Your BRIGHT Week in Review
Plus: Dinner and a Movie
Photo of the Week
On Thursday, opposition leader María Corina Machado of Venezuela presented President Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize (Fox News)
Gen X Voices Lead In Displacing Rotting Corporate Media
From an article I wrote for The Federalist this week:
A recent TD Bank survey found that Gen X was the most likely to overspend during the holidays. However, The New York Times noted, “Many retailers and marketers are looking past them and to millennials and Gen Z, especially as malls continue to empty out and more shopping moves online.”
Gen Xers are used to being ignored, but it just might be our superpower.
It’s 2026, and the first wave of Gen Xers are turning 60. Our movie heroes, like the anti-woke Indiana Jones, are beating the latest self-congratulatory and woke Golden Globes in the viewership, according to Variety. Our toys are our highest value assets. And best yet, Gen X — led by Greg Gutfeld, Taylor Sheridan, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk — is at the top of media and pop culture. We are in our Golden Age of success and change.
Gen X never asked for permission to take over. We just quietly wandered in, shrugged, and built our own media. That’s why the rise of Gen Xers like Gutfeld, Sheridan, Rogan, and Musk feels so organic. Our generation’s blend of skepticism, independence, and a punk mindset dismantled the old guard’s echo chamber. These guys built their own empires, leaving CNN, late-night liberals, and Hollywood elites scrambling for relevance.
Is Rubio the President-in-Waiting?
In the latest edition of The Spectator magazine, Ben Domenech argues that Marco Rubio’s handling of the Venezuela operation and his expanded resume have quietly recast him as a serious heir apparent. Domenech says that Rubio is newly unburdened by old caricatures, writing, “Rubio is now the best version of himself; the laid-back Gen Xer of the cabinet, cool and composed under pressure and with an occasional knowing wink to his audience.”
Domenech contrasts that ease with Rubio’s earlier stumbles and lessons learned, suggesting a politician sharpened by failure and reinvention. In the second Trump administration, Rubio is omnipresent and effective, noting the running joke that the secretary has become the “Secretary of Everything.” Insiders are judging his performance, even if publicly agree Vice President Vance is the next in line. Rubio benefits from proximity to decisive moments while others keep their distance.
RELATED: I Like JD Vance So Much That I Want Him Primaried Hard (Kurt Schlichter on Townhall)
Trump Says No Federal Money for Sanctuary Cities
Just the News reported President Trump said his administration will cut off federal payments to sanctuary cities and states beginning next month. Speaking in Detroit, he argued their policies shield criminals and harm citizens. Trump said, “Starting February 1, we’re not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens. And it breeds fraud and crime and all the other problems that come. So we’re not making any payment to anybody that supports sanctuary.”
He also cited halted funds in Minnesota and warned of denaturalization and the end of protections for some Somali immigrants. From The National Pulse:
During the speech, President Trump also vowed that no more federal dollars would flow to childcare centers unless they can demonstrate children are actually in attendance, a response to the recent exposure of widespread social services fraud tied to Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community. In addition, Trump said his administration will move to denaturalize foreign-born Somali citizens if they were convicted of fraud, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ending its Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali illegal immigrants.
ICYMI
Dinner and a Show
Like Rush Limbaugh, the one comfort we have with the loss of both him and Scott Adams is that they left a lot of content we can read, watch, reread and rewatch to remember them. We’re going to watch the Dilbert TV series this weekend. Since I’m a physical media gal, I bought the DVD set of both seasons here.
For dinner, I won’t be consuming one of his favorite foods — broccoli. In How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, he wrote about reversing an addiction to vanilla ice cream and retraining his brain to crave broccoli. However, I will have some good vanilla ice cream in his honor ❤️