Kid Rock’s latest tour is stirring up conversation, especially with those eye-popping ticket prices. Who knew front row could cost more than a weekend getaway? Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Day: February 23, 2026
In 1995, Hulk Hogan launched a restaurant concept called Hulk Hogan’s Pastamania! – but whatever became of the wrestler’s foray into the world of food?
Food Republic – Restaurants, Reviews, Recipes, Cooking Tips
When a coupon suddenly appears on your phone as you approach a store, you might find it convenient and even helpful. But the same AI systems that know where you are and try to influence your purchases can be used to infer what you fear, what you trust and which stories you are likely to believe. AI-fueled marketing algorithms are becoming increasingly good at influencing human behavior.
That raises concern about what various governments might do with these tools to influence citizens’ views about warfare. A clear-eyed look at how administrations are exploiting these systems may help people and their nations navigate an uncertain future.
I am a security researcher who studies ways to explore and characterize the risk technology poses to individuals and society. The rise of AI-mediated influence has raised questions about the erosion of people’s capacity to exercise free will and, by extension, society’s ability to distinguish a just war from an unjust war.
AI-powered marketing
The integration of AI with location-based services is pushing the marketing frontier. Location-based services use geographic data from indoor sensors, cellphone towers and satellites to promote goods and services that are tailored to your location, a capability called geofencing.
When marketing firms couple massive amounts of data about individuals’ behaviors – including information that people voluntarily or unknowingly share through mobile device applications – the firms can group, or segment, potential customers based on what they like, what they do and what they say.
Once an AI-powered marketing system knows where a user is and can make an informed guess about that person’s likes and dislikes, it can design targeted coupons and advertisements to influence the behavior of each person in a group, and possibly the group as a whole. This combination of AI with geofencing and segmentation makes hyperpersonalized marketing content possible at an unprecedented scale.
Real-time propaganda
What might this advance have to do with warfare? The use of psychology to win battles or obviate the need for war is as old as armed conflict itself. Sun Tzu, the Chinese military general and philosopher who died in 496 B.C., wrote: “Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.”
From Sun Tzu’s era until today, skilled practitioners of military strategy have sought to reduce the risk in fighting through reflexive control: getting opponents to willingly perform actions that are best for the strategist’s empire or nation.
Today’s strategists increasingly rely on paid social media advertisements, influencers, AI-generated content and even fake social media accounts to sway popular opinion toward their goals. This power, and controversy surrounding it, has been implicated in recent national elections, domestic unrest and negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine.
Unlike propaganda during the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, modern influencers don’t rely on a single message broadcast to the masses. Strategists test and deploy thousands of narrative variations simultaneously, monitor how different groups respond and refine their approach in near-real time. The purveyors don’t need to convince everyone. They just need to nudge enough people at the right moment to change election outcomes, pressure domestic policies or even trigger ethnic violence.
How much deception is tolerable?
As online influence becomes more automated and personalized, it is harder to determine where persuasion ends and coercion begins. If groups of people, or even a nation’s citizenry, can be guided toward certain beliefs or behaviors without overt force, democratic societies face a new problem: how to distinguish traditional attempts at influence from manipulation – especially during conflict.
Recent studies show that Americans trust local news sources more than national ones, although trust in both local and national news media has declined across all age groups in the U.S. Ironically, this trust deficit is being exploited by unscrupulous media in various ways, such as AI-generated, pink-slime news – online news stories that only appear to be from authentic local news outlets. The stories are often technically accurate but presented with veiled political bias.
AI-driven propaganda directly challenges how people typically evaluate claims that their nation has been wronged – that it is the “good guy” standing up for what is right. Just war theory assumes that citizens can reasonably consent to war. Legitimate political authority requires an informed public that can decide violence is both necessary and proportional to the offense. However, when influence operations sway people’s views without them being aware of it, these systems threaten to undermine the moral preconditions that make war just.
The question citizens have to answer is how they will allow their information environments to evolve. Do they assume that deception is ubiquitous and therefore governments must control information and even preempt the truth by weaponizing AI-driven narratives? Or should the public accept the risk of AI-generated influence as a regrettable but necessary part of openness, pluralism and the belief that truth emerges through transparent debate and not under tight controls?
The same systems that decide which coupon reaches your phone are starting to shape which narratives reach you, your community and a nation’s entire population during a crisis. Recognizing this connection is the first step toward deciding how much influence people are willing to accept from such algorithms and the propagandists who control them.
Justin Pelletier is affiliated with the United States Army Reserve. The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Army, Department of War, or the U.S. Government.
Politics + Society – The Conversation
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is reportedly issuing administrative subpoenas to identify anonymous social media accounts that criticize U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Google, Meta and Reddit have complied with at least some of those requests, according to The New York Times.
These subpoenas appear alongside other recent steps by the Trump administration aimed at clamping down on its critics.
In Minneapolis and Chicago, ICE agents told protesters their faces were being recorded and identified using facial recognition technology. Tom Homan, the White House border czar, has also spoken publicly about creating a database of people arrested during protests against immigration enforcement operations.
One way to understand these government moves is by focusing on law enforcement and compliance. Some people may wonder about what legal authority DHS is using to demand identities and compile lists, how many accounts are involved, and whether prosecutions will follow. Those questions matter.
But they are not the most important ones.
To me, a professor of public service and vice chair of the National Communication Association’s Communication and Law Division, the more revealing question is why the government wants the names of critics in the first place, and what that choice signals about how dissent is being understood.
Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Legality is wrong measure
The DHS subpoenas that target social media accounts may be perfectly legal.
Administrative subpoenas are authorized by statute and do not require a judge’s approval before issuance. The government’s use of facial recognition technology has survived constitutional challenge in certain investigative contexts. A president’s executive memoranda routinely set enforcement priorities.
But constitutionality does not turn on whether a tool exists. It turns on how that tool is used.
Power can be lawful in the abstract and antidemocratic in its application. The fundamental question in a democracy isn’t whether the government possesses investigative authority. Instead, the question to ask is what happens when that authority begins to focus on critics of a particular policy.
National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, issued in September 2025, makes the stakes even more stark. It directs agencies to prioritize efforts to counter what it calls “domestic terrorism” and organized political violence. It emphasizes threat assessment and intelligence sharing across departments. It frames certain forms of political conflict in security terms.
When protest and online criticism are characterized using a national security vocabulary, they begin to look less like disagreement and more like destabilization. And once dissent is understood as a potential threat, the gathering of names and data can feel ordinary rather than exceptional.
Same rules for everyone
The First Amendment draws its strongest protections around speech that challenges the state. Criticism of immigration enforcement concerns federal authority, borders and human rights. It is core political speech.
Viewpoint discrimination is among the borders the Supreme Court has guarded most carefully. A viewpoint-neutral law is one that applies to everyone, regardless of opinion. Racists have the same right to speech as do Catholic nuns.
Government may regulate conduct, and it may punish true threats and incitement. It may even enforce neutral laws that incidentally restrict speech.
What government may not do is single out one side of a political debate because officials disapprove of its perspective.
If opposition to immigration enforcement triggers subpoenas by the government to businesses to provide the identity of dissenters, that is a problem for the Constitution. The government would need to demonstrate a compelling and viewpoint-neutral justification for the requests. Broad appeals to public safety are rarely sufficient when the speech at issue lies at the center of public debate.
Anonymous speech makes the stakes clearer
In the 1958 case NAACP v. Alabama, the Supreme Court refused to allow the state to compel disclosure of civil rights membership lists because exposure invited retaliation. In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, in 1995, the court protected anonymous pamphleteering.
The reasoning in both cases was grounded in experience rather than theory. People speak differently when they believe their names may be recorded and stored by the state.
The risk in the present moment to the kind of dissent democracy needs and the Constitution protects may not lie in mass arrests. It may lie in narrowing – a narrowing of who feels safe criticizing federal policy. A narrowing of how sharply people speak. A narrowing of what feels worth the risk.
The First Amendment guards the right to express unpopular views. Chilling speech does not require prosecution. It requires uncertainty and asymmetry – a power imbalance. A person who believes online criticism could land them in a federal database may decide silence is the rational choice.
Supporters of the subpoenas will point to genuine safety concerns. Sharing agents’ locations can create real danger. True threats and incitement fall outside constitutional protection. Under the Supreme Court’s Brandenburg standard, advocacy loses protection when it is directed at and likely to produce imminent lawless action.
The Constitution leaves room to address such genuine danger. The harder question is what happens when tools designed for protecting against tangible harm migrate into ordinary political conflict.
American history offers reminders of how this unfolds. During the Red Scare, loyalty investigations reached into universities and civic organizations. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, surveillance authorities expanded under the Patriot Act. Early provisions allowed the government to seek library borrowing records. Even limited use or constraints on how government could apply its powers for obtaining information may have chilled inquiry. The harm did not depend on mass prosecutions. It depended on normalization.
Measuring what is lost
It is easy to identify the harms that speech can cause. Hate speech can silence its targets. Dishonest rhetoric from public officials can erode trust in institutions. Marketing campaigns can deceive elderly citizens into surrendering their savings. We can see those injuries. We can name their harm. We can point to the damage.
The benefits of free speech are harder to make tangible.
It is difficult to measure what is lost when an opinion is never voiced. It is impossible to catalog the arguments that never quite form because a speaker calculates the risk and decides silence is safer. There is no headline announcing that a citizen chose not to post, not to protest, not to dissent.
Yet the Supreme Court has long understood that the value of free speech lies precisely in that unseen space.
In New York Times v. Sullivan in 1964, the court wrote that “the theory of our Constitution is that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open.” That theory assumes something demanding. It assumes that criticism of government will be sharp, uncomfortable and, at times, unfair. It assumes that the cure for bad speech is more speech, not surveillance.
When the government begins collecting the names of its critics, even through tools that are lawful in isolation, the question is not simply whether a statute permits it. The question is whether the conditions for uninhibited and robust debate are quietly narrowing.
Free speech rarely disappears in a dramatic moment. It erodes at the margins. It shrinks in the spaces where people decide the risk feels too high.
And by the time someone tries to measure what has been lost, the silence may already feel normal.
Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Politics + Society – The Conversation
Lee Brice is back in the spotlight, not just for his music but for a hilarious twist on a viral meme. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
Lee Brice is back in the spotlight, not just for his music but for a hilarious twist on a viral meme. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
Tucker Wetmore’s songwriting journey is anything but ordinary. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
Tucker Wetmore’s songwriting journey is anything but ordinary. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
The talent available in the 2026 NFL Draft is better than you think — it is just distributed at different positions than some would prefer. Only two quarterbacks — Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Alabama’s Ty Simpson — are listed below. Similarly, Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq is the only tight end included. But like any class, there are obvious strengths, as well. I see top-end talent and quality depth at wide receiver and cornerback and all over the defensive line. And I’m higher on the blockers of this class than most. With the medical evaluations, player interviews and athletic testing – in that order of importance – coming this week at the Scouting Combine, here is how I currently rank the best 50 prospects of the 2026 NFL Draft. 50. D’Angelo Ponds, CB, Indiana I’m less confident that undersized defenders such as Ponds will be among the first 50 players drafted than I am about him ultimately proving he should’ve been. At just 5-foot-9, 173 pounds, Ponds has obvious limitations, but he’s pound-for-pound the most physical and instinctive DB in this class with 33 pass breakups — including seven interceptions — in three standout seasons at the collegiate level. 49. Kyle Louis, OLB, Pittsburgh At just 5-foot-11, 224 pounds, Louis won’t be a fit for everyone. But, frankly, I think that’s a mistake. Louis is highly instinctive with lightning-quick closing speed. He is a proven big-play magnet with 24 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and six interceptions over the past two seasons. 48. Chase Bisontis, OG, Texas A&M An athletic 6-foot-5, 315-pounder, Bisontis looks and moves like a tackle — he even earned freshman All-American honors at right tackle back in 2023. He played even better inside at left guard the past two years, showing the initial quickness and agility to fit best in a zone-blocking scheme. 47. Blake Miller, OT, Clemson Miller isn’t as agile or powerful as some of the top-rated tackles higher on my board, but as a rare four-year starter who faced elite competition every day in practice, he’s as safe as a Subaru. Miller has a somewhat gangly frame and upright stance that isn’t always the most aesthetically pleasing, but he’s quick, smart and has excellent hands to steer and sustain. 46. Emmett Johnson, RB, Nebraska With all due respect to Notre Dame’s dynamic duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, the shiftiest runner in this draft class is Johnson. This young man shifts gears and changes lanes like he’s playing on a street bike, routinely using sharp lateral jump cuts to posterize would-be tacklers. 45. Malachi Fields, WR, Notre Dame With just 36 catches for 630 yards and five touchdowns last year for Notre Dame, Fields undeniably lacks the eye-popping production of the other wideouts on my Top 50 board. The imposing 6-foot-4, 219-pounder wowed at the Senior Bowl, however, showcasing the physicality, sure hands and surprisingly sharp route-running that likely would’ve generated more impressive stats in a more receiver-friendly offense. 44. Lee Hunter, NG, Texas Tech Another big winner at the Senior Bowl, Hunter (a Mobile, Ala., native) dominated in the trenches with a stunning combination of explosive first-step quickness and overwhelming brute strength. 43. Zachariah Branch, WR, Georgia Branch is likely going to generate some Tyreek Hill comparisons during the pre-draft process, including at the Combine, where I expect him to be among the fastest athletes of this class. Like Hill, Branch is at his best as a vertical threat or in the quick game, offering the kind of instant spark to a passing attack that only elite speed can provide. 42. T.J., Parker, Edge, Clemson Like several of his former Clemson teammates, Parker was the victim of his own success, struggling to live up to expectations in 2025 after a dominant 2024 campaign that included 19.5 tackles for loss, 11 sacks and an FBS-leading six forced fumbles. He’s a functional, rugged edge defender whose game is built more on torque than twitch. 41. Jadarian Price, RB, Notre Dame Price isn’t the athletic phenom that will earn fellow Notre Dame product Jeremiyah Love a top-10 pick, but he’s actually the more fundamentally sound running back. He possesses a future NFL bell-cow’s blend of vision, burst and contact balance and is one of this year’s most dynamic returners, taking back three kickoffs for touchdowns in just 22 opportunities. 40. Caleb Lomu, OT, Utah Quick and coordinated, it was Lomu — and not his more celebrated teammate Spencer Fano — who started the past two seasons at the critical left tackle position for the Utes. Just a redshirt sophomore still growing into his frame, Lomu is currently a better pass protector than run blocker, but he has a bright future if he commits to the weight room. 39. Anthony Hill Jr., ILB, Texas Hill was asked to play many roles during his three years at Texas, spanning from edge rusher to inside linebacker to even nickel cornerback. That fact speaks to Hill’s football IQ. The tape shows uncommon agility for a 6-foot-3, 240-pound linebacker, as well reliable open-field tackling skills. 38. Chris Johnson, CB, San Diego State Another personal favorite, Johnson is one of the better technicians of this year’s strong cornerback class, showing impressive route awareness and disciplined, confident movement to thwart throws in his direction. A three-year standout, Johnson was named the Mountain West Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2025, taking two of his four interceptions back for scores. 37. Dillon Thieneman, S, Oregon A highly touted transfer from Purdue, Thieneman starred immediately for an Oregon defense that saw several key members of the secondary flying to the NFL last year, bringing stability to the unit. Thieneman isn’t flashy, but his awareness, communication skills and reliable tackling all scream NFL starter. 36. Akheem Mesidor, Edge, Miami As a sixth-year collegiate athlete, Mesidor (24) was literally a man amongst boys for Miami a year ago, leading the ACC with 10.5 sacks and forcing four fumbles. He wins in more ways than perhaps any rusher in this class, pairing impressive physical traits such as burst, bend and power with refined hand play and nuanced counter moves. 35. R Mason Thomas, Edge, Oklahoma Thomas personifies the oft-used scouting expression of “converting speed to power,” routinely forcing would-be blockers onto their heels and off-balance with an explosive burst and then bull-rushing them through the chest on a direct route to the ballcarrier. At just 6-foot-2, 249 pounds, Thomas is undersized for trench warfare and has already struggled with durability, but the hit rate on edge defenders who play with Thomas’ combination of speed and violence is high. 34. Max Iheanachor, OT, Arizona State A native Nigerian who grew up playing soccer and basketball, Iheanachor is a 6-foot-5, 325-pound investment for the future who seemingly just needs time to master the nuances of the position. His easy movement skills and natural power turned heads at the Senior Bowl. 33. Zion Young, Edge, Missouri Young capped a terrific week of Senior Bowl practice by being named the National team’s Player of the Game. At a rocked-up 6-foot-5 and 262 pounds, Young isn’t as explosive off the ball as some of the undersized pass rush specialists listed earlier, but he is a passionate and physical tone-setter at the line of scrimmage. 32. Ty Simpson, QB, Alabama Simpson, a former 5-star recruit, torched the SEC for 28 touchdowns and a conference-leading 3,567 yards in his lone starting season in Tuscaloosa, showing the pro-caliber accuracy to project as a future NFL starter. The traits are undeniable — Simpson has a quick release, plenty of zip and excellent touch to make every NFL throw — but there were some “deer in the headlights” moments on his tape. Moreover, the track record of quarterbacks selected in the first round with 20 or fewer starts (Simpson has 15) is a bright red flag. 31. Brandon Cisse, CB, South Carolina Cisse has all the traits to become a quality NFL starter — including a prototypical blend of size, speed and physicality in run support. His occasional mistakes on tape seemed coachable, and with Cisse not turning 21 until July, the expectation is that he’s just scratching the surface. 30. CJ Allen, ILB, Georgia Many of the top off-ball linebackers in this class are hybrid-types with limited experience taking on and shedding blockers in the hole. Allen isn’t flashy, but he’s as close to a Day 1 starting middle linebacker as this class has to offer. He’s smart, stout and just scratching the surface of his potential at just 20 years old. 29. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Toledo The ability to create turnovers is like catnip to football scouts, and few in this class offer a more tantalizing track record of that than the lanky, hard-hitting McNeil-Warren, who enters the NFL with nine forced fumbles and five interceptions in his career. 28. Avieon Terrell, CB, Clemson Nickel cornerbacks have never been more in demand, and Terrell is my favorite among them in this class. The NFL legacy plays significantly above his weight class (180 pounds), averaging 50 tackles over the past two seasons and generating eight forced fumbles during that span, including an ACC-best five this past year. 27. Gabe Jacas, Edge, Illinois Using a blend of physicality and instincts that translates well to the pro game, Jacas led the Big Ten with 11 sacks and three forced fumbles in 2025 before delivering a stellar performance at the Senior Bowl. Jacas may lack the twitch of some of this year’s top pass-rushers, but I see shades of a young DeMarcus Lawrence in Jacas’ game. 26. Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon The lone tight end to make my Top 50 board, Sadiq is cut from a different cloth than most players at his position, possessing a squatty 6-foot-3, 240-pound frame and a rare combination of explosive athleticism and physicality. There are bright flashes on his tape as a pass-catcher, but he’s already an NFL-caliber blocker, showing excellent leg drive and grip strength to control opponents. 25. Kayden McDonald, NG, Ohio State At 6-foot-3, 326 pounds, McDonald is every bit the run-plugger his frame suggests, complementing his dense, powerful frame with excellent balance and spatial awareness. He isn’t going to ever lead the NFL in sacks, but he’s no slug against the pass, either, showing effort, power and surprisingly quick feet to play all three downs. 24. Denzel Boston, WR, Washington The whole point of playing receiver is to catch touchdowns, and with 20 TDs over the past two seasons, Boston is the most prolific scorer of this year’s top wideouts. He should be able to continue this red zone mastery in the NFL, using his 6-foot-4, 209-pound frame, timing, body control and strong hands to win above the rim. 23. Colton Hood, CB, Tennessee Hood travels as well in the hip pocket of receivers as he does in the transfer portal, bouncing from Auburn to Colorado to Tennessee over the past three years before entering the draft at just 20 years old. He is an easy mover with impressive awareness of the ball and in run support, as well as a legitimate playmaker with touchdowns scored via interception and fumble recoveries. 22. Peter Woods, DT, Clemson Similar in some ways to Auburn’s Keldric Faulk, Woods is young (he’ll turn 21 in March), powerful and athletic, with his best football still ahead of him. He pairs his hands and feet well for such a young player, offering more to affect the quarterback than his five sacks in 35 college games might suggest. 21. KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M With 28 combined rushing and receiving scores in 38 career games at Texas A&M and North Carolina State, Concepcion is easily the top point producer of this year’s standout receiver class. Concepcion’s given name is Kevin, but KC is his preferred nickname and it better describes the silky-smooth athleticism he uses to consistently create space. 20. Kadyn Proctor, OL, Alabama It isn’t often that a man listed at 366 pounds can be described as muscular, but Proctor boasts as power-packed of a frame as you’ll see. What you see is what you get with Proctor, a bar-room brawler whose girth and power could ultimately push him inside to guard. 19. Caleb Banks, DT, Florida Pardon the pun, but Banks has made a lot of money in the past two months, dominating at the Senior Bowl after missing seven games this year due to a fractured foot that required surgery. Standing a massive 6-foot-6, 335 pounds, with 35-inch arms and 10 3/4-inch hands, Banks is simply bigger than most trying to block him, and he can simply rag-doll blockers at times. 18. Olaivavega Ioane, OG, Penn State At a dense 6-foot-4, 328 pounds, Ioane is perfectly built for the battles in the trenches, absorbing would-be rushers with his broad frame and heavy hands. While possible tackle converts could ultimately be drafted earlier, Ioane is the consensus top-rated “pure” interior offensive lineman of this class. 17. Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee McCoy’s first two college seasons (at Oregon State and Tennessee, respectively) were so impressive that he maintained a first-round grade on my board even after missing the entire 2025 season with an ACL injury. When healthy, McCoy is a smooth cover corner with terrific ball skills, breaking up 16 passes (with six interceptions) over that span. 16. Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State Simply put, Tyson has the best tape of this year’s receiver crop. It isn’t often that receivers of his size, twitch and tracking skills come around. Tyson is a case of “buyer beware,” however, as he has missed multiple games because of injuries in each of the past three seasons. 15. Cassius Howell, Edge, Texas A&M Among my favorite defenders in this class, Howell has the burst and bend to wreak havoc off the edge as a pass-rusher, and he also showed impressive change of direction and instincts in coverage, when asked to play off the ball. 14. Makai Lemon, WR, USC Lemon reminds me a lot of Golden Tate, a dynamic run-after-the-catch weapon who played 11 years in the NFL. Like the 5-foot-11, 197-pound Tate, Lemon is a difficult matchup for cornerbacks because of a compact, almost RB-like frame to go with dynamic speed and top-notch ball skills. 13. Monroe Freeling, OT, Georgia With a steady stream of NFL blockers ahead of him on Georgia’s depth chart, Freeling had to wait his turn before seeing the field in Athens, starting just 16 games before heading early to the NFL. But there isn’t a blocker in this class who looks the part of an NFL left tackle more than the loose and long 6-foot-7, 315-pound Freeling. 12. Keldric Faulk, DL, Auburn If scouts were asked to draw up the ideal defensive lineman for today’s NFL, it might look a lot like the long-armed 6-foot-6, 285-pound ball of clay that is Faulk, whose size, strength and smooth athleticism offer great positional and schematic flexibility. As one of the youngest players in this class (he won’t turn 21 until September), Faulk is still growing into his frame and will need to get stronger to fulfill his potential, but he possesses the physical traits and intangibles to become one of the best players in this draft. 11. Spencer Fano, OT, Utah A dancing bear at 6-foot-6, 310 pounds, Fano looks and moves more like a tight end than a traditional offensive lineman, excelling in pass protection because of his initial quickness, lateral agility and balance. A three-year starter with extensive experience at both tackle positions, Fano is among the most pro-ready prospects in this class. 10. Mansoor Delane, CB, LSU Cornerback may just be the strongest positional group of this draft, and Delane tops it by a wide margin for me. He is a terrific man-to-man cover corner, showing easy change of direction and smooth acceleration to shadow receivers all over the field. He didn’t allow a single touchdown pass in 2025. 9. Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State Receiver is one of the better positional groups of this year’s draft class, and Tate tops it because of his ability to win in multiple ways. The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder has excellent body control, hand-eye coordination and grit to pull in contested passes, and he’s surprisingly slippery as a route-runner with excellent tracking skills. 8. Sonny Styles, OLB, Ohio State A former safety turned linebacker who might ultimately evolve into an edge rusher, Styles is the ultimate ball of clay from this draft class. Styles possesses rare speed and agility for a 6-foot-5, 245 pounder, providing his future defensive coordinator with a moveable chess piece that could be used similar to how the Seattle Seahawks employed star rookie Nick Emmanwori in their Super Bowl run. 7. Rueben Bain Jr., Edge, Miami It is appropriate that Bain rhymes with pain, as there isn’t a prospect in this class who plays with more violence than the three-year Miami standout. He enters the NFL with 33.5 tackles for loss generated in 38 collegiate games. Bain’s relatively stubby 6-foot-3, 270-pound frame will be a talking point in every NFL war room, but teams shouldn’t make the mistake of overthinking his fit. 6. Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami Arguably the most powerful and pro-ready prospect in this draft class, Mauigoa simply engulfs opponents with his sheer size and iron grip, reminding me of another Mario Cristobal pupil, Detroit Lions All-Pro Penei Sewell. Facing a vaunted Miami pass rush every day in practice, Mauigoa has the look of a decade-long anchor at right tackle. 5. David Bailey, Edge, Texas Tech Simply put, Bailey is the best pass-rusher in this class, boasting a terrific blend of burst, lateral agility and core flexibility to force whiffs from would-be pass protectors. The concern some will have is that at 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, Bailey lacks the size and power to be as effective in the running game, but that shouldn’t keep one of the few true matchup nightmares in this class from earning a top-10 selection. 4. Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana Mendoza doesn’t possess the strongest arm of this class, nor is he the most dynamic running threat. He is, however, the consensus top quarterback, offering an exceptional blend of anticipation, accuracy and poise to project as a longtime, high-level NFL starter. 3. Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame With all due respect to Heisman Trophy winner and likely No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza, Love is the best offensive prospect in this class — and frankly, I don’t think it’s particularly close. Love isn’t just the best back in this class; he’s among a select handful of the elite runners to enter the NFL since I began scouting a quarter-century ago, offering a blend of size, quick feet and breakaway speed reminiscent of recent blue-chip backs Saquon Barkley and Bijan Robinson. 2. Arvell Reese, OLB, Ohio State A blue-chip talent who starred mostly as an off-ball linebacker at Ohio State but possesses the twitch to attack off the edge, Reese is arguably the best prospect in this class. In terms of sheer athleticism, versatility and career trajectory, I see an awful lot of similarities between Reese and another former Big Ten star you might have heard of: Micah Parsons. 1. Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State Sometimes scouting is easy. Whether at Alabama or Ohio State, Downs’ instincts, closing speed and reliable open-field tackling consistently shined, forecasting for years that his pathway to the NFL would come as a first-round pick. Downs won’t be the first player selected this year — safeties just aren’t valuable enough. But make no mistake, Downs comes with the highest floor, projecting as an immediate starter and foundational piece for one fortunate franchise.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
Nicki Minaj spent the past year transforming herself from a polarizing rap superstar into a high-profile conservative provocateur, lobbing viral attacks at Democratic leaders, boosting MAGA talking points and earning public praise from President Donald Trump and his allies.
On social media, Minaj’s pugnacious persona and sharp-edged posts — including repeated broadsides against California Gov. Gavin Newsom — have made her a darling of the Trump administration and the conservative movement, drawing millions of views and steady amplification from far-right influencers.
But quietly, humming in the background of her varied social media blitzes, a sophisticated army of bots was unconditionally praising and amplifying Minaj’s content, according to a new report shared exclusively with POLITICO.
The report, compiled by the disinformation detection company Cyabra, identifies a coordinated network of bots — more than 18,000 of them — that drove algorithms to spread Minaj’s posts on X.
The analysis, which looked at social media activity from Nov. 11 to Dec. 28, provides a window into how the rapper was able to capture millions of views online and position herself as a celebrity the White House found value in partnering with. Last month, Minaj joined the president at the Trump Accounts Summit — where Trump invited her on stage, showered her with praise and recorded a chummy TikTok video with her afterward.
“We don’t really see a lot of high volume, high impact orchestration of bad and fake actors within that intersection of the geopolitically driven and music culture,” said Dan Brahmy, the CEO and founder of Cyabra. “It is scarce in our field to see the combination of the bad and the fake online world with the entertainment world.”
The report found inauthentic accounts repeatedly amplified Minaj’s posts with praise that used “highly similar language,” particularly in response to posts where authentic accounts were criticizing Minaj.
“Supportive comments generated by fake profiles were predominantly brief, repetitive, and low in semantic complexity, consisting largely of praising keywords and positive hashtags rather than original or substantive engagement,” the report found.
Other inauthentic activity surrounding Minaj included “longer, more detailed comments designed to appear organic.”
“Nicki you are brave for living your truth, people might not always agree with what’s being played out, but as an artist and watching your growth as a person is inspiring,” read one comment from a purported Minaj fan, @LAX76283656, that was deemed fake by Cyabra.
“This pattern suggests a deliberate attempt to integrate into genuine conversations, increasing the credibility and visibility of the amplified content,” the report read.
Cyabra identified one day, Dec. 26, when fake profiles made up 56 percent of all comments on political posts made by Minaj.
Bot networks have become a familiar feature of modern politics since revelations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, when coordinated inauthentic accounts were used to inflame divisions and manipulate online discourse. Such campaigns are now routinely detected around wars, elections and geopolitical flashpoints — but far less often around celebrities or the music industry.
That backdrop helps explain why Cyabra’s findings seem so peculiar. Rather than a short-lived spike tied to a single event or appearance, the company found sustained and coordinated amplification of Minaj’s posts across a range of political and cultural topics over time.
When Minaj posted about her support for Trump, her concern over the persecution of Christians in Nigeria and Newsom’s perceived alignment with the transgender community, the bots were there to back her up, Cyabra’s report shows. They also amplified her posts related to the music industry.
Representatives for Minaj did not respond to requests for comment.
Alex Bruesewitz, a media and political adviser to Trump who considers Minaj a “very close friend,” told POLITICO he is confident there are no bots involved with the rapper’s social media presence.
“Nicki has never used bot activity to promote herself on social media, because she doesn’t need to,” Bruesewitz said. “She has one of the largest fan bases of any musician that’s alive today.”
The Cyabra report was commissioned by a person who was granted anonymity because they fear public retaliation.
Cyabra is about 85 percent confident the more than 18,000 profiles identified are fake. But if the company were to narrow that scope to profiles that exhibit even stronger signs of inauthenticity, the confidence level could easily rise into the 90s, Brahmy said.
“We always have to make sure that we play at a confidence level that’s strong enough for people to rely on it, and doesn’t really change the narrative,” he said.
And when accounts boosting Minaj posted content that researchers identified as “toxic,” the algorithm drove her posts even further. Companies like Cyabra determine toxicity by assessing not just the “positive” or “negative” words used in a post, but the apparent intent behind them, Brahmy said. Personal attacks, slurs, threats or comments that seem designed to deter a reasonable person from engaging in conversation are typically considered toxic.
“When the conversation is limited to toxic content, a substantially stronger amplification effect emerges,” the report found. “These accounts predominantly amplify content produced by Nicki Minaj and Turning Point USA, indicating a notable overlap between the two within this discourse. Several of the accounts involved had previously been identified as exhibiting fake campaign-like behavior in the context of Minaj’s online activity within and relating to the music industry.”
Turning Point USA didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The analysis also shows how foreign and domestic political narratives can be manipulated by bot networks without broad public awareness — and how influential figures in the hip-hop world are making inroads into the conservative political conversation in America.
Minaj’s online activity was not only amplified by inauthentic accounts — but also a string of authentic accounts, including those of popular conservative influencers Dom Lucre and Matt Wallace, Cyabra found. The way those accounts parroted Minaj’s talking points suggest strategic coordination behind the scenes, Brahmy said.
“Real human beings are behaving the exact same way, utilizing the exact same behavioral patterns, as you would expect from a well coordinated campaign,” Brahmy said. “They amplify each other. They are riding the same, similar wave of narrative.”
Lucre responded with a statement saying, “This is one of the most absurd conspiracy theories I have ever seen in my entire life brother.”
He then uploaded videos to his X and YouTube accounts reacting to POLITICO’s questions about whether he was coordinating his posts about Minaj with others or being paid for posts related to the rapper.
“Nicki Minaj is now pulling so many liberals to the right that they now have to push out a theory that these aren’t real organic people, and that she’s now manipulating the system with bots,” Lucre said. “If Nicki Minaj was manipulating systems with bots on Instagram, TikTok, X, do you not think there would be a conclusive data that they would have to present this instead of asking influencers to say yes?”
Wallace did not respond to a request for comment.
Minaj’s foray into politics comes after Trump made inroads with Black and Hispanic voters in the 2024 election. He and his allies have been eager to propel a political realignment around a multiracial, working-class, right-populist coalition, but polls show that that 2024 coalition has frayed badly over the last year.
Minaj has moved toward embracing the MAGA movement since July of last year. Her rightward shift was cemented in December during her appearance with Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest convention. In late 2025, before Trump embraced her at last month’s summit, her political views also drew praise from the likes of Vice President JD Vance and Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz.
On social media, her barrage of GOP-friendly posts garner millions of views, including those taking aim at Newsom.
“Career politician at the brink of his moment realigns to become nothing more than a Nicki Minaj ANTI. OOF,” Minaj wrote in December, with a photo depicting Newsom behind bars in a jail cell. “So now he’s the guy running on ‘wanting to see trans kids’ AND willing to lower himself to becoming just another FEMALE RAPPER to get obliterated by NICKI MINAJ.”
“Let’s wait…I think Gavvy’s still transitioning,” she said in another post on the same day, which generated over 1 million views.
A spokesperson for Newsom — who is named multiple times in the report and was a frequent target of Minaj during Cyabra’s analysis period — sent a statement ridiculing Minaj when asked for comment on the report’s findings.
“Like most MAGA mouthpieces, we are not surprised Nicki Minaj needs bots to stay relevant,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said.
Cyabra’s report identifies 18,784 fake profiles that were at the ready to boost Minaj’s content.
Those accounts represented 33 percent of the total profiles evaluated by Cyabra — a ratio of inauthentic activity similar to those seen during wars and presidential elections, Brahmy said. Inauthentic accounts typically represent between 7 and 10 percent of organic social media discourse, the company said.
Cyabra works with corporations to identify online bot activity and misinformation campaigns, with the goal of helping them protect their reputation and understand malicious actors online. It uses software to analyze social media activity — and provides its services to PR firms, legal practices, multinational corporations and governments.
Cyabra gleaned the bot activity by examining the accounts’ temporal synchronization, their linguistic and stylistic uniformity and the similar demographics shared by the fake identities. The company developed a machine learning algorithm to identify fake accounts.
Jen Golbeck, a computer science professor at the University of Maryland who studies artificial intelligence and social media, told POLITICO the purpose of a “botnet” can go beyond manipulating the narrative in a single comment section. The bots’ interactions signal to social media algorithms that a post draws high-engagement, which drives the algorithm to spread the content further.
“You can really expand your reach beyond your follower base if you get high levels of interaction, and these interaction bots do that,” said Golbeck, who also writes the MAGAReport substack.
Joel Penney, a professor at Montclair State University who studies popular culture and politics, said Trump’s adoption of Minaj into his political project is likely part of a larger strategy to reach younger, more diverse audiences.
“They’ve made a lot of efforts to include celebrities who are supportive, including hip-hop figures; Nicki Minaj is probably the biggest name to kind of become a pretty public advocate,” Penney said. “They don’t have the power to wave a wand and make all their followers or fans of their music support their political advocacy. But it matters. It contributes to this kind of war for public opinion that we see play out on social media.”
Politics