InfluenceWatch Podcast

The Biden administration pursued a number of “whole of government” initiatives to advance the Everything Leftism that its staff brought with them into government. Some, like the initiative to promote union organizing, were highly publicized and formal. But others, like the online censorship regime the administration’s operatives sought to build, were more quietly constructed. With a new administration in town, how goes the deconstruction of that online censorship regime? Joining me today to discuss the Biden administration’s censorship regime, the Trump administration’s response to it, and the closure of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center is Dan Schneider of Media Research Center’s Free Speech America project.The Biden Administration Waged War on Free Speech with 57 Censorship InitiativesSecretary Rubio's live conversation with Mike Benz on dismantling the censorship bureaucracyHow Biden’s DHS Is Weaponizing an Anti-Terror Program Against Christians, Conservatives & the GOPBiden’s Out of Office, But Many of His Censorship Initiatives Are Still in Effect. The MRC Is Pushing for Leaders in Washington to End Them.The Left’s Censorship Industry: Brazen Advocacy for CensorshipAd Fontes MediaNewsGuard

Back in the 1960s, the teachers’ unions, especially the United Federation of Teachers in New York, had a reputation for being strongly Jewish. But today, the teachers unions—especially the National Education Association—are deeply entrenched in an Everything Leftist movement that has made Palestinian nationalism that often strays into antisemitism a core value. Joining us today to discuss the teachers’ unions swing to the anti-Israel and even outright antisemitic hard left is Rhyen Staley, a researcher at Defending Education (formerly Parents Defending Education).Largest Teachers' Union in United States Erases Jews From the HolocaustA History of Everything Leftist Unionism: Labor and the New LeftThe Ideological Fuel of a New Left: Three Axes, Two Buckets, and One ApproachHolocaust Miseducation and the Nakba Narrative

The Southern Poverty Law Center, trading on a reputation it earned suing the remnants of the organized Ku Klux Klan in the 1980s, claims to be an honest watchdog of extremism on the political right. But our guest Tyler O’Neill, a senior editor at the Daily Signal, has written a book on how the organization went from an indigent legal-defense organization (a poverty law center, as it were) to the well-funded public bullying arm of the organized left, and my colleague Robert Stilson has taken a look at just how big the SPLC has gotten compared to other, less politically activist charities. They join me today to discuss the SPLC and its role in present-day politics and the charitable sector.SPLC InfluenceWatch ProfileSPLC’s “charitable” wealthSPLC Smears Another Christian NonprofitThe Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal GovernmentMaking Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law CenterEXCLUSIVE: Anti-Christian Group Advised DOJ Prosecutors on ‘Hate Crimes,’ Docs ShowWhat Went Wrong with the Southern Poverty Law Center?

Ranked Choice Voting, or RCV, the process by which voters rank candidates by preference, has been in and out of the news for the last several years, as advocates and critics on both sides of the political aisle debate the merits and pitfalls of a system that many on the left – and increasingly some on the right – seem to think is the way elections should be handled. Most recently, NY City candidate for mayor Zohran Mamdani espoused RCV’s benefits prior to his defeat of former Gov Andrew Cuomo in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary. Some believe his win was helped by the RCV ranking system which had far left progressives calling for Mamdani supporters not to rank Cuomo before the election, while others think Cuomo could have done better in the primary had he just embraced the RCV system and used it to his advantage. To discuss the controversial voting system and what happened in NY is Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project. New York Progressives Pin Hopes on ‘Don’t Rank Cuomo’The Left-Wing Megadonors Pushing for Ranked Choice VotingRanked-Choice Voting: How RCV WorksHonest Elections

Over the past several years, the public has become familiar with the concept of “lawfare,” the process of using the legal system to gain political ends regardless of the validity of the underlying case. Environmentalist groups have long been practitioners of aggressive lawfare, but who exactly is funding litigation challenging the ability of energy companies to make energy? The U.S. Senate suspects that the People’s Republic of China may be among them, and so CRC president Scott Walter was invited to testify on the funding of lawfare at a Judiciary Subcommittee hearing titled “Enter the Dragon—China and the Left’s Lawfare Against American Energy Dominance.” Scott joins us to discuss his testimony.Scott Walter’s Written Testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee

As Second Amendment policy returns to the national spotlight under a second Trump administration, one provision buried in a massive reconciliation bill could spell the beginning of the end for suppressor regulations under the National Firearms Act. The House version removes them from the tax scheme entirely, while the Senate version goes even further—potentially gutting the $200 tax on other NFA-regulated items. Joining us is Knox Williams, president and executive director of the American Suppressor Association, to unpack what’s in the bill, what could derail it, and how his organization is fighting to end suppressor bans and taxes across the country. Also discussed: the Biden-era legacy of regulatory overreach, Trump’s executive order to review federal actions against 2A rights, and what gun control nonprofits like Giffords are doing to push back. American Suppressor AssociationThe National Firearms ActThe Big Beautiful BillHouse-Passed One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act Includes Removal of $200 Tax Stamp on SuppressorsBig Beautiful Bill Now Includes SHORT Act, Hearing Protection

Over the past week, Los Angeles has been rocked by demonstrations against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that have been punctuated by violent riots, with rioters throwing bricks at police vehicles and standing atop burned-out cars waving Mexican flags. But who is behind the demonstrators, as reports emerge of activists handing out brand-new face shields and the usual preprinted signs pop up among the demonstrators? Joining us to explore that question is Mia Cathell, an investigative reporter for the Washington Examiner.Who is funding the anti-ICE activists in LA?Trump’s Unapologetic Defense of the Rule of LawThe L.A. Riots Prove the Left Has Learned NothingNo One Wants Another ‘Summer of Love,’ Right?Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)

Regardless of his recent falling out with President Trump over the size of the “Big Beautiful Bill” tax and spending package or personal beefs, Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency” team performed at least one extremely useful public service: They highlighted the extent to which the “nongovernmental organization” (NGO) sector is actually the “basically governmental organization” (BGO) sector, with millions of dollars in grants and contracts supporting weird projects and thinly (and sometimes not even thinly) disguised Everything Leftist activism. Our boss, CRC president Scott Walter, was invited to testify before the House Oversight Committee’s DOGE Subcommittee; he joins us to discuss his testimony.Scott Walter’s Oral Testimony to House DOGE SubcommitteeAmerican Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center)Trump’s DOGE Will End But CRC’s Investigations Won’t

The second Trump administration has conducted an aggressive campaign against Harvard University, targeting its use of racial considerations in admissions and hiring and its apparent lack of concern for the rights of its Jewish students. Among the proposals the administration is considering to retaliate against Harvard is taking away its charitable tax status; our guest today sees that not as an end, but merely the beginning of the debate, with a provocative argument that all charities should have certain tax advantages removed from the tax code. Joining us to discuss the possible effects of such a policy is National Review’s John Fund.https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/05/dont-stop-with-harvard/https://committeetounleashprosperity.com/hotline/

At one point, in the minds of its writers and supporters, perhaps The Bulwark really was about providing a “bulwark” for “conserving conservatism” in opposition to the right-populism of once and future President Donald Trump. But as our colleague Ken Braun recounts in his series on the evolution of the publication, The Bulwark has become little more than just another outlet regurgitating Democratic Party talking points. Ken joins us to discuss the past, present, and future of The Bulwark.The Bulwark: Birth of The BulwarkThe Bulwark: From Nonprofit to ProfitsThe Bulwark: Making a Business of Trump DerangementThe Bulwark: Take Away TrumpThe DDT Network: A Rich Never Trump Machine Built to Last12th Amendment22nd Amendment