NEW: Hegseth 'Prays for Violence' as Corporate Media Betrays US

Trump threatens NATO allies in all-caps rant, LA Times owner uses paper to promote false claims about his cancer drug

Good morning.

Trump spent his early morning hours screaming at NATO in all-caps, threatening Iran again after claiming peace talks were going well, and demanding his own party kill the Senate filibuster to pass voter ID legislation while TSA workers miss another paycheck. Pete Hegseth held a Pentagon worship service and prayed for “overwhelming violence” one day after Trump publicly mocked him for not wanting peace. Corporate media is printing White House talking points about a phantom Iran cease-fire while burying Iran’s denial in the fourth paragraph. And the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times just got hit with an FDA warning letter for making false claims about a cancer drug he has been promoting using his own newspaper’s platform.

If you’re new here, Raw America is Raw Story and Really Americans’ people-powered response to MAGA and the billionaire takeover of American media. CNN and CBS are running cover for a war that has killed 13 Americans and wounded more than 200. The FCC chair is threatening to pull broadcast licenses from any outlet that doesn’t fall in line. The pro-democracy press is running behind the billionaire class in reach, resources, and influence, and that gap only closes if people who care about honest journalism step up right now. Please become a paid subscriber today. Every subscription is a direct investment in the journalism the billionaires don’t want you to read.

Trump Is Demanding Republicans Kill the Filibuster. His Own Senate Leader Says No.

Trump opened Thursday demanding his party eliminate the Senate filibuster to pass his SAVE America Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, largely eliminate mail-in ballots, and restrict gender-affirming care for minors. He has tied any deal to reopen DHS and pay TSA workers to full passage of all five provisions of that bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune delivered the reality check publicly. “The votes aren’t there to nuke the filibuster. It’s just a reality.” Trump’s response was to post “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!” again, then call Chuck Schumer “a desperate, crippled politician.”

Critics have been direct about what the SAVE Act’s voting restrictions would actually accomplish. Michigan found 15 instances of non-citizen voting in the 2024 election out of 5.7 million ballots. Georgia found 20 non-citizens registered out of 8.2 million voters. Trump is threatening to blow up Senate procedure to solve a problem that represents 0.00028 percent of votes cast, in an election year where Republicans are widely expected to suffer heavy losses. The filibuster demand is not about airports. It is about the midterms.

Hegseth Prayed for “Overwhelming Violence” at a Pentagon Worship Service.

Pete Hegseth held the Pentagon’s monthly Christian worship service Wednesday and prayed for “overwhelming violence.” Reading a prayer attributed to the chaplain who ministered to soldiers during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Hegseth told the livestreamed gathering: “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. Give them unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

This came one day after Trump publicly mocked Hegseth in the Oval Office, saying his defense secretary “didn’t want it to be settled” and was “crestfallen at the prospect of peace talks.” Trump laughed while saying it. Hegseth’s response was a worship service praying for more killing.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit Monday seeking internal Pentagon communications about the gatherings and any employee complaints. “Secretaries Hegseth and Chavez-DeRemer are abusing the power of their government positions to impose their preferred religion on federal workers,” said the organization’s president. The services have featured an exclusively evangelical roster of preachers. Hegseth’s pastor appeared last week on a Christian nationalist podcast where his co-host declared “I pray that God kills” a Democratic Senate candidate. Hegseth has dismissed all critics: “The left-wing shrieks, which means we’re right over the target.”

Corporate Media Is Printing White House Talking Points About a Phantom Peace Deal.

Major network headlines this morning feature a five-day pause in Iran strikes and “productive conversations” between Washington and Tehran. Iran has not confirmed any talks took place. A senior Iranian military official mocked the idea publicly this week: “Has the level of your internal conflicts reached the state of negotiating with yourselves?”

This is not laziness. These networks are owned by billionaires who want deregulation and tax cuts. They know what happens if they challenge this administration directly: they lose access, face FCC scrutiny, and their parent companies lose favor with a White House that controls their regulatory environment. So they print the cease-fire headline and bury Iran’s denial in paragraph four.

Raw America does not make that bargain. We have no access to protect and no regulatory relationship to preserve. We have readers. The pro-democracy press is behind the billionaire class in this fight, and that gap does not close on its own. It closes when people fund the journalism that tells the truth. Please become a paid subscriber today.

Trump Is Raging at NATO While His Iran Peace Deal Unravels.

Trump turned his early morning fury on NATO Thursday, posting in all-caps that the alliance had done “absolutely nothing” to help with the Iran war. Twenty minutes later he warned Iran to “get serious soon” or face consequences with “NO TURNING BACK.”

This is the same president who announced Monday that “very good and productive conversations” with Iran had prompted him to pause military strikes for five days. Iran denied any talks occurred. On Tuesday, Trump claimed Iran had sent him “a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money” that was “oil and gas-related” but would not elaborate. A senior Iranian military official responded: “Don’t call your failure an agreement.”

The administration has delivered a 15-point peace plan to Iran through Pakistani intermediaries, sources say. Iran’s public posture suggests it is not treating the proposal as urgent. Trump fired off eight Truth Social posts in 45 minutes Thursday morning, covering NATO, Iran, Democrats, Biden, and TSA. Thirteen Americans are dead. More than 200 have been wounded. The Pentagon is drawing up ground invasion plans. And the president is posting in all-caps before 7 AM.

The LA Times Owner Just Got Hit With an FDA Warning Letter for False Cancer Drug Claims He Made Using His Own Newspaper.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter Tuesday accusing billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times, of making “false” and “misleading” claims about his biotech company’s cancer drug, Anktiva. During a recent television appearance, Soon-Shiong described the drug as “the most important molecule that could cure cancer,” claimed it “actually can treat all cancers,” and stated it could prevent cancer in people exposed to radiation.

The FDA told the company’s chief executive it had 15 days to respond and correct the violations. Shares of Soon-Shiong’s ImmunityBio collapsed more than 21 percent by market close after the letter was made public.

The FDA scrutiny extends beyond the television appearance. Soon-Shiong has used the Los Angeles Times’ branding and resources to promote the drug, including a video produced by LA Times Studios and posted to the paper’s official YouTube channel in which he made similar claims about Anktiva treating other cancers. A Times spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

This is what billionaire media ownership looks like in practice. A billionaire buys a newspaper, then uses that newspaper’s platform and credibility to promote his own outside business interests, making claims the FDA says are false and misleading. The LA Times is not alone in this dynamic. CBS News is being rebuilt around David Ellison’s political and business agenda. CNN is next in line. And the FCC is standing by to revoke the licenses of any broadcaster that doesn’t play along.

The story of American media in 2026 is the story of billionaires buying the platforms that shape public opinion and using them for their own benefit, whether that is promoting a cancer drug, running cover for a war, or installing loyalist editors to reshape coverage around an administration friendly to their interests.

A Note From Raw America

Our reporters have been on the ground at the most important Capitol Hill hearings and have brought you exclusive interviews with top generals you cannot find anywhere else. We are joining the Washington D.C. press pool to bring the most important conversations directly to our viewers, without a network executive deciding which questions are too dangerous to ask.

Corporate media has made its deal. The billionaires who own the cameras have decided what the cameras will show. The LA Times owner promotes his cancer drug through his own newsroom. CBS runs White House talking points about a war. CNN is about to fall into the same hands. And the FCC stands ready to punish anyone who doesn’t comply.

The pro-democracy press is behind in this fight. Behind in resources, behind in reach, behind in the infrastructure needed to keep growing. That gap closes one way: paid subscribers who understand that independent journalism is not optional right now.

Coverage that challenges power, refuses to sell wars, and won’t propagandize for the Ellisons requires readers willing to fund it. Please become a paid subscriber today. We work for you, not for them, and we cannot keep doing this without your support.

We will see you tomorrow.

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STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:

• Trump Turns on Gorsuch and Barrett. President Donald Trump spent time during a recent speech attacking two of his own appointed Supreme Court justices. Trump was particularly angry with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, who he appointed in 2017 and 2020, respectively, for their decision to side with the majority in the 6-3 decision striking down his tariffs imposed via an emergency declaration. Trump said the justices “sicken” him, and told an audience of Republican members of Congress that they were “bad for our country.”

• Trump Reveals Key Reason He Isn’t Calling Iran Campaign a ‘War.’ While addressing the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraiser, Trump told lawmakers he was intentionally not referring to his strikes on Iran as a “war.” The president told Republicans that he was avoiding that specific term because he knew he didn’t have approval from Congress. The GOP-controlled House and Senate have both rejected numerous attempts by Democrats to pass a War Powers resolution, in which Congress would formally reclaim the constitutional power to declare war.

• Former Proud Boys Leader Admits Republicans Are Doomed in November. During the kickoff for the 2026 Conservative Political Action Conference, Enrique Tarrio — the former Proud Boys leader who was convicted over his role in the January 6 attacks and later pardoned by Trump — said there was “zero chance” Republicans keep their majorities after the November midterms. Tarrio said a combination of high prices and congressional inaction would assure that Democrats take back at least one chamber of Congress this fall.

• Pete Hegseth’s Colleagues Mock Him with New Nickname Behind His Back. Current and former U.S. officials told Zeteo that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is being referred to as “Dumb McNamara” behind his back. The nickname is a reference to Robert McNamara, who symbolized the United States’ failures in the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite tens of thousands of American deaths, McNamara doubled down so much that Vietnam eventually became known as “McNamara’s War.”

• House Democrat Petitions Judge to Take Trump’s Name Off Kennedy Center. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) is now asking a federal judge to intervene in order to remove Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Beatty argued in her motion to the court that only Congress has the authority to change the Kennedy Center’s name, and that no vote ever occurred to do so. Despite the lack of congressional action, Trump’s handpicked Kennedy Center board renamed the facility and added the president’s name to the building’s facade above John F. Kennedy’s.