Actionable media intel: The Brand Brief delivers a daily snapshot of the conservative media ecosystem - FOX News, podcasts, and more. | Brought to you by On Brand Strategies | Written by Carly Moran and Nathan Brand
📣 Driving the Conversation…
1,372 words | 6 minute read | Written to be skimmable (12+ hours of media covered in The Brand Brief)
What Matters: Electoral politics and new media
New Media Voices: Lindsay Clancy, Sydney Sweeney, and Mitch McConnell
Leading FOX: Larry Krasner, Hasan Piker, and the University of Utah
Trending: James Talarico, Hasan Piker, and Spencer Pratt
What the Right is Writing: Kevin Warsh, Mark Zuckerberg, and Ilhan Omar
✍️ WHAT MATTERS AND WHERE WE’RE GOING…
Nathan’s quick take on where we’re headed…
You won’t see Candace Owens at a campaign rally.
But Hasan Piker is everywhere for the left—rallies, interviews, and surrogate roles.
And Democrat candidates like Abdul El-Sayed have welcomed his help, only to spend the final stretch before Election Day trying to dodge his latest Al-Qaeda comments.
It comes down to this: Piker isn’t alone in this. The left treats politics as a 24/7 operation. Meanwhile, some of the right’s most bombastic voices seem oblivious to electoral politics (and that is ok!). - NRB
🎙️ NEW MEDIA VOICES
The Megyn Kelly Show - 9/16
Kelly and guests Mark Geragos and Matt Murphy blast NBC Boston and The Boston Globe for doxxing the holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy case, describing discrimination toward black conservatives
She warns against the dangerous trend of “empathetic coverage” in cases like Clancy’s and the alleged copycat Corie Walsh case
Kelly questions the Menendez Brothers’ upcoming early parole, explaining the legal specifics of California parole rules
Guests Dave Aronberg and Viva Frei argue Utah Valley University was grossly negligent in the murder of Charlie Kirk, citing a litany of security failures
The Ben Shapiro Show - 9/17
Shapiro declares The Daily Wire’s new movie, Run, Hide, Fight: Infidels, a massive hit, directly attributing its success to legacy media’s outrage
He calls out Variety and Slate for criticizing the film’s portrayal of ISIS, arguing that these reviewers are naive about real-world threats
Shapiro includes a clip of Jonathan Majors’ character, Clay Saunders, delivering a powerful speech about the threat of Islam
He explains how the Muslim Public Affairs Council has alleged ties to terrorism and the Muslim Brotherhood
Shapiro criticizes The New York Times for downplaying the impact of October 7th on Israeli victims
The Matt Walsh Show - 9/16
Walsh argues the takeover of New York City by Mayor Zohran Mamdani is turning it into a hub of Sharia law, evidenced by preferential treatment for Muslims in law enforcement and city policies
He explains how separation of church and state has been redefined by leftists and unelected judges to ban Christian practices from public life while allowing minority religions to gain preferential treatment
Walsh cites turning City Hall into a mosque, celebrating “World Hijab Day,” and broadcasting the call to prayer as an imposition on American values
He believes the elimination of religion from public life is impossible, leading to the rise of “secular wokeism” through practices like land acknowledgments
Will Cain Country - 9/17
Cain contrasts the left’s hypocrisy regarding tipping and their supposed empathy for workers to higher charitable giving rates in red counties
He looks into the media’s “witch hunt” against the Lindsay Clancy trial’s holdout juror, a black man, noting CBS anchor Gayle King’s surprise
Cain slams the perceived double standards of feminists regarding Sydney Sweeney’s commercial versus other forms of nudity
He describes calls for government regulation of AI as a psyop designed to benefit a select few and limit competition
Cain calls for term and age limits for politicians, citing the cognitive decline of figures like Sens. Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein
He argues concerts are not venues for political lectures, referencing Macklemore getting kicked out of Ed Sheeran’s tour
Citizen McCain - 9/17
McCain shares deep concern over the health of Sen. Mitch McConnell upon his return to work
Guest Ryan Girdusky criticizes Texas candidates Ken Paxton and Bo French for engaging in social media wars rather than reaching voters
Guest Sarah Fraser discusses the gender wars on the right over trad wives and IVF, while also looking into Perez Hilton’s recovery from self harm and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s move back to the UK
McCain remains skeptical of CA Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “outdoorsy” image and potential presidential run, noting his rivalry with Kamala Harris
📺 LEADING FOX NEWS
The Five
Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed refuses to talk about his ties to terrorist sympathizer Hasan Piker
When Sen. Cory Booker shouted at FBI Director Kash Patel, Sen. Chuck Grassley asks him, “Are you ready to shut up?”
The panel argues Democrats are using AI as the new climate change to spread fear
Actor Robert De Niro cries after Amy Poehler compliments him on his disdain for President Trump
FOX & Friends
Sen. Bernie Sanders and other Democrats are using the same rhetoric they did with climate change to sound the alarm about AI
The DOJ charges three people in a $12M Los Angeles homeless fraud scheme
Abdul El-Sayed calls for Medicare for all and abolishing ICE in the Michigan Senate race
Pennsylvania reports its fourth measles-related death as childhood cases rise across the country
University of Utah College Republicans leaders are interviewed on their potential expulsion for filming a student with a “Kirkiversary” cake
LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman expresses doubts about a Kamala Harris 2028 run, calling AOC “pragmatic”
Houthis, backed by Iran, ramp up their attacks against Saudi Arabia
The New York Times issues a correction after saying Israelis “view themselves as victims” of October 7th
The House passes a Russian sanctions bill named after deceased Sen. Lindsey Graham
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is officially cancer-free
International students represent a growing number of college athletes
Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner has been referred for a DOJ probe following a history of lenient sentencing
Guest Kevin McCarthy, former Speaker of the House, looks into polling showing Democrats are more interested in voting this November
🍿 TRENDING AND POUNCING
Tomorrow’s news today…
Talarico Super PAC caught paying voters! “We are paying people $25...a roundabout way of paying people for their votes.” [X, Townhall]
Deranged. Hasan Piker tells Axios that America is worse than Al-Qaeda… [X, Brand]
🗞️ WHAT THE RIGHT IS WRITING
FOX News Digital
Kavanaugh throws Trump ‘a lifeline’ on mail ballot rules despite Supreme Court loss [FOX News]
Explosive report reveals pipeline stacking deck against conservatives in courtrooms [FOX News]
Foreign adversaries use ‘clandestine tools’ and ‘poison’ against America [FOX News]
Breitbart
Climate Doom Playbook Re-Skinned for AI: U.N. Chief Ready to Claim Bureaucratic Primacy in Global AI Governance [Breitbart]
Vance: ‘First Phase’ U.S.-Iran Conflict Over — ‘Much Different Phase’ [Breitbart]
Charlie Kirk’s Family to Sue University, School’s Police Department [Breitbart]
Wall Street Journal Editorials
Kevin Warsh Is an Inflation Hawk [WSJ Ed]
Kathy Hochul’s ‘Energy Rebate Checks’ [WSJ Ed]
Americans Are Getting Richer* [WSJ Ed]
Mark Zuckerberg Offers an AI Dissent [WSJ Ed]
New York Post
Why Ilhan Omar can’t be kicked out of the US for marrying brother [NYP]
Washington Free Beacon
Abdul El-Sayed’s Imam Scrubs Videos of Sermons Lauding Hamas Leader, Urging Congregants To Vote for El-Sayed [WFB]
Washington Reporter
Attorney General Marty Jackley on why the Trump agenda is winning in South Dakota [Reporter]
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The way you turn a huge media cycle into something skimmable is impressive there’s a lot happening here, but the structure makes the patterns and narratives easy to follow.