Is this a new era of conservative filmmaking?



I was recently treated to a free screening of a new documentary called "Thank You for Sharing" (2026). This funny and engaging film is a much-needed investigation into the dubious intentions of the mental health industry.

It's also the first foray into feature-length filmmaking by upstart conservative press Passage Publishing. And Passage chose a novel way to get people to watch it.

You can see the lack of money on the screen. But you can also feel a sense of rebellion and scrappiness. A kind of upstart energy.

I hadn’t heard of "Thank You" until it popped up on my X feed. It would be available for one week, for free.

If the strategy sounds familiar, it may be because another low-budget, right-leaning film recently stumbled onto something similar — with spectacular results.

'Citizen Vigilante'

Last June, "Citizen Vigilante" was already making waves online, particularly in right-wing circles, when Elon Musk stepped in and dramatically expanded its audience.

The film had received a conventional release through independent distributor Quiver, including a very limited theatrical run in the United States. But the movie had little prospect of reaching much of the rest of the world. Germany had even refused to give it a rating, effectively "banning" it.

Then Musk contacted director Uwe Boll's team and, with their permission, made the entire movie available free on X for 48 hours.

The stunt worked. "Citizen Vigilante" climbed into the top 10 on video-on-demand platforms including Apple and Amazon, and Quiver subsequently acquired worldwide distribution rights, excluding a handful of territories.

"Citizen Vigilante" stars canceled Hollywood actor Armie Hammer as an American real estate heir living in Croatia who reinvents himself as a vigilante, hunting down rapists, bullies, and other criminals, many of them migrants.

From the start, the film generated huge amounts of controversy, its apparent anti-immigration politics constituting an almost unimaginable affront to the leftist entertainment industry.

Unfortunately, "Citizen Vigilante" is a terrible movie. The plot makes no sense, and the filmmaking is on par with Boll's famously schlocky, gore-filled B-grade films.

But its release remained a major cultural event. Mainstream media felt obligated to comment on the film and denounce its politics. This, in turn, forced Western progressives to defend their widely unpopular open-border policies.

The rise of the right-wing film

I’ve seen a bunch of right-wing films over the last year. They tend to fall into a couple of different categories.

There are the Christian-influenced films, like "Sound of Freedom" (2023) or "Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist" (2023).

In these films, a high level of sincerity is immediately evident. There’s a minimum of snark. People profess their love of God or Jesus unabashedly.

It takes a while to get used to genuine people of faith as characters in a movie. Hollywood generally mocks or criticizes such people. But once the surprise wears off, it’s quite refreshing.

Matt Walsh in a wig

Then there are the satirical films. Matt Walsh has made several of these. His best two are "What Is a Woman?" (2022) and "Am I a Racist?" (2024). Both were made on limited budgets.

But they both work. In "Am I a Racist?" Walsh dresses up in ridiculous getups, impersonating leftoid weirdos of various types.

It’s quite funny and effective. Though making fun of people like Robin DiAngelo isn’t that hard. But that’s the point.

American movie

Then there are patriotic movies, like "Young Washington" (2026) and "Reagan" (2024), in which Dennis Quaid plays the 40th president. .

"Reagan" wasn’t a perfect film, but it was fun to review Ronald Reagan’s long and extraordinary life. I teared up at the end, remembering the grace and humility — even in his final days — of one of our greatest presidents.

Dinesh D’Souza’s docu-drama "Death of a Nation" (2018) was well intentioned and strongly pro-American, but suffered from a lack of funding.

D’Souza has made a whole series of these low-budget patriotic films. He began making them way back before the first Trump administration. So kudos to him for blazing a trail.

MAGA by mistake

Then there is "The Apprentice" (2024), which depicted President Trump’s youth and rise as a businessman. This was not intended as a right-wing film, but I suspect more Trump supporters saw it than detractors.

I found the film interesting, even as it shamelessly attempted to smear Trump in the most mean-spirited ways. Ultimately, it made Trump seem shrewd and sympathetic, despite the bad intentions of the filmmakers.

Rumors of war

A similar film was "Civil War" (2024), by mainstream director Alex Garland. The story seemed inspired by the heated election-fraud discourse after the 2020 election. People thought we might actually have a civil war!

Right-wing viewers appreciated the realism of the film. Garland created a “low-intensity” war scenario, where some people are actively fighting and other people are going about their lives.

In the end, Garland sold out to the left, revealing a blubbering, cowardly Trump-clone dictator to be the cause of the conflict.

Still, the movie was intelligently done and possibly prophetic and thus was a hit with young conservatives.

RELATED: 'Civil War' gives journos their dumb Trump dictator fantasy

A24

Grit > $

Most of the right-wing movies listed above were clearly made without Hollywood-level financing. You can see the lack of money on the screen.

But you can also feel a sense of rebellion and scrappiness. A kind of upstart energy. These are the underdog films of their time.

When I watched the opening scenes of "Sound of Freedom" — a great film by any measure — and I saw the lack of slickness, the lack of pampered movie stars, the lack of smarmy leftism, I got excited.

This is what I want from movies: passion, effort, resourcefulness, and most of all filmmakers who believe in what they are doing.

Glenn Beck: Think today's headlines are CRAZY? We survived this exact crisis before



Every generation seems convinced it is living through America’s darkest hour.

At the moment, America is facing political tribalism dividing families, mounting debt, and endless wars — but despite it all, Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck has a message of hope for Americans.

Glenn points out that there’s a “faction in this country” that wants to blow up the United States and “dismantle the Constitution,” that we have overwhelming debt, we're at war with a country that would “rather die than surrender,” and families have broken apart.

“I mean this is like the worst war we’ve ever fought in some ways,” he says, adding, “The Civil War.”

“The one where the line ran straight down the dinner table. The economy grinds on, the government doesn’t listen,” he continues, noting that “our country has gone godless” and “insane.”


But the good news is there’s good news.

“I’ve been reading history, the letters, the real thing, the words these people wrote in their own hand while the fires were still burning,” Glenn says.

“And I have to tell you, the more I read, the more I keep landing on one sentence,” he continues.

That sentence is, “We have been here before.”

“The exact shape of the things that are scaring us the most already have a date on it,” Glenn says, calling history a “map.”

“It tells you what worked. Patience over panic. Voting over getting into the streets and revolution, the ballot over the barricade, recovering our true sight, remembering what the thing was built to do instead of throwing it all out,” he explains.

“Every time we’ve stood where we’re standing now, the way out was never the loud thing. It was people who knew their own history well enough to stop being afraid of doing the quiet, stubborn, un-newsworthy work of governing themselves,” he continues, adding, “That’s it.”

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The Democrat civil war is real — and it is happening in Wisconsin



Yard signs for democratic socialist Francesca Hong have appeared across rural Wisconsin in recent months. Hong, a single mother and small-business restaurateur, has paired an appealing biography with a platform well to the left of the state’s political center. She has called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and establishing universal health care. Now she leads the Democrat field for governor.

Hong’s rise has also thrown Wisconsin Democrats into a panic. Party leaders must either accommodate a socialist insurgency or risk alienating the working-class voters they need in November. The result is a fractured coalition that could puncture Democrat hopes for a national blue wave.

Wisconsin’s primary may reveal the limit of the coming blue wave: Democrats cannot sweep the country while their own coalition is pulling itself apart.

Republicans avoided that problem. By late January, they had consolidated around Rep. Tom Tiffany, a former dam tender from Northwestern Wisconsin, and began pooling their resources for the general election. Democrats instead produced a seven-candidate field that included two lieutenant governors, the Milwaukee County executive, a businessman, a lawyer, a CEO, and a chef backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

Kirk Bangstad, owner of Minocqua Brewing Company, briefly joined the race after his bar promised free beer on the day President Trump died. His campaign lasted only weeks before election officials disqualified him for failing to collect enough valid signatures.

The Democrat primary soon became a full-blown soap opera. For months, party insiders treated Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez as the preferred candidate of major donors. Rodriguez, who has worked in health care, built her campaign around her biography as a nurse, wife, mother, and experienced public official.

Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes also entered the race. He left Gov. Tony Evers’ administration in 2022 to challenge Republican Sen. Ron Johnson. Barnes spent $56 million, lost the election, and earned the lasting resentment of major Democrat donors.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley began building momentum until his administration allowed the county employees’ health insurance contract to lapse. Thousands of workers temporarily lost coverage, and the debacle triggered firings, resignations, and questions about Crowley’s competence.

Crowley dropped out and endorsed Rodriguez. Then Rodriguez’s campaign disclosed nearly $600,000 in campaign-finance reporting errors and suspended its bid. Crowley promptly re-entered the race with Evers’ endorsement. Wisconsin Democrats had managed to replace one damaged establishment candidate with another.

While the establishment candidates stumbled, Hong surged. She has led surveys of likely primary voters and attracted the largest number of individual contributors in the race: 14,000 donors making more than 22,000 contributions. Her average donation is just under $50, evidence of genuine grassroots enthusiasm rather than dependence on a handful of wealthy patrons.

Hong signs and campaign literature now appear from Wisconsin’s rural towns to its deepest-blue cities. During a livestream with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, she expressed support for abolishing prisons, defunding police, and eliminating the U.S. Senate. These are not marginal disagreements over tax rates or spending priorities. Hong represents a direct challenge to the party’s remaining moderates.

RELATED: The revolution will not be televised — it will be livestreamed in 4K

Jason Alpert-Wisnia/Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images

Wisconsin may seem like unlikely terrain for a far-left socialist breakthrough. Milwaukee elected three prominent socialist mayors between 1910 and 1960, but the state has spent the past six decades as a fiercely contested political battleground. A movement built around New York City-style democratic socialism should struggle in a state decided by working-class voters outside Madison and Milwaukee.

Yet neighboring states offer warnings. Minnesota has Omar Fateh, and Michigan has Denzel McCampbell. The Midwest may be less resistant to the socialist left than party leaders and Republican strategists assume.

Wisconsin’s gubernatorial primary exposes a widening fracture between traditional Democrats and radical socialists. Since Trump returned to office in 2025, the media has promoted a supposed conservative civil war, feeding podcast feuds and trying to cast Marco Rubio and JD Vance as rivals. Those largely manufactured disputes look minor beside the Democratic Party’s genuine struggle for control.

Many major donors hesitate to fund DSA candidates whose platforms repel independents. At the same time, young activists have built increasingly powerful grassroots organizations around socialist candidates. DSA membership is rising rapidly while Democratic Party membership remains comparatively flat. The party’s money and its energy are moving in opposite directions.

RELATED: ‘Need a cop? Thank socialism’ is dumb — but dangerously effective

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images

That conflict could destroy Democrat hopes for a blue wave before November arrives. Party leaders want likeable, moderate-sounding candidates who can win swing voters. Their activist base wants candidates who would abolish immigration enforcement, defund police, eliminate prisons, and dismantle constitutional institutions. Wisconsin Democrats cannot satisfy both constituencies indefinitely.

The problem extends beyond Wisconsin. The collapse of candidates such as Graham Platner in Maine points to a broader struggle over the Democratic Party’s identity and direction.

Democrat leaders may believe voter anger at Trump will carry them through the midterms. But anger alone cannot hold together a coalition fighting over whether reform or revolution should define the party.

Wisconsin’s primary may reveal the limit of the coming blue wave: Democrats cannot sweep the country while their own coalition is pulling itself apart.

Rights don't change with zip codes: Glenn Beck slams Hawaii for using racist roots to restrict 2nd Amendment



Hawaii may be known for its beauty, but little known about the paradise is its anti-gun law — which forced gun owners to leave their firearms at home unless a public place posted that guns were welcome.

The state used its “spirit of aloha” as a reason for the law.

“So in other words, you can’t bring your gun anywhere unless it’s posted. Where the rest of the sane world, if a store owner says, ‘I don’t want guns in here,’ they have to post, ‘No guns allowed,’” BlazeTV host Glenn Beck explains.

“They fenced off 96% of publicly accessible land with a stroke of a pen. 96%. And they called it, proudly, the vampire rule. Because like a vampire, a vampire can’t cross the threshold unless you invite them in,” he says.


However, that all changed this past week in Wolford v. Lopez, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Hawaii's law prohibiting licensed concealed-carry permit holders from carrying handguns on private property open to the public violates the Second and 14th Amendments.

Glenn notes that Justice Alito played a huge part in the ruling, explaining that he “drove a stake through the heart of the vampire rule in Hawaii” when he ruled that your right to carry arms shouldn't end in your home.

“Alito said the Second Amendment means the same thing whether you have a lei around your neck or not. It doesn’t bend to the spirit of aloha any more than it bows to the mayor of, you know, Chicago or New York,” Glenn explains.

“A right is a right. It doesn’t change with zip codes,” he adds.

Hawaii also used an 1865 Louisiana statute as an example of the law being used before.

“If you’re going back and you’re looking for ways to defend yourself and you have to go to the South in the 1860s, it’s probably not going to be something you should say out loud,” Glenn says.

“That statute in 1865 said you can’t bring a gun on another man’s property without permission. And they actually said ‘that’s tradition.’ … No, that’s not tradition. That was called the Black Code. And it was written after the Civil War to disarm free black men so they couldn’t protect their families,” he continues.

“So the instrument that was used for racial disarmament, they said it’s the ‘spirit of aloha,’” he adds.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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Don’t let Trump derangement ruin Flag Day



A UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn of the White House — with a 5,000-seat temporary stadium and 85,000 tickets for viewing on massive screens on the Ellipse — has sparked controversy. The event is unprecedented, and it falls on President Trump’s birthday.

Put aside what you think of Sunday’s extravaganza. There is still a good reason to embrace June 14: Flag Day.

Those allergic to all things Trump should remember that Flag Day existed decades before he was born and, God willing, will endure for generations after.

Flag Day has a long tradition. Yet if not for its coincidence with Trump’s birthday, it would likely pass with little notice. That is a mistake. This is not a call to worship a colorful banner. It is a call to remember that Americans — left, center, and right — are united by founding principles from the Declaration of Independence, represented by Old Glory.

On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved a resolution establishing a uniform national flag. The 13-star flag, commonly associated with Betsy Ross, became a rallying banner and a source of pride. It was not yet revered as it would be later, but it symbolized the freest nation in world history.

Then came the Civil War and the lowering of the flag over Fort Sumter. That image triggered an outpouring of love for Old Glory.

Jonathan Flynt Morris, a banker and strong Republican Unionist, urged Charles Dudley Warner, editor of the Hartford Evening Press, to write about the need not merely to respect the flag, but to revere it. On June 10, 1861, Warner followed that advice and proposed a new holiday: Flag Day.

“This flag is our dearest symbol of nationality,” Warner wrote. “It stands for civil liberty on this continent. To keep it full high advanced is our highest pride; to strike at it is to arouse all the passion of the nation to defend it, and to punish the perpetrators of the outrage.”

Flag Day celebrations began in Warner’s home state of Connecticut. They slowly spread to schools in Wisconsin in 1885, New York schools in 1889, and then to Philadelphia and public buildings in New York state in 1894. An American Flag Day organization was created to further the movement.

President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, issued the first federal recognition of the holiday on May 30, 1916. Wilson’s proclamation called for patriotic exercises that would “give significant expression to our thoughtful love of America” and our understanding of “the great mission of liberty and justice to which we have devoted ourselves as a people.”

RELATED: Damning poll reveals what Democrats ACTUALLY think of America ahead of its 250th birthday

Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

He also called Americans to rededicate themselves to the principles of “independence, liberty, and right,” which no person “can corrupt” and no influence could draw away from their ideals. Finally, on Aug. 3, 1949, President Harry S. Truman, also a Democrat, signed an act of Congress designating June 14 of each year as National Flag Day.

Flag Day exemplifies our shared American creed. It was the brainchild of Republicans, spread outside party politics, and was instituted nationally by Democrats. Its purpose is to recommit us to the founding principles declared in the Declaration of Independence and embedded in the Constitution: equality, limited government, the rule of law, unalienable rights, the social compact, and the right to alter or abolish oppressive government.

America did not fully live by those principles in 1776, and we do not perfectly live by them today. But belief in those principles has inspired generations of patriots to move us closer to their fulfillment. Abolitionism, women’s suffrage, and the civil rights movement all called upon America’s first principles to push the country toward its promise. At its best, our flag stands for liberty and equality.

Those allergic to all things Trump should remember that Flag Day existed decades before he was born and, God willing, will endure for generations after. It is not about one man. It is a call for all Americans to unite around the principles that made the country possible.

We should answer that call.

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