Will TikTok ever be banned?
Will TikTok ever be banned?
April 9, 2025 | 8:38 PM GMT
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Trump, Sweeney, and the Woke Mob Reporter Roundtable
Lydia Moynihan and Charlie Gasparino go full throttle on Trump's latest push to bring back the Redskins name—digging into how the president might strong-arm D.C. using federal land and old-school pressure tactics. Then, it's Sydney Sweeney versus the woke mob as her denim ad stirs up a bizarre Nazi-fueled TikTok frenzy. From crypto politicking on Capitol Hill to Burning Man's downfall among the tech elite, the duo doesn't hold back.
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154,000 federal workers who took DOGE buyouts are being paid to go fishing, watch Dungeons and Dragons streams and hunt for new jobs
The government is paying more than 154,000 federal employees not to work after they accepted the deferred resignation offer — and they're spending their paid leave job hunting, doing yoga, and watching YouTube, according to a report. The figure, reported by the Washington Post, accounts for the tens of thousands of federal workers who accepted the government's offer as of June that allowed employees to 'retain all pay and benefits' through September 30 and voluntarily leave their jobs. The offer, originally sent out by the Office of Personnel Management in January, came after President Donald Trump mandated in-person work requirements for the federal workforce, the size of which the Department of Government Efficiency aimed to significantly shrink. The move has led to a rapid reduction in federal workers, two officials at the Office of Personnel Management told the Post, with the resignations accounting for nearly seven percent of the government's civilian workforce. The Independent has reached out to the OPM and White House for comment. 'Ultimately, the deferred resignation program was not only legal, it provided over 150,000 civil servants a dignified and generous departure from the federal government,' the agency spokesperson told the Post. 'It also delivered incredible relief to the American taxpayer. No previous administration has gotten even close to saving American taxpayers this amount of money in such a short amount of time.' Although DOGE set out to eliminate 'waste' in the federal government, some critics have argued that the buyouts were a waste of taxpayer dollars. Those who took the offer, meanwhile, have been spending the break as they please. An Agriculture Department employee, who's been on paid leave since April, told the Post that he's spent his free time watching comedians play a Dungeons and Dragons game, improv, and crafters on YouTube. He applied to more than 130 jobs before landing one at an animal health company that offered him a salary much greater than the $61,000 salary from the government, he said. For six weeks, his federal job and new job would overlap, meaning he'd be temporarily raking in cash from two salaries. His new role would earn him enough that his wife would be able to quit her job, he told the outlet. In the meantime, he goes fishing and dines out, all on the government's dime. He recalled telling his wife: 'As much as I don't want to admit it, this ended up being a blessing in disguise.' Brian Griffin, a former marketing specialist at the Agriculture Department making $132,000, had been planning to retire in December when he was given the deferred resignation offer. He's been on leave since May. 'When they are offering me full pay and benefits from May through September, you have to be kind of silly to say no to that,' Griffin told the Post. One worker has found the new reality a bit more difficult. An Education Department employee, who makes $130,000, said she was put on administrative leave — a move that has left her reeling. 'My work is my whole identity,' said the employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. 'I'm also sensitive to the fact that the American public would say, 'What are you crying about? You're getting paid.'' The government has so far paid her $65,000 not to work, while she has also accrued three weeks of vacation time since being put on leave. Some of her free time is dedicated to swimming and doing yoga but for most of it, she's frustrated. 'I will sometimes wake up and say, 'Why do I get out of bed today?'' she told the outlet. Aside from the emotional effects the cuts had on many government employees, the American taxpayer could also be affected by DOGE's workforce reductions. An analysis by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington last week, which looked at a few of the agencies impacted, found that DOGE's workforce slashes could result in a loss of over $10 billion in U.S.-based economic activity and the closure of programs that have put over $26 billion in funds back into the pockets of taxpayers. A minority staff report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Thursday also revealed that DOGE generated an estimated $21 billion in waste on mass layoffs and terminations. That figure included $14.8 billion for the deferred resignation program. 'This report is a searing indictment of DOGE's false claims. At the very same time that the Trump Administration is cutting health care, nutrition assistance, and emergency services in the name of 'efficiency' and 'savings,' they have enabled DOGE's reckless waste of at least $21.7 billion dollars,' Blumenthal, the subcommittee's ranking member, said in a statement to the Post. 'As my PSI investigation has shown, DOGE was clearly never about efficiency or saving the American taxpayer money.'
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White House slams outrage over Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ads, calls it 'big reason' Americans voted for Trump
The new campaign, titled "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans," has sparked viral backlash and accusations of racism. The great debate over Sydney Sweeney's recent denim disaster has a new participant: the White House. White House communications director Steven Cheung took to social media on Tuesday to defend Sweeney's new campaign for the clothing brand American Eagle — which has sparked backlash and accusations of racism — and slam liberals' reaction to its ads. "Cancel culture run amok," Cheung wrote of the negative response to the campaign, which included claims that the brand is glorifying a racial ideal during a fraught political time. But Cheung took things a step farther, adding, "This warped, moronic, and dense liberal thinking is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024. They're tired of this bulls---." The campaign in question, titled "Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans," is based on a seemingly harmless play on words for the 27-year-old star's "great genes." However, critics of the campaign have accused American Eagle of espousing eugenics ideology — which promotes white genetic superiority and which historically enabled the forced sterilization of marginalized groups — and baiting contrarians on the opposite end of the spectrum to blame it all on "wokeism." While the brand released multiple ads in support of the campaign, its most criticized ad features the actress speaking of her "great genes" and not of the actual denim itself. In the ad, Sweeney is shown reclining on a couch as she fastens her pants and murmurs, "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color. My genes are blue." Then a male narrator concludes, "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans." Conservative TV personality Megyn Kelly also weighed in on the debate, calling out "lunatics on the Left" and deeming their reaction "absurd." "She's being called a white supremacist by people who don't like her latest ad," Kelly said on The Megyn Kelly Show. "She's advertising jeans, and yet the lunatics on the Left think she's advertising white supremacy. This is obviously a reference to her body and not to her skin color, but the lunatic Left is going to do what the lunatic Left is going to do." Kelly, who happens to be blonde and blue-eyed, added, "They're upset because it's about who gets to be the face of America's Best Genes. They think it's no accident that they've chosen a white, thin woman because you're, I guess, not allowed to celebrate those things in any way, shape, or form. But they're completely ignoring the reference to her body, which is the thing she's famous for. It's just absurd." Ironically, Kelly's argument speaks to many of the claims from those who have blasted the campaign. Critics flocked to TikTok to share their thoughts on the brand's messaging, calling American Eagle out for having a white, blonde, blue-eyed woman talking about "good genes." User jessbritvich noted in her video that users "can't keep pretending" that marketing is created in a vacuum and the campaign "doesn't exist without the culture it's selling to." She asserted that American Eagle's campaign seems particularly pointed during a "rise of fascism in America." As an example, the TikToker used an ad in which Sweeney, wearing a denim jumpsuit, says, "My body's composition is determined by my genes (jeans)." "It's more than a cheeky wordplay, it's a dog whistle," jessbritvich said, noting that the ad's implications fall in line with similar comments made by Donald Trump to a nearly all-white crowd in Bemidji, Minn., in 2020. "In this ad... it's saying that Sydney has a great body and therefore great genes, a product of genetic superiority. Specifically saying these white, thin, traditionally feminine bodies are not just aspirational but symbols of morality, tradition, purity." She added, "It's echoing the language of white purity politics, and purity of blond hair and blue eyes. This language has cultural context... No, I really don't think this is an accident." Sweeney and American Eagle have not yet addressed reactions to the campaign. Representatives for the White House, Cheung, American Eagle, and Sweeney did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
