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Longtime conservative commentator and In Trump We Trust author Ann Coulter bashed Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, as he testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday.

Mullin was excoriated by Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) at the top of the proceedings over his celebration of a 2017 assault of Paul.

“Recently, Senator Mullin, if you have time to listen, you were confronted by constituents that were angry because you voted against my amendment to stop all funding for refugee welfare programs. Instead of explaining your vote to continue these welfare programs for refugees, you decided to transfer the blame. You told the media that I was a freaking snake, and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted. I was shocked that you would justify and celebrate this violent assault that caused me so much pain, and my family so much pain. I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force. You might argue you were mad and upset about being confronted by your constituents,” said Paul, adding:

But Senator Mullin, your constituents are justifiably upset with you. By now, most of America knows that the Somali welfare fraud in Minnesota stole over $9 billion. But instead of defending your vote, you took to continue-, the vote to continue these refugee welfare programs, you chose to lash out at me.

You went on to brag that you’d already told me, to my face, that you completely understood and approved of the assault. Well, that’s a lie. You got a chance today. You can either continue to lie, or you can correct the record. You have never had the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified. So today, you’ll have your chance. Today, I’ll give you that chance to clear the record. Tell it to my face, if that’s what you believe, tell it me today. Tell the world why you believe I deserve to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken and a damaged lung.

Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it. And while you’re at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents. Explain to the American public how a man who has no regrets about brawling in a Senate committee can set a proper example for over 250,000 men and women who work at the Department of Homeland Security.

Coulter directed her followers on X to watch the exchange that followed between the two, asking, “How can any Republican vote to confirm Markwayne Mullin after this exchange with Sen. Rand Paul?”

A longtime immigration hawk, Coulter later added, “AMAZINGLY, DHS nominee Markwayne Mullin voted AGAINST cutting welfare for noncitizens. Not years ago. that was his vote this month.”

Paul’s takedown of Mullin was also celebrated by former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

The post ‘How Can Any Republican Vote to Confirm Markwayne Mullin?’ Ann Coulter Bashes Trump DHS Nominee first appeared on Mediaite.

CNN data guru Harry Enten quipped “you don’t have to be a mathematical genius” to see President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement remains fiercely loyal to him.

Enten pointed to a new NBC News poll that showed Trump has a 100% approval rating with MAGA during an appearance on CNN News Central on Wednesday morning.

“Sometimes you look at the polling data and there are numbers that just jump off the screen at you!” Enten said. “And this is one of those.”

Enten joked Trump’s 100:0 approval-to-disapproval ratio made him the right-wing equivalent of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, which went undefeated and won the Super Bowl.

“Now, there are some Republicans who disapprove of Donald John Trump, but they are not members of the make America great again movement,” Enten explained. “The bottom line is this: if you are a member of MAGA, you approve of Donald Trump.”

CNN anchor Sara Sidner pointed out some pro-Trump commentators have publicly criticized the war against Iran. Without naming anyone in particular, she was likely referring to Tucker Carlson, who called Operation Epic Fury “absolutely disgusting and evil,” and Megyn Kelly, who called it “Israel’s war.”

Sidner then asked if there is “any sign that people might be leaving MAGA relative to 2024?”

Enten said that isn’t happening. He said if anything, MAGA is growing, based on 30% of Americans identifying with the movement — up from 28% in November 2024.

“That 100% that Donald Trump has among MAGA GOP, that is not an artifact of MAGA shrinking,” he said. “It’s just an indication of how strong Donald Trump’s grip is on that MAGA base.”

Enten’s Wednesday segment followed his report a day earlier, showing 90% of MAGA voters support Trump’s strikes on Iran. Operation Epic Fury is “tremendously popular among the Republican base,” Enten said.

Beyond the aforementioned pundits, Trump ally-turned-enemy Marjorie Taylor Greene has also bashed the war. But every major poll has shown MAGA supports it.

Enten pointed to data from CNN and NBC in his Tuesday report, and a Quinnipiac University poll last week showed 85% of Republicans support military action against Iran, while a YouGov-Economist poll found 91% of MAGA voters support the war.

Watch his latest report above.

The post CNN’s Data Guru Touts Trump’s Literal 100% Approval Rating With MAGA in New Poll: The Numbers ‘Jump Off the Screen!’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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When digital music first started popping off, the vast majority of us didn't care all that much about audio quality. Some of the less, erm, legal methods of downloading music offered horrific quality audio, while even the best options at the same (i.e., iTunes) only supported MP3, a relatively low-quality codec. Times have changed: While most of us still aren't necessarily audiophiles, we do expect high-quality tracks from the streaming services we use—especially if we pay for them. It might not be the "gold standard," but streaming sounds great, even with wireless headphones.

But there is a clear ceiling in audio quality for those of us that listen this way. Bluetooth can only support 320 kbit/s, which is good enough for many of us, but does mean you lose details originally there in the mastered track. If you have the right setup, including the right streaming plan, you can listen to your home in higher quality, preserving those details. Spotify might've been late to the game, but it does now support lossless audio for Premium subscribers, which can playback at up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz. With a good pair of wired headphones, you may hear some finer details than you're used to.

Now, Spotify is back with another quality booster—at least for a very specific type of subscriber. The feature, called "Exclusive Mode," is meant for Windows listeners to get even more out of their lossless audio playback. (Spotify says a Mac version is in the works.) But while any increase in audio quality sounds like a good deal, you probably won't notice too much of a difference here.

How Spotify's "Exclusive Mode" works

According to Spotify, Exclusive Mode is meant to achieve "Bit Perfect playback" from your PC. It does so by assigning Spotify as your PC's only source for audio processing. Typically, when listening to Spotify on Windows, you have any number of other apps and services running their audio sources through Windows's audio mixer. That could include notifications from Slack or Teams, Windows alerts, video playback if you click a YouTube link; anything that makes noise on your PC, routes through the same mixer.

Spotify says that the music you listen to in its app could be altered before it reaches your DAC (Digital Audio Converter), either because Windows resamples it, changes its volume, or mixes these other sounds in. Exclusive Mode, then, disables all of those other audio sources, so that Spotify's lossless audio is never compromised in that automated mixing. If you're a purest, that might be a welcome change: You'll know that the 24-bit/44.1 kHz audio you're paying for is coming out of your headphones or speakers exactly as it was leaving your Spotify app.

You probably won't notice a difference with Spotify's Exclusive Mode

There are some caveats and drawbacks here, however. First, in order to achieve this, Spotify does have to disable all other audio sources on your PC. That means when using Exclusive Mode, you won't actually be able to hear anything else on your computer. You might miss work messages or important Windows alerts if you're not paying attentions to your notifications. If that doesn't matter to you, you can ignore that issue, but it's important to know before you start using Exclusive Mode, well, exclusively. That includes non-music playback in Spotify itself, including music videos, podcasts, previews, and canvas clips. These might also run through Windows' default audio source, and, if so, you'll need to disable Exclusive Mode to use them.

Spotify says you don't need a DAC or audio interface for this feature to work, but that it works best with one. A DAC converts a digital signal into an analog one, for outputting to wired headphones or speakers. Spotify says if your PC has a headphone or speaker port, it might have a DAC built in, but you may want to confirm this if you want to listen in the highest possible quality. Otherwise, you'll want to pick up a DAC or audio interface.

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Of course, the biggest caveat of all is that even with the perfect setup—a DAC, great wired headphones, Exclusive Mode playing back lossless audio—you might not notice the difference. The higher quality the audio files, the better the music will sound, yes, but as with many media formats, there are diminishing returns in what you notice as you improve your setup. Going from MP3 tracks with a cheap pair of earbuds, to AirPods with 320 kbit/s playback on Spotify is going to be night and day; going from the latter to a wired headphone setup with lossless audio running through a DAC, on the other hand, might be day and slightly sunnier day.

If you already have such a setup, and you enjoy listening to your music in the highest possible quality, this is probably a worthwhile setting to try. If nothing else, you can see whether you notice the uptick in quality, and, if you don't, you can disable it, and get the rest of your Windows sounds back.

How to enable Exclusive Mode in Spotify

Again, this feature is currently exclusive to Spotify Premium members on the Windows desktop app. Then, connect your DAC to your computer. (Ignore this if your computer has a DAC.) Now, open Spotify, then head to Settings > Playback > Output. Select your audio device from "Device," then click the toggle next to "Enable exclusive mode for this device."

Spotify recommends you head back to Playback settings and turn off the following features while using Exclusive Mode: "Crossfade," "Automix," "Normalize Volume" and "Equalizer."

During a Monday appearance on Mediaite’s Press Club, MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle said that President Donald Trump is operating from inside a “gilded cage,” arguing that the president is more consumed by personal enrichment and access for wealthy elites than by the voters who first powered his rise.

In conversation with Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall, the MS NOW lead business analyst said that Trump’s second term looks far different from the first, when his rallies served as a point of connection with supporters who felt ignored by the political system.

“A Trump rally is a community event,” Ruhle said, recalling stops in places where “there aren’t a lot of movie theaters anymore,” “there aren’t a lot of county fairs,” and “there aren’t a lot of concerts to go to.”

But now, Ruhle said, “I think he’s in a gilded cage this time.”

“I think the president spends all of his time at the White House and at Mar-a-Lago,” she continued. “And at Mar-a-Lago, now on any given night, it’s a million-dollar dinner with him. It’s a five-million-dollar dinner with him. It’s people who are extraordinarily successful, who have become more successful, potentially because they’re Trump adjacent.”

Ruhle argued that Trump’s focus has shifted away from voters toward a circle of people benefiting financially from proximity to him and his administration.

“I think that this time around, and I said this after I went to the White House, I think he’s in a gilded cage this time,” she said. “I think that Donald Trump’s original base has not been served in any way.”

Ruhle also pointed to the president’s family and allies, saying, “he himself is more financially successful than I would guess he’s ever imagined. His family business is through the roof. [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick’s family business is through the roof, I mean, their sons have made millions and billions of dollars.”

She contrasted that with the concerns she said are being neglected.

“We haven’t even talked, I haven’t even heard the president mention the price of healthcare this year,” Ruhle said. “And it spiked in January.”

Subscribe to Press Club on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

The post ‘He’s in a Gilded Cage’: Stephanie Ruhle Says Trump Is Prioritizing Profit Over Presidency first appeared on Mediaite.

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Best Buy has joined the battle against Amazon's Big Spring Sale, the spring version of Prime Day, with the Best Buy Tech Fest sale in full swing. Below, I've rounded up all the key details, as well as highlighted some of the best offers you can already find.

How long is Best Buy's Tech Fest sale?

Best Buy's spring sale is a week-long sale that started Monday, March 16, and continues through Sunday, March 22. There will be a Deal of the Day throughout the sale— they have this during non-sale times, too, but the deals will be a bit better than usual this week.

Do you need to be a member to shop for Best Buy's Tech Fest Sale?

While you don't need a Best Buy membership to shop Tech Fest deals, members can get better savings. It is free to sign up for a My Best Buy membership, which will give you free shipping, but if you join one of its paid subscriptions (My Best Buy Plus for $49.99 per year or My Best Buy Total for $179.99 per year), you'll get faster free shipping, exclusive prices and deals, an extended 60-day return window on most products, and access to select sales. Paid members will also earn extra rewards.

What deals can I expect during the Best Buy's Tech Fest sale?

• Apple deals: You can find deals on Macs, iPads, iPhones, Apple Watches, AirPods, and other Apple products with big discounts. The M4 MacBook Air is $1,099 (originally $1,199).

• Appliances: LG, Whirlpool, Kitchen Aid, and other major appliances are going up to 40% off.

• Cameras: Sony, Kodak, Canon, and other cameras are going up to $1,000 off.

• Gaming: You can shop for major consoles like the PS5, Switch games, accessories, and more deals starting from $14.99.

• Headphones: You can get AirPods, Shokz, Google Pixels, Beats, and other brands, going up to $160 off.

• Laptops: There are HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Dell, and other laptops starting from $119.

• Phones: There are both Apple and Android phones going up to $250 off, including Samsung, Apple & Google.

• Smartwatches: You can find Garmins, Fitbits, Apple Watches, Samsungs, and others going up to $250 off.

• Soundbars and speakers: You can get portable speakers, smart speakers, and soundbars from Sonos, JBL, Samsung, and others, going up to $1,000.

• TVs: You can find TVs of all sizes and prices from Samsung, TCL, LG, Insignia, and other brands starting from $69.99.

What other retailers are competing with Tech Fest?

The main sale is Amazon's Big Spring Sale, which will start next week. Target's Circle Deal Days runs March 25–31. Walmart's sale hasn't been announced yet, but it will likely come out with a sale announcement soon, too.

President Donald Trump shot down AI Czar David Sacks’s suggestion that Israel might use a nuclear weapon against Iran on Monday.

During a Q&A session with reporters, RealClearPolitics’ Philip Wegmann asked the president, “One of your advisors, David Sacks, said the other week that the U.S. should, quote, ‘declare victory and get out of the Iran war.’ He also warned that if the conflict escalates, Israel may contemplate the use of a nuclear weapon. Has he shared that assessment with you?”

Trump replied:

No, he hasn’t. Israel wouldn’t do that. Israel would never do that, and yeah, there’s, no, there’s a theory. You pounded them to hell and you can just leave now and it’ll take 10 years for them to build back not nearly what they have right now. And I guess that’s another theory, but we want to have it ended so that another president doesn’t have-, look, for 47 years, no president was willing to do what I’m doing, and they should have done it a long time ago, it would have been a lot easier. There’s no president that wanted to do it, and yet every president knew. I’ve spoken to a certain president, who I like, actually, a past president, former president, he said, “I wish I did it. I wish I did,” but they didn’t do it. I’m doing it.

“Israel could just be destroyed or very large parts of it,” claimed Sacks on his All-In podcast before suggesting the Israelis might contemplate the use of a nuclear weapon.

Watch above via CNN.

The post Trump Shoots Down Advisor’s Claim Israel Might Nuke Iran first appeared on Mediaite.

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Apple's flagship products rarely get substantial discounts—but if you wait for the right moment, you can grab a great deal. If you've been eyeing Apple's top-of-the-line smartwatch, that moment is now: The cellular version of the Apple Watch Ultra 2 has dropped to $499 on Amazon ($799 at launch), now that it has been supplanted by the Ultra Watch 3. This is the lowest price it has yet reached, according to price tracking tools. Sizes are available in small and medium.

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The Apple Watch Ultra 2 was released in September 2023, and after the Ultra 3 dropped two years later, it was inevitable that the Ultra 2 would see a price reduction. The cool thing is, you don't need the latest model to receive the latest WatchOS features, since Apple has a good record of updating its products for many years to come. The Ultra 3 does offer a few features the Ultra 2 lacks, including 5G cellular connectivity and satellite connectivity, but the latter is still an beast of a smartwatch, and a great buy at this price.

The Ultra is the premium Apple Watch model, with the biggest case size, brightest screen (3,000 nits), deepest water resistance (100 meters), and longest battery life (about 55 hours on average depending on your use), and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is packed with fitness-focused features. Even if you aren’t a health nut, it also has a lot of great features for casual users. (People who want a reliable sleep tracker can learn a lot about their sleep habits with the Ultra 2.) You can read more about this watch on PCMag's "excellent" review.

If you want to spend less and still get a good device, the first-generation Apple Watch Ultra can be found for $314.94 refurbished at Amazon. The newer Apple Watch Series 11 is $399 right now.