Media Manipulation America explores how narratives replace facts across crime, immigration, drug trafficking, child policy, gun rights, elections, and the economy. With insights from CNS News editor Craig Bannister and voices from the public, the discussion reveals how fear, emotion, and ideology are used to excuse lawlessness, silence accountability, and weaken constitutional institutions. The cost is cultural decay, public confusion, and a growing distrust in media and leadership.
The conversation began with a parasite that hijacks the mind of its host and walks it quietly into destruction. That image became the lens. Not biology, but politics. Not insects, but citizens.
From there, the veil was pulled back with Craig Bannister of CNS News and the Media Research Center. What emerged was not chaos, but design. Media bias by omission. Crimes reframed as compassion.
Illegal aliens with criminal records released while headlines warned that families were “being hunted.” Drug runners dismissed as non-threats while overdose deaths stacked into the tens of thousands. Fraud exposed, but enforcement smeared.
Children told they are mature enough for life-altering decisions, yet too immature to vote or drive.
The thread ran deeper. Elites insulated by armed security promoting policies that leave ordinary communities exposed. Race and grievance sold as currency when facts fail. Trust in legacy media collapsing because truth is treated as optional.
Then came the ground truth. Citizens calling in. Poetry warning of corrupted systems. History forgotten. Rights treated as inconveniences.
Gun shows under siege in New York not because of violence, but because an armed, thinking populace is harder to manage than a frightened one.
Food prices rising. Institutions eroding. Tradition mocked. Accountability dodged.
This is the Vanbōōlzalness Crisis. Manipulation thrives when people stop paying attention. Freedom requires participation. Truth requires friction.
A nation that forgets its foundations becomes easy prey for whatever learns how to speak softly while leading it toward ruin.
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Cleaned Full Transcript
Peter Vazquez:
Look to the left. Look to the right. What do you see? Where are you? In a world that seems to change daily, the question is simple: what will you do next?
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Happy Monday. Welcome back. I am Peter Vazquez, and this is The Next Steps Show.
Bob, how are you today, brother?
Bob:
Doing well.
Vazquez:
I was reading one of those “did you know” emails. It was talking about horsehair worms. These parasites infect insects, like praying mantises, and they literally take over their nervous system. They hijack the ability to think. They guide the host into water, where it dies.
And I thought to myself, that is the perfect metaphor for what we are watching in politics today.
Bob:
I was waiting for the connection.
Vazquez:
That progressive ideology we keep talking about? It behaves exactly like that parasite. It rewires how people think. It replaces reason with impulse. And too many people never realize they are being controlled.
That is part of what we have been calling this broader crisis. Identifying the manipulation. Identifying the lies. Identifying the word games.
And today, we are joined by someone who does exactly that for a living.
I have the privilege of welcoming Craig Bannister, managing editor of CNS News and part of the Media Research Center.
Craig, thank you for joining me.
Craig Bannister:
Good morning. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. And yes, technology always seems to fail at the worst possible moment.
Vazquez:
I always joke when that happens that it is the enemy trying to stop the truth from getting out.
Bannister:
The media certainly works hard enough to do that themselves.
Vazquez:
Tell our listeners how CNS News fits into the broader work of MRC.
Bannister:
NewsBusters is the flagship. It exposes and debunks media bias, whether that bias is through omission, distortion, or narrative framing. CNS News focuses on stories the legacy media ignores or actively suppresses. Together, we document how the public is misled.
Vazquez:
You recently reported on an illegal alien with prior arrests and alleged MS-13 ties being released after a county refused to honor an ICE detainer. We see this everywhere.
At the same time, local activists claim families are being “hunted.”
What does accountability look like when the narrative is that enforcement itself is the crime?
Bannister:
That is the pernicious part. The media supports that false narrative. Criminals are not “being hunted.” Law enforcement is doing its job. ICE data shows roughly seventy percent of those taken into custody are criminals or have pending charges.
When facts fail, emotion becomes the weapon.
Vazquez:
You quoted an ICE spokesperson who said plainly that had the county followed the law, tragedy would never have happened.
When does reality finally catch up with the media?
Bannister:
I am not sure it ever will. The ideology is deeply entrenched. Many in the media are insulated by wealth and security. They can afford the consequences of dangerous policies. Ordinary Americans cannot.
Vazquez:
That insulation is something we see repeatedly. Politicians, media figures, even community leaders laundering bad decisions through optics and emotion.
You also wrote about fraud investigations in Somali communities and how enforcement is smeared instead of defended.
Bannister:
Because there is no way to defend the crime. So the narrative shifts to attacking law enforcement.
Vazquez:
You also reported on Representative Adam Smith dismissing Caribbean cocaine trafficking as a non-threat, despite cocaine being linked to over twenty thousand overdose deaths annually.
At the same time, Republicans could not even unanimously support legislation protecting children from irreversible transgender medical procedures.
Bannister:
Only a handful of Democrats crossed party lines. Some Republicans still believe they can appease the media by opposing Trump. That never works.
Vazquez:
And meanwhile, media trust collapses. Polling shows only seventeen percent of Americans trust television news.
Race narratives are used to justify dependency, welfare, and ideological control. The media never asks why entire communities are told they must always need something.
Bannister:
Because claims of racism are the ultimate shield when facts and logic fail.
Vazquez:
Is the core problem bias or carelessness?
Bannister:
Bias. Either they know exactly what they are doing, or they are dangerously incompetent. I am not sure which is worse.
Vazquez:
Listeners called in with poetry warning about corruption and election integrity. Others asked practical questions. We talked about history being forgotten, Forefathers Day unknown to students, and traditions eroding.
We talked about gun shows under attack in New York not because of violence, but because lawful gun ownership represents independence.
We talked about food prices rising over twenty-three percent in four years.
We talked about how liberty does not disappear overnight. It erodes quietly.
This is not confusion. It is conditioning.
Manipulation thrives when people disengage. Freedom survives only when citizens stay alert, informed, and involved.
God bless you all. Merry Christmas. And do not stop thinking.
