California Dems in Disarray After Swalwell’s Exit

Outrage Over Trump’s Image, Silence for Persecuted Christians: The Media’s Double Standard

House Conservatives Demand FISA Spy Power Reforms

EXCLUSIVE: ICE Arrests More Pedophiles, Kidnappers

Transparency Watch: Atlanta Puts a Hefty Price Tag on Muslim Activists’ Pay Records

Republicans Indicate Bipartisan Amnesty Bill Dead on Arrival

EXCLUSIVE: Randy Fine Joins House Freedom Caucus

EXCLUSIVE: ICE Announces Arrests of Several Violent Criminals and Sex Offenders

Iran Crumbles, Critics Scramble: Trump’s Long Game Leaves the Media Exposed

 LawPoliticsSocietyNews

Heritage Panel: CCP is Murdering Citizens for Organs and Profiting by the Billions

How China Dominates the World’s Critical Minerals Production

Reclaiming the Lunar High Ground

House Conservatives Demand FISA Spy Power Reforms

Senate GOP Disapproval Rating Jumps to 60% Among Swing State Voters: Poll

Americans See Employment and Earning Retention Gains Thanks to Working Family Tax Cuts

GOP Looks to Expand Tax Relief, ‘Even Better’ Than ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’

Ruling Allows Fulton County to Block Republican Election Board Nominees 

Spanberger Is ‘Taking Credit’ for Youngkin’s Economic Deals

Trump’s Election Integrity Order Faces Wave of Lawsuits Before Dem-Appointed Judges

Democrats Sue to Stop Trump’s Latest Election Integrity Effort

Trump Bullish on Iran Deal, but Uncertainty Remains

Where Do Dem Presidential Favorites Stand on Israel?

 PoliticsSecurityNews

Trump Claims Gold Star Families Told Him to ‘Finish the Job’ in Iran

Citing ‘Echo Chamber’ on Iran, Trump Counterterrorism Chief Resigns

Conservative and Proud: Is the Right Representing Women? 

Girl Boss vs. Trad Wife: Forced to Choose?

Beyond the Oyster Fork: An Etiquette Expert’s Tips for ‘Relationships, Work, and Life’

Is the Iran Operation ‘America First’?

Democrats’ Jungle Primary Boomerang Hits Swalwell Hard

Victor Davis Hanson: Why Trump Grew Frustrated With Pam Bondi

International Commentary

‘We’ll Be Your Canada’: Brutal Reality Check for NATO Free Riders

If Donald Trump Did What Obama Did, Media Would Cheer—So Why the Outrage Now?

Outrage Over Trump’s Image, Silence for Persecuted Christians: The Media’s Double Standard

Recent media outrage over President Donald Trump has exposed a deeper double standard, argued Mehek Cooke, The Daily Signal’s senior national security and legal analyst, in a television interview. 

Appearing on BBC News on Monday, Cooke responded to controversy over a White House social media image that some critics said depicted Trump as Jesus, arguing the reaction exposed a familiar pattern of selective outrage. She said the press fixates on imagery and tone while failing to respond with the same urgency when Christians face real threats. 

“There’s this moral outrage in the media today any time the White House puts something up, even in jest,” Cooke said. “But the same mainstream media never stands up for Christians.” 

Cooke pointed to a recent incident in Minneapolis in which rioters disrupted a Sunday church service. She said the lack of sustained coverage highlighted what she described as selective moral concern. 

“I don’t play this humor game,” Cooke said, arguing that media narratives often inflate symbolism while ignoring real violence. 

Cooke also addressed recent remarks from Pope Leo XIV criticizing war and warning against the use of religion to justify conflict. She argued that religious criticism of the White House over the Iran war often drowns out the nuances of Catholic doctrine and national security realities. 

While she acknowledged the importance of moral leadership and concern for human suffering, Cooke said the pope crossed a line by weighing in on U.S. military and intelligence decisions. 

“It’s one thing to talk about the human cost of war,” she said. “It’s another thing to take your pope hat off and act like the president of the United States and talk about military and intelligence that he has no business talking about.” 

A recent convert to Catholicism, Cooke emphasized that Church teaching includes just war doctrine, which allows for the use of force under certain conditions when innocent lives are threatened and when national defense is at stake. 

“When you see America being threatened, leaders have a responsibility to act,” Cooke said, adding that Trump’s decisions reflected that. 

Cooke also criticized what she described as an imbalance in how global suffering is discussed, noting that decades of Iranian aggression, including hostage-taking and attacks on Americans, are often overlooked. 

“The pope is a pastor, not a strategist,” Cooke said. “He doesn’t have the intelligence. He doesn’t have the information.” 

While Cooke said the Church plays a critical role in reminding the world of war’s human cost, she concluded that moral authority must remain within its proper bounds—especially when national security is at stake. 

Just 1 in 4 Americans Supports US Strikes on Iran, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

Stephen Miller: ‘America First’ Means US Will Be ‘Most Unquestioned, Unmatched Power’

White House Official: Trump Has Said a US-Cuba Deal Could Be Done Easily

Read the first chapter of The Woketopus right now for FREE

Today, even with President Trump’s victory, leftist elites have their tentacles in every aspect of our government.

The Daily Signal’s own Tyler O’Neil exposes this leftist cabal in his new book, The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.

In this book, O’Neil reveals how the Left’s NGO apparatus pursues its woke agenda, maneuvering like an octopus by circumventing Congress and entrenching its interests in the federal government.

You can read the first chapter of this new book for FREE in this eBook, The Woketopus: Chapter One using the secure link below.

The Tony Kinnett Cast

The Daily Signal Podcast

© 2025 The Daily Signal Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

We use cookies on our website. By using our website, you consent to cookies.  Learn More .  

© The Daily Signal