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Tension in the MAGA media ranks

President Trump benefits enormously from the MAGA media platforms that promote his agenda and punish his adversaries, so it's always revealing when right-leaning columnists and commentators break with the party line. We saw some of this over the summer regarding Jeffrey Epstein. We saw it last week when many Trump-aligned media outlets rejected Pete Hegseth's Pentagon restrictions. And we're seeing some noteworthy examples this week:

 >> The Washington Times, one of the newsrooms that handed in a Pentagon press pass, is out with a buzzy story titled "Generals, senior officers say trust in Hegseth has evaporated." Ben Wolfgang's report cites many anonymous sources.

 >> Trump's demolition project at the White House is raising concerns. Washington Examiner chief political correspondent and Fox contributor Byron York wrote on X yesterday, "The president needs to tell the public now what he is doing with the East Wing of the White House. And then tell the public why he didn't tell them before he started doing it."

 >> The president's latest commutation is also earning a bit of conservative criticism. The "Fox & Friends" crew asked Rep. George Santos some tough questions the other day, and the New York Post hasn't forgotten about what Santos did, calling him "Lying George" in headlines and a "disgraced" "serial liar" in stories.

 >> And there's more. National Review's Andrew McCarthy is writing a series of posts about the indictment of James Comey. He plainly says, "The case should be dismissed."

 >> The Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon is out with a piece for The Free Press titled "The foolishness of 'no enemies to the right.'" Bari Weiss called it "an essential essay" about "standing up to evil, even on your own side."

I never want to overstate the importance of these items. Day in and day out, pro-Trump shows and social media streams prop up an alternative reality where the president is always right and his critics are always wrong. But these exceptions demonstrate how the MAGA media machine can't always suppress dissent from within the ranks.

WSJ editorial board's latest

Politico's lead headline this morning: "Ingrassia withdraws nomination after racist texts." The WSJ editorial board says the texts "are a lesson for young MAGA," adding, "Beyond the failure of vetting, it would be useful if President Trump made clear that this kind of garbage isn't wanted" in his political movement.

But the fact that "the nomination got this far" — despite damning reporting by CNN's KFILE and others — "illustrates how much antisemitic and hateful rhetoric has been normalized, explained away or rewarded by Republicans in power," the NYT's Katie Rogers says.

See, while the WSJ is decrying "garbage," Breitbart's lead story today says, "Trans Americans Threaten to Leave Country. Trump Voters Say 'I Voted for This.'"

'Go check this corner out'

It was a "chaotic scene" on Canal Street in NYC yesterday: Federal agents fanning out and detaining people in an operation "focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit goods."

Buried toward the bottom of most stories about the raid was the likely reason why it happened: "In recent weeks, pro-Trump social media influencers have recorded videos of African vendors on Canal Street that spread widely online, and led to calls from some users for ICE to deport the vendors," the NYT noted.

"Perhaps @ICEgov should go check this corner out," Savanah Hernandez wrote on X on Sunday, in one of several such messages that tagged government agencies. Last night, she took partial credit for the sweep...