litmus test” for people moving from blue to red states. 
• Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has replaced the Pentagon press corps with MAGA propagandists and conspiracy theorists. Media Matters’ Matt Gertz provides a great rundown of what that means.

The 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will not receive assistance in November, and some right-wing media pundits are using the opportunity to attack the program and its recipients while others are using SNAP recipients as a cudgel against Democrats. 

About 1 in 8 Americans rely on SNAP benefits, receiving an average of $187 a month in food aid. The vast majority of households which receive SNAP benefits include children, an elderly person, or someone with a disability.

The Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, has said it will not shift funds around to keep the program operational, despite the existence of a contingency fund for emergencies and the department's own previous guidance in a “Lapse of Funding Plan” that indicated emergency funds could be used. That plan has since been struck from the USDA website. Now Fox News is backing the administration’s decision while Democratic attorneys general from 25 states sue to force the administration to use contingency funds. 

Right-wing pundits are calling the program too generous, with some attacking recipients — who now are also being attacked online with fake racist AI-generated videos. Some right-wing hosts are also claiming that weight and drug testing should be instituted for SNAP recipients. But others in right-wing media are arguing that SNAP is an essential benefit and are blaming Democrats for taking it away. 

The gleeful enthusiasm with which some right-wing media personalities suggest food should be taken away from their fellow countrymen is truly disturbing, and ultimately in line with the cruelty which defines so much of the MAGA movement.

• War Room host Steve Bannon said New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has “got be denaturalized because his naturalization process was fouled. He’s got to be sent out of the country.” 
• A Fox News anchor said Democrats’ “thirst for violence … feels real.”

The New York Times recently reported that a Department of Homeland Security official focused on “election integrity,” appointed by President Donald Trump, has proposed that Trump declare a “national emergency” to “justify dictating new rules to state and local governments” related to voting and elections. 

The call for a “national emergency” declaration, which Department of Homeland Security Official Heather Honey made a few months ahead of her appointment, has also recently been reiterated by right-wing figures and Trump allies known for pushing false claims of widespread election fraud. In interviews and on social media, some of these figures have suggested that Trump use “plenary authority” or claimed to be “encouraging” Trump to declare a national emergency “to make sure that the elections in 2026 are secure.” One of those figures has even claimed to be involved in efforts to craft a related executive order that would affect voting processes. 

Media Matters compiled this piece detailing how right-wing media is pushing Trump to declare a national emergency.

• Ben Shapiro said it would be “borderline impeachable at best” for the Department of Justice to give Trump $230 million.

Right-wing media outlets have spent months telling their audiences that a U.S. military campaign to topple the Venezuelan government would be simple and straightforward, requiring a minimal military footprint or lasting commitments to the country. In some cases, these outlets have suggested that the transition to a new government, following the toppling of President Nicolas Maduro, would be easy and organic. 

Even if the United States were able to defeat the Venezuelan military fairly quickly in a conventional war, many experts warn that regime collapse would likely lead to an extended, bloody conflict that could have lasting ramifications throughout Venezuela, the surrounding region, and potentially the entire hemisphere. To date, the United States has carried out 13 known strikes on boats the Trump administration has alleged, without evidence, were engaged in the drug trade, killing at least 57 people, and has amassed the largest show of force in the region since the Cuban missile crisis. 

Fox News has celebrated the Trump administration’s lethal strikes, despite concerns from legal experts over the strikes' legality and bipartisan warnings from congressional members that they have seen no evidence to support the administration’s claims that the strikes are targeting drug traffickers. In addition to praising the strikes, some Fox figures have gone so far as to suggest they would support regime change in Venezuela. 

For those of us old enough to remember the Bush administration’s catastrophic invasion of Iraq and the fiasco which followed, the recent talk of regime change carried out by another Republican administration is especially disconcerting.