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Hogan Gidley to Newsmax: Voters 'Ignorant' of What Marxism Brings

Hogan Gidley, a former White House principal deputy press secretary, told Newsmax on Saturday that the Chicago socialism conference featuring streamer Hasan Piker is drawing voters who "don't know any better" about the ideology they are supporting.

Gidley, who served as principal deputy press secretary in the first Trump administration, said on "The Count" that Republicans running in the coming midterms are letting the left define the terrain by hedging on plain language.

 

The Socialism 2026 Conference, a four-day gathering that opened Friday at Chicago's Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, features more than 100 workshops, a Marxism education series, and a session titled "Confronting Zionism: Decolonizing Palestine and Building the World Anew." Angela Y. Davis and Naomi Murakawa headline the opening plenary.

Twitch streamer Piker, a self-described democratic socialist, is scheduled to speak at the event, Breitbart reported. Piker in July wore a Mao-style suit at a College Democrats convention in Washington, and old clips of him declaring "I do hate America" continue to circulate, now tied to his support for Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

Gidley faulted Republican candidates for talking around the ideology.

"If you're a Republican and you're running in this cycle, if you're not drawing stark contrasts between freedom-loving, American-loving patriots versus those who wish to destroy this country, and instead you're talking around the edges and saying words like communism while you and I know what it means, a lot of people don't," he said.

Voters, he argued, are not stupid but uninformed.

"They can be ignorant to the fact of what communism, socialism, and Marxism has brought on the world, a wave of death, destruction, and poverty," Gidley said.

Candidates promising "free this and free that" find takers among Americans souring on incumbents and casting for alternatives, he added.

He reserved his sharpest language for Piker, whom he cast as a hypocrite.

"He's a Cartier communist," Gidley said. "He wears expensive watches, Cartier, and he goes to these countries that are communist in nature, stays at five-star hotels and says how great everything is in these places."

Piker, profiled by NBC News as a Twitch fixture reaching a young, mostly male audience, broadcasts from a Los Angeles home studio and has drawn years of criticism from both left and right over his lifestyle.

Gidley tied the appeal to young Americans carrying college debt and squeezed out of housing.

They argue that "you should be able to afford a penthouse in Manhattan. And because you can't, it must be because of the man," he said, describing the pitch as antithetical to American self-reliance.

"Instead of saying, 'Hey, pay your dues, stay with roommates, live, scrape, claw, work to get where you are.' No, you should be given that on day one."

Democrats, he warned, have built a durable pipeline of new voters.

"Democrats have done an outstanding job selling this lie to so many young people in this country," Gidley added.

 

Rancher Tells Trump a Story Showing Why Radical AZ Gov. Katie Hobbs Must Lose in Midterms

It appears something important for the midterms went under the radar yesterday.

Friday's signing ceremony in the Oval Office featured members of the media gaggle pitching President Trump a bevy of good and bad questions, with him giving his undiluted opinions on the smashing, newly released August job report, the Federal Reserve, and more, as RedState wrote previously.

Anyway, a couple of the executive orders had to do with supporting America's ranchers, which the Agriculture Department (USDA) shared more information about on X.

Building back our Great American Cattle Herd starts with putting American ranchers first 🇺🇸 

Today, @POTUS signed two Executive Orders directing action on: 🐺 Livestock losses caused by predators 🌎 Country of origin labeling for beef 💪 Packers and Stockyards Act enforcement 🚚 Processing and market access for American meat producers

At one point, the president was talking with Arizona rancher Casey Murph about the night-and-day change from the Biden administration to Trump 47 on the border, saying that "zero illegal aliens have come through the Southern border in the last 14 months."

Murph chimed in that Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs (AZ), who is battling against GOP nominee Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05) in the gubernatorial race, is standing in the way of those efforts by DHS.

"There's a lot of them that Katie Hobbs is protecting," he said, "and we have to get those out."

Pres. Trump agreed, saying that the WH has to fight her all the time, and "she's bad news."

One of those fights by Republicans, over whether Arizona must require people registering to vote to prove they're U.S. citizens, just made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court this week.

What should not have been overlooked Friday was something the legacy media did not find any curiosity about: the story the rancher told Trump about the horrible ways Hobbs is catering to green energy interests instead of ordinary citizens like him:

Like many everyday working men and women, the rancher told it like it is.

He said, "A ranch on state ground that I lease, it's been in my family for over 100 years, Katie Hobbs has offered those lands up to solar development companies."

Trump, shaking his head, said that would leave a "10 mile by 10 mile solar piece of black plastic" where his ranch used to be.

The rancher's answer was chilling. "If it had not been for your secretary of agriculture, I would already be gone, sir," he said, gesturing to USDA Sec. Brooke Rollins.

"She's managed to hold them off, not permanently, but if it had not been for her, I would not be a rancher anymore," Murph added.

This inexcusable and callous action by the Dem candidate could have implications during the Copper State's November election, if enough voters learn about it. Thoughout the election season, Hobbs has tried to hide her radical ways.

You might remember that she picked a former Republican mayor as her lieutenant governor/running mate, in a vain attempt to seem like she can work across the aisle. Her actions show otherwise, with a record number of vetoes against the Republican-majority legislature by a Democrat AZ governor. There are also the corruption allegations she refuses to answer questions about:

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Sergio Arellano called on Arizonans to see through Hobbs' disguise, the same way rancher Casey Murph has, and vote for Biggs and his running mate in the midterms. 

 

Nick Shirley Takes Action, and He's Coming for CA's Soviet-Style Effort to Muzzle Journalists

Some have dubbed it “The Stop Nick Shirley Act,” but many have opined that it was the Democrats' dream even before his “Learing Center” video exposed rampant corruption in Minneapolis and almost broke the internet. Following those investigations, the 24-year-old headed to California to uncover more graft.

You knew Gov. Gavin Newsom and the far-left legislature couldn’t stand for that; they’re not interested in getting humiliated, nor do they want the world to see the incredible amounts of unaccounted-for taxpayer money uncovered. So they threw together AB 2624, a bill that seems to fly directly in the face of the First Amendment, and while it certainly affects Shirley, it’s also targeting other investigative reporters like our own Jennifer Van Laar, sting king James O’Keefe, on-the-ground reporting specialist Cam Higby, video journalist Anthony Cabassa, and many others.

In simple terms, the bill aims to hide corruption by giving anyone associated with “immigration support services providers” special status. You could now get hit with massive fines if you do the kinds of exposes that Shirley became famous for; for instance, if you ask questions of the owner of a clearly fraudulent business that has any ties to the immigration issue, you could be in big trouble.

Shirley and his legal team are saying it’s clearly an illegal law, as our sister site PJ Media reported Saturday:

They allege that the Stop Nick Shirley Act, AB 2624, is unconstitutional on its face and in four other ways. The law they allege is viewpoint-based discrimination, overly broad in its scope, unconstitutionally vague, and applies after the fact to work Shirley has already done — ex post facto — and published.

See you in court, Shirley said on social media:

I'm suing California...

California has decided to push for less transparency and create laws that penalize citizens and journalists for looking into potential fraud inside "immigration support services providers." A written demand is all it takes to stop the publishing of a… pic.twitter.com/nFnfDUff0h

— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) September 4, 2026

I'm suing California...

California has decided to push for less transparency and create laws that penalize citizens and journalists for looking into potential fraud inside "immigration support services providers." A written demand is all it takes to stop the publishing of a video in California.

Enough is enough.

He’ll have plenty of people cheering him on:

 

The law is patently ludicrous and nakedly shameless in its attempt to shut down accountability for fraudsters and the officials who enable it or simply look the other way. 

As I wrote in late August, Shirley is adept at explaining why it's so troubling and left a New York Times reporter — somebody who you’d think cared about freedom of the press — sputtering as he exposed her blind support for the measure and was proved to be embarrassingly ill-informed on what it actually does:

I am not a lawyer, but my layman’s opinion is that this draconian garbage doesn’t even come close to passing constitutional muster. Expect more lawsuits to be dropping in the future. 

 

This Democrat Ad Couldn't Lie More Blatantly

A new ad promoting Susie Lee, the Democrat running against Republican Marty O’Donnell in Nevada’s 3rd District, is spreading a blatant falsehood regarding her record on failing to cut taxes.

The ad, pushed by the progressive group Elect Democratic Women, claims that Lee is “working with both parties to end all taxes on tips,” despite the fact that she voted against the Trump-backed Working Families Tax Cuts that actually brought the policy to fruition.

Not only did Lee vote against the bill to significantly reduce taxes on American families, she slammed the legislation as “temporary crumbs.” After the bill passed, however, she began championing the tax cuts and has tried to position herself as a tax-cutter. Lee has likewise refused to answer questions as to whether or not she plans on voting to repeal the Republican tax cuts should she win office in November.

“Crooked Susie Lee thinks working Nevadans are suckers and their paychecks are campaign props,” NRCC spokesman Christian Martinez  told Townhall. “She will lie about anything, insult anyone and rewrite any part of her record to cling to power. She has no shame, no credibility and no business representing Nevada.”

Cook Political Report claims that the race between Lee and O’Donnell is one of the closest in the country, with Lee narrowly having the edge as Election Day draws near.

 

'Blatant Abuse of Public Trust': USCIS Officer Charged in Fraud Case

A federal employee has been arrested related to a multi-year immigration fraud scheme in Texas. 

Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu, a former Senior Immigration Services Officer with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Adeniyi Akeem Somoye were arrested on federal charges for their roles in an alleged multi‑year scheme to receive illegal gratuities in exchange for manipulating and expediting immigration applications.

A federal criminal complaint filed Aug. 31 charges the duo with conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities by a public official. Federal agents arrested both on Sept. 2.

“Selling immigration benefits for cash is a blatant abuse of public trust,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “When a federal official puts a price tag on lawful status, we will intervene immediately. Public corruption will never be tolerated in the Northern District of Texas.”

According to the complaint, from December 2019 through March 2026, Ganiyu used his official position to approve immigration applications — including Forms I‑130: Petition for Alien Relative; I‑485: Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status; I‑751: Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence; and N‑400: Application for Naturalization — in exchange for money.

“The alleged manipulation of immigration decisions for personal gain undermines the integrity of a process essential to our national security,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners remain committed to holding accountable anyone who abuses their position of trust.”

Investigators allege that Ganiyu bypassed required interviews, supervisory review, jurisdictional limitations, background checks and standard USCIS processing protocols to unlawfully expedite approvals for applicants, many of whom were not eligible under federal law. 

The complaint alleges that Ganiyu and Somoye together collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments from applicants, several of which correspond directly with immigration approvals issued by Ganiyu.

Investigators also identified extensive WhatsApp communications between Ganiyu, Somoye and numerous applicants whose immigration cases they handled, including thousands of messages and hundreds of calls during the charged period. 

Their initial court appearances were held on Sept. 2 before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. Each defendant faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

USCIS Office of Investigations, DHS Office of Inspector General and the FBI Dallas Field Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham from the Fraud section is prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

 

Loved ones of 9/11 victims call for Mamdani to be excluded from memorial service, plan to ‘ignore’ him

The loved ones of victims of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks plan to “ignore” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani if he speaks at the memorial ceremony at Ground Zero marking 25 years since the horrific attacks.

According to a report on Saturday from the New York Post, several families of those killed on September 11^th hope the mayor doesn’t speak given past divisive remarks and associations with controversial figures.

A Change.org petition asking the 9/11 memorial’s organizers to reconsider Mamdani’s inclusion in the ceremony has garnered more than 98,700 verified signatures as of Saturday afternoon.

The petition describes the annual remembrance of 9/11 as “a solemn occasion” grounded in “shared American values: respect for the victims, recognition of the gravity of the attacks, and a clear rejection of the ideologies that contributed to such violence.”

 

“It is in this spirit that we, the family members of those murdered on 9/11, write to express our concern regarding the potential inclusion of Zohran Mamdani in the 25th-year commemorative events,” the petition’s description states.

The petition outlined several issues the group takes with the Mayor regarding his public positions on the terror attacks:

• Mamdani’s perceived reluctance to clearly and unequivocally condemn phrases such as “globalize the intifada,” which many interpret as an endorsement of violence;
• Mamdani’s father’s book, published shortly after 9/11, in which he contended that suicide bombers should be “understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism,” and the mayor’s acknowledgement that his father “shaped his views;”
• Mamdani’s praise for Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who has been linked to radical Islam and was named as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing;
• Mamdani’s appointment of as New York City’s chief counsel after he previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, who was convicted in an al-Qaeda tanker bombing plot;
• Mamdani’s endorsement of Senate candidate Aber Kawas, who described 9/11 as an attack “a couple of people did in the context of U.S. capitalism, racism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia;”
• Mamdani’s support for Democratic Socialists of America member and Democrat nominee for the U.S. House, Darializa Avila Chevalier, who wrote in a since-deleted tweet in 2019, “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.”

“We respectfully ask that the organizers carefully consider whether Mr. Mamdani’s participation would align with the intention of the ceremony and the expectations of the families most directly affected by the tragedy,” the description read. “The 25th anniversary should remain centered on remembrance, unity, and an unambiguous rejection of the violence and extremism that defined that day.”

 

The organizer, Giovanni Galante, lost his wife, Grace Catherine Galante, on September 11^th, when she was 29 years old.

 

In an opinion article published by Fox News, Galante explained that his wife was at her desk on the 105^th floor of the North Tower, above the floors (93 through 99), which were struck by American Airlines Flight 11 that morning.

 

The aircraft destroyed all three escape stairwells above the 91^st floor, trapping everyone in the 19 floors above, which caught fire.

 

Galante expressed that the annual Ground Zero ceremony “is the one mercy” amid the grief he routinely experiences in the days leading up to September 11^th.

“The names, all 2,983 of them, read out loud by loved ones, for hours, until every single person is remembered. No speeches, no politicians at the microphone, just the names,” he wrote. “Whoever built it that way understood something: for one morning a year, the most famous piece of ground in America belongs to ordinary grieving people, and to no one else.”

Galante said that Mamdani’s behaviors were “wounds” to the families who lost loved ones in the attacks.

 

Mamdani also faced backlash for interviewing streamer Hasan Piker, who in 2019 said, “America deserved 9/11.” Mamdani first declined to condemn the remarks but later called them “objectionable and reprehensible.”

“Nearly 3,000 New Yorkers died on 9/11; 22 years later, the death hasn’t stopped,” Mamdani wrote on X in 2023. “We mourn our neighbors who died that day. The hundreds of thousands who died in the wars that followed. The unknown millions injured & displaced. In their memory, we work toward a better world.”

Nearly 3,000 New Yorkers died on 9/11; 22 years later, the death hasn't stopped.

We mourn our neighbors who died that day. The hundreds of thousands who died in the wars that followed. The unknown millions injured & displaced.

In their memory, we work toward a better world.

— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) September 11, 2023

“He’ll show up to be spiteful,” said Angie Pesce, whose 34-year-old brother, Danny Pesce, was one of the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees killed in the attack on the North Tower.

Maureen Santora, whose 23-year-old son Christopher, an Engine 54 firefighter, was killed in the South Tower,

 

agreed that Mamdani isn’t welcome.

“I just hope that he doesn’t say a single word because most of us will be very upset,” the mother said.

Jeanette Puccio-Pick, who was 9 years old when her father, Fiduciary Trust International Vice President Joseph Pick, was killed in the South Tower, said the strongest protest against the mayor is silence.

“If the mayor shows up, that’s his prerogative. I’m there to honor my father,” she asserted.

Pick was on the 94^th floor of the South Tower, which was struck by United Airlines Flight 175 between floors 77 and 85. Only 18 people above the impact zone were able to escape due to a single stairwell remaining intact.

Galante told the New York Post that no one intends to block the mayor or argue with him.

“I know he likes to come in your face and try to say hello and shake your hand, but I would definitely ignore him,” he said.

 

Machete-wielding MS-13 gangster wanted for murder walks free after Biden-appointed judge releases him: DHS

 

An MS-13 gang member convicted in a savage execution-style murder is out of federal custody in California after a federal judge ordered his immediate release, igniting fury from the Trump administration.

U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta ordered the release of David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, aka "the witch," after finding that immigration officials held him for five months without giving him a bond hearing or determining whether he posed a danger to the public or a flight risk.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin accused the Biden-appointed judge of putting the public in danger by ordering Aviles Perez’s release.

David Antonio Aviles Perez is wanted for murder in El Salvador, where prosecutors note he is known as "the witch" and a notorious MS-13 gang member. (Department of Homeland Security)

"This radical activist judge has put American lives at risk by releasing a wanted murderer," Mullin said in a statement Saturday.

"This is now the SECOND time this dangerous illegal has been released back onto the streets in California," he added. "Because sanctuary politicians want to play politics from the bench, innocent Americans are in danger."

Members of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs deported to El Salvador by the U.S. arrive in San Salvador, El Salvador, March 31, 2025. (Salvadorian Press Presidency Office/Anadolu via Getty Images, File)

The case centers on a brutal 2014 gang killing in El Salvador and a legal fight over the Trump administration’s authority to detain immigrants while removal proceedings unfold.

Alvise Perez, identified by Salvadoran prosecutors as an active MS-13 member also known as "La Bruja," or "The Witch," was convicted while outside El Salvador in December 2025 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated murder.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and MS-13 gang members in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images, File)

Prosecutors said Aviles Perez and another MS-13 member chased a man through a mountainous area in La Unión before fellow gang members forced the victim to stop and kneel.

The victim was held by the shoulders as Aviles Perez and his accomplice approached, prosecutors said.

The gang members then shot the man in the chest, back and face before fleeing. Both defendants were tried and convicted while outside the country.

Aviles Perez entered the U.S. at an unknown date and location, according to DHS.

He was arrested in Monterey, California, in 2023, after allegedly swinging a machete at a homeless man at Laguna Grande Park near Monterey State Beach. He allegedly hid the weapon before officers recovered it from a nearby Holiday Inn parking lot.

Aviles Perez was charged and convicted after the incident but later released from custody. DHS blamed California’s sanctuary policies, which limit cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration officials.

A deported member of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang in custody in San Salvador, El Salvador. (El Salvador Press Presidency Office/Anadolu via Getty Images, File)

ICE agents arrested him again in San Diego on March 26 and took him into custody pending his removal to El Salvador.

He was held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center pending removal to El Salvador until Ohta ordered his immediate release Aug. 26, federal court records show.

After nearly five months in immigration custody, Aviles Perez filed a petition challenging his detention and seeking his immediate release.

Ohta ruled that immigration officials violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights by holding him without an individualized assessment of whether he was dangerous or likely to flee.

"Although Petitioner appears to have previously been convicted following a fight with another individual in May 2023, the government has offered no evidence that it detained him after considering those facts and making an individualized determination of his danger to the public or flight risk," Ohta wrote.

U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta, who ordered David Antonio Aviles Perez released from immigration custody in Southern California. (California Governor's Office)

The judge said federal officials gave Aviles Perez "no process before or after his detention" and had not shown that providing a hearing would place an undue burden on the government.

Ohta ordered his immediate release and barred ICE from detaining him again unless an immigration judge first holds a bond hearing and determines that renewed detention is warranted.

A status report was filed in the case Aug. 27, one day after the release order. DHS said Aviles Perez was subsequently released from federal custody.

The ruling did not clear Aviles Perez of wrongdoing or find that he posed no danger. It focused on whether immigration officials followed the required process to justify keeping him detained.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Ohta to the San Diego County Superior Court in December 2020, according to the governor’s office.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press event Aug. 19. (Tayfun CoÅkun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

President Joe Biden nominated her to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in September 2021. The Senate confirmed her that December, and her judicial commission was issued later that month, according to the Federal Judicial Center.

Mullin vowed that the ruling would not derail the administration’s immigration crackdown.

"DHS and ICE will not be deterred by these partisan games," he said. "If California’s leaders won’t protect Americans, DHS will."

Fox News Digital reached out to Ohta's office for additional comment and confirmation surrounding Aviles Perez’s release.

Stepheny Price is a Writer at Fox News with a focus on West Coast and Midwest news, missing persons, national and international crime stories, homicide cases, and border security.

U.S. Squeezes Iran: Sanctions, Not Diplomacy, Hit Regime Hard

Former Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie made it plain on Saturday that the United States is squeezing Iran where it hurts most: economically, and that leverage is working. Speaking on “Saturday Agenda,” Wilkie argued that sustained sanctions and pressure — not wishful diplomacy — are driving Tehran toward weakness, a development patriots should welcome.

Joined by retired Adm. Robert Harward, Wilkie and his colleagues laid out a sober assessment of the current U.S.-Iran confrontation, noting that Washington has moved away from sending envoys and is leaning into harder tools of statecraft. That shift reflects clear-eyed leadership: when tyrants brutalize their own people and threaten regional stability, economic chokeholds and targeted measures are the right response.

Wilkie went further, insisting that America’s objectives must be decisive — the disarmament of the Islamic Republic, the end of support for proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah, and the elimination of its ballistic missile capability. This isn’t warmongering; it’s the sober pursuit of lasting security for our allies and for American families who deserve to sleep without fearing another Iran-backed strike.

The former undersecretary also warned that the U.S. is prepared to take even more forceful action if Iran doubles down on killing protesters or attacking innocents, including the possibility of precision strikes against regime leadership. That clear ultimatum is precisely what’s needed to deter further bloodshed and to remind Tehran that its brutality carries real consequences.

All of this follows a backdrop of extraordinary unrest inside Iran, which Wilkie and others described as the weakest point for the regime in decades amid reports of mass casualties and nationwide protests. For conservatives who believe in liberty and in standing with the oppressed, there is no moral ambiguity: we must keep the pressure on until the ayatollahs can no longer bankroll terrorism or crush their own people.

Other commentators have pointed to a naval blockade and tighter economic measures strangling Iran’s ability to fund malign activity, and Wilkie’s warning echoes that strategy: choke the regime’s finances, seize its avenues for violence, and back freedom for Iranians. Americans should demand that our leaders maintain this course — robust, principled, and unafraid — because the alternative is appeasement and the steady erosion of American strength abroad.

 

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