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ESPN Layoffs Hit On-Air Talent, With One Fired While on the Air; Honoring Our Founders Is Tyrannical

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Jul 21, 2026
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

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Anti-Social Media – ESPN

  • This is like being cut in the third quarter!

It was announced that at ESPN and the NFL Network, layoffs would take place Tuesday morning, with many on-air personalities being let go. Karl Ravech was among the bigger names who got released in the morning announcement, but a standout was NFL commentator and former player Ryan Clark, who was notified Monday afternoon.

This early notification was due to the press getting wind of the decision, and after contacting the network for confirmation, it was realized he might learn of his termination on the internet, so the decision was made to let him know. The issue was that at the time, he was on the show “NFL Live” as the story was being published. As he learned of his bad fortune, Clark did not return for the balance of that broadcast.

News Avoidance Syndrome – ASSOCIATED PRESS

  • That darned president, allowing others to put his image on currency!

President Trump is appearing on a new issue $1 commemorative coin, and as expected, members of the realm on the Port side of politics are in a furor over this. Legislation is cited that supposedly prohibits a living president from being featured in a numismatic fashion, but there are allowances in some aspects.

As the Associated Press puts things, “Trump, a Republican, has a penchant for putting his name and likeness in the historical record.” But a news outlet maybe could dig into the story just a little bit, because having done so would have revealed some contradictory details.

The ban on living presidents applies to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; there are different standards regarding the U.S. Mint. The move to have his image struck on the coin emerged from Congress, not presidential fiat. They voted in 2020 to allow the mint to press coins in honor of the nation’s 250th, of which this image of Trump is regarded as falling under and thus allowable.

Hoax & Change – CNN

  • The attacker fits the leftist blueprint, so time to recast his motivation!

Monday saw the jarring news of an anti-ICE protester setting fire to the entrance of an ICE office in New York, and also setting off pyrotechnics. In the course of his “protest” in support of immigrants, he managed to cause injuries to an immigrant filing his status with the agency.

In looking at the facts of this wing nut having all manner of terroristic opposition to the immigration authorities, Keith Boykin stated this was inspired not by leftist or media dogma, but by the Trump administration.

Joining him on this stunted case of deflection was CNN’s Sarah Sidner, who also directly blamed the actions of ICE for this bout with a violent attacker. Scott Jennings walked her through her lack of common sense.

Dos Equis-pert Opinion – WASHINGTON POST

  • If you need any more proof of an act being demonized strictly because Trump enforces it.

The WaPo braintrust saw recent improvements made around the White House and instantly jumped into opposition action. Since it was the president doing something, IT MUST BE WRONG! The crime? President Trump has commissioned a new statue for the White House grounds, one depicting Thomas Jefferson, seated and using his portable writing desk to pen the Declaration of Independence.

This makes for the fifth such statue he commissioned to honor the nation’s 250th, so, OF COURSE, there had to be a problem, and they found an expert to declare precisely why we should be outraged at the honoring of our Founders:

Some art critics argue that Trump’s emphasis on memorializing specific people, rather than commissioning abstract works that evoke broader themes and feelings, is a lost opportunity. “All told, the statues dating to his second term are of negligible artistic value,” Maxwell Anderson, the former president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, wrote in an email. Anderson also drew comparisons between Trump’s preferences and what he said were similar practices by dictators who led North Korea and the Soviet Union. 

Celebrating our Founding Fathers. THAT makes Trump a dictator. Just…magnificent stuff, right there.

Both Kinds of Standards – MS NOW

  • Accusing others of fascism while embracing the fascists.

There is currently a divide in the Democratic Party over the incursion of the Democratic Socialists, a faction whose leadership has professed far more than socialism, with some declaring communism is their ultimate goal. It is a rather confounding development, considering the volume used in the accusations made about Republicans and Trump being fascists.

Yet here is claimed independent Joe Scarborough, tsk-tsk-ing the Democrats, suggesting they need to come together and welcome these anti-capitalist and totalitarian-loving DSA members:

I will say, as a former Republican, now an independent, who is for pro-democracy forces, my attitude has always been, we're Baptists. We will play 16 hymns of ‘Just as I Am’, if that's what it takes to bring new converts down. We will wait. And when those new converts come in, we hug them. 

Just to help out Scar-Joe on this matter: The DSA members have no interest in converting TO the Democratic Party, they are striving to convert Dems into their socialist dream.

Reporting on the Mirror – THE INDEPENDENTS

  • Making it sound like the standard for everyone only applies to you?

Chris Cillizza makes a curious announcement: He has registered to vote in Virginia. Now, once you are finished yawning, there are more details to this non-event. Chris declares that he has never voted in the past, and has never before even registered to vote.

Along with his announcement of a dedicated life of a lack of civic responsibility, he makes it sound as if there is something noble about the fact that he registered as “No party preference.”

News for Mr. Cillizza—that applies to everyone in the Commonwealth of Virginia. No residents register with a party affiliation.