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…
1,413 words | 6 minute read | Written to be skimmable (10+ hours of media covered in The Brand Brief)
What Matters: Culture, tech, with a pinch of politics
New Media Voices: Chris Hansen, AOC, and Bill Gates
Leading FOX: Bill Maher, Rosie O’Donnell, and Steak ‘N Shake
Trending: Michael Desronvil and Social Security fraud
What the Right is Writing: UK terror plot and Pope Leo XIV
✍️ WHAT MATTERS AND WHERE WE’RE GOING…
Nathan’s quick take on where we’re headed…
Irreverent and proudly counter-cultural, Mike Solana’s Pirate Wires dominates the intersection of tech, politics, and culture.
What started in 2020 as a dispatch on tech news and Bay Area left-wing absurdity has exploded into a suite of newsletters, a re-launched podcast, and even a DC data center party this week.
As a daily reader of Three Morning Takes and a recent podcast subscriber, I find they march to a radically different drum than the rest of conservative media. Yet they still share one core trait with the broader ecosystem: Pirate Wires is all culture with a side of politics. - NRB
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🎙️ NEW MEDIA VOICES
The Megyn Kelly Show - 9/28
Kelly and guest Mark Halperin fear Democrats are poised to flip 25 House and 6 Senate seats, but debate over what can be saved
She blames the Iran war, gas prices, and family profiteering concerns for turning independent voters against Republicans
Kelly reacts to Madonna’s “vile” VMAs performance at age 68, featuring simulated sex acts with lasers and excessive cosmetic surgery
She criticizes Naomi Watts for parading her trans kid, and Elliot Page being featured on New York Magazine’s first men’s style issue
Kelly defends Tom Brady following new divorce revelations, and celebrates pitcher Justin Verlander and Kate Upton’s relationship
The Ben Shapiro Show - 9/28
Shapiro details how five men were arrested near RAF Fairford with incendiary devices after a farmer discovered them, yet the UK government urged the public not to speculate on motives
He criticizes the UK’s immigration policies, noting a former Hamas bodyguard receiving asylum and citizenship
Shapiro argues the left’s Marxist materialism blinds them to ideological threats, showing IDF footage of a Gaza father using his child as a human shield
The Matt Walsh Show - 9/28
Walsh defends Chris Hansen and To Catch a Predator, arguing the film Prime Time starring Robert Pattinson is evil propaganda designed to defame Hansen and discourage investigation of powerful predators
He calls out director Lance Oppenheim for portraying Hansen as an unstable narcissist, and misrepresenting the timeline of his affair to suggest it motivated the Bill Conradt sting that ended in suicide
Walsh reminds his audience Judge Denny Chin refused to dismiss Patricia Conrad’s lawsuit against NBC, which resulted in To Catch a Predator’s cancellation despite Conrad being an actual pedophile
He argues Hollywood resents Hansen because the show rejected victimization narratives, emphasizing personal responsibility for crimes
Will Cain Country - 9/28
Cain and guest David Marcus argue ICE deportations are lowering rent in cities like San Antonio, Austin, and New Orleans
He says VP JD Vance’s proposal to impose $100,000 H-1B visa fees would stop businesses from replacing American workers with cheap foreign labor
Cain praises data showing fentanyl deaths down 55% under President Trump’s border enforcement
He argues politicians like AOC and Zohran Mamdani prioritize destroying Western civilization over genuine economic socialism
The Adam Carolla Show - 9/28
Carolla blasts New York Magazine for featuring Elliot Page on the first men’s style issue cover
He and guest comedian Greg Fitzsimmons mock AOC claiming ICE is the product of a post-9/11 “surveillance state establishment”
They react to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu instructing businesses not to rent to ICE while funding an “Immigrants Lead Boston” program
Carolla argued he pays massive taxes but uses no public services, yet funds programs benefiting illegal immigrants over citizens
They mock Bill Gates for apocalyptic AI warnings after being wrong about COVID-19 deaths and climate change
📺 LEADING FOX NEWS
The Five
Bill Gates claims AI could cause a billion deaths, and AOC says the elites want to hold the world’s resources, while President Trump meets with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
Prostitution explodes in New York City as arrests drop by 60%, meanwhile Bill Maher calls Trump a bad*ss for fighting crime
Rosie O’Donnell attacks Ed Sheeran for kicking Macklemore off his tour
FOX & Friends
The holdout juror makes his first media appearance, encouraging the country to focus on Lindsay Clancy’s children
House Democrats are looking to steal MAHA voters, while the GOP prepares a $52M ad blitz in Ohio and Texas
A man has been arrested for shooting a Kentucky trooper
The Department of Education reinstates Title IX regulations protecting women’s sports
A Cornell University sexual assault case has been reopened following new allegations
Five terror plot suspects have been released on bail after an attempted attack on a UK air base used by American troops
Instagram Plus will feature the ability to track story replays
Steak ’N Shake’s MAHA officer explains their switch to beef tallow fries
Randy Travis and his wife are interviewed on his first music release in more than 18 years
Former American Idol contestant and pastor Caleb Flynn’s murder trial moves to the closing arguments
Tomorrow Congress will run a test vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act and voter ID
The Senate passes the Protect College Sports Act, which hikes the revenue-sharing cap to nearly $50M
The Jersey Shore recovers from a brutal Nor’Easter
During his Jimmy Kimmel appearance, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani refuses to send a selfie to President Trump
🍿 TRENDING AND POUNCING
Tomorrow’s news today…
The Lone Juror, Michael Desronvil, speaks out: “I know the whole focus has been on me, but we want to reel everything back and put the focus on the three angels that’s at hand. The ones that can’t speak for themselves. The ones that can’t defend themselves. And the ones that can’t fight the battles.” [X, Kolvet]
26% of young Republican men blame their problems on women. 66% of young Democratic women blame their problems on men. [X, Luntz]
🗞️ WHAT THE RIGHT IS WRITING
FOX News Digital
Lindsay Clancy holdout juror breaks silence for first time [FOX News]
Trump and Vance hold event pushing AI innovation [FOX News]
Rubio calls suspected UK terror plot ‘very serious threat’ [FOX News]
Breitbart
Pope Leo Urges Europe to Remember Its Christian Heritage [Breitbart]
Johns and Street Hookers Doing Robust Business in Mamdani’s New York [Breitbart]
Exclusive: Jack Smith’s Office Bent Its Own Rules Before Indicting Trump [Breitbart]
Wall Street Journal Editorials
The ‘Affordability’ Democrats? You Have to Be Kidding [WSJ Ed]
Florida’s Odd Race Preference Defense [WSJ Ed]
Hamas Couldn’t Kill the Abraham Accords [WSJ Ed]
The Save America From California Act [WSJ Ed]
New York Post
Trans NYT exec threatened to kill wife, scared their kids with chilling book before his in-laws shot him dead: docs [NYP]
Washington Free Beacon
Angie Nixon’s Charity Raised a Major Haul To Fund Her Black Power ‘Resistance Cafe’: How She Really Spent the Money Is a Mystery [WFB]
Washington Reporter
INTERVIEW: “This is about Minnesota”: Michele Tafoya goes from the NFL sidelines to the center of a tight Senate race [Reporter]
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