Category: Daily Caller
‘Felony-level trolling’: Supporters outraged after Navy veteran allegedly jailed for ‘satirical meme’
A Texas sheriff’s office allegedly arrested a local veteran for a satirical social media post.
The Hood County Sheriff’s Office claimed that he was jailed for felony “online impersonation-name/persona create page” in the third degree. However, the defense attorney contends that his client was arrested for merely posting a political meme.
‘Tech-illiterate Boomer Sheriff Deputies in Hood County, Texas arrested my friend for felony-level trolling.’
On November 5, authorities reportedly arrested Kolton Krottinger, a Navy veteran who operates the Blue Branch Historic Ranch, a veterans’ mental health center in Granbury.
It is believed that Krottinger was detained over an October 2 Facebook post of a fake screenshot designed to look like a real post from a rival local activist. The hoax image featured the activist’s profile photo and name above a message expressing support for then-Granbury ISD school board candidate Monica Brown.
“The Victim states that she does not support Monica Brown for this election and stated that the public is being misled by the post as to what the Victim’s actual beliefs are concerning this particular election race,” the complaint read.
Rob Christian, Krottinger’s attorney, referred to the post as “a meme.”
“After 25 years of experience as a district attorney and criminal defense attorney, I have never seen anyone get arrested for engaging in political speech,” Christian told the Dallas Express.
RELATED: Threads is now bigger than X, and that’s terrible for free speech
Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
Hood County Constable John Shirley explained to the news outlet that the allegedly impersonated activist “very openly, loudly, and publicly hates” Brown.
“It’s a picture of a political sign that anybody who knows the person whose account this was pasted onto would know that it’s fake and a joke,” Shirley said.
“I’m outspoken about the First Amendment. I believe in the Constitution, I believe in the Bill of Rights,” Shirley continued. “This kind of stuff really smells of authoritarianism.”
State law prohibits using “the name or persona of another person” to “harm, defraud, intimidate, or threaten any person.”
While Sheriff Roger Deeds told Blaze News that “this case is still under investigation so I cannot comment further on it,” the sheriff’s office still appeared to reference the case in a November 10 Facebook post.
“The Hood County Sheriff’s Office has been made aware of numerous social media posts with regards to bullying, harassment, threats and similar, directed towards citizens in our community,” a bulletin from the office read. “While certain online posts may seem offensive, cruel, threatening or inappropriate to some, much of what is posted online is protected by the 1st amendment. However, these acts may sometimes constitute a criminal offense, such as the example below, from a recent and notable case.”
The example cited in the office’s announcement referenced Texas Penal Code § 33.07, online impersonation. The sheriff’s office concluded the bulletin by encouraging any additional potential victims to file an offense report.
RELATED: Tommy Robinson has the last laugh after politically motivated terrorism arrest: ‘Free speech won!’
Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images
The arrest of Krottinger prompted Nate Criswell, former chair of the Hood County Republican Party, to start an online petition to urge the district attorney to drop the charges.
“Tech-illiterate Boomer Sheriff Deputies in Hood County, Texas arrested my friend for felony-level trolling,” Criswell wrote on social media.
Texas attorney general candidate Aaron Reitz also spoke out about the charges.
“From what I can tell, Kolton Krottinger created an obviously satirical meme. Moreover, his conduct doesn’t appear to meet the ‘intent’ requirement under Texas Penal Code § 33.07 (Online Impersonation). On its face, this case seems far outside the scope of the statute’s text, purpose, and precedent,” Reitz said.
Reitz speculated that the charges would ultimately be dropped.
“But that provides little immediate relief and doesn’t undo the current or past injustices that have led to this point,” he continued. “Kolton may also have recourse under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 if the County has deprived him of his First Amendment rights, which I strongly suspect it has done. The longer this situation continues, the greater the potential liability for Hood County.”
On Wednesday, Brown, the former school board candidate, filed a complaint with the sheriff’s office concerning Krottinger’s arrest and treatment.
“Mr. Krottinger shared a harmless political satire meme related to a local school board election. He was arrested, handcuffed, placed in solitary confinement, classified as ‘high-profile,’ had his phone confiscated, and denied access to social media, which is his livelihood,” Brown wrote.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Young, broke, and voting blue: 2025’s harsh lesson for the right
In 1992, a young Democratic strategist on the Clinton campaign named James Carville coined the now-famous phrase “it’s the economy, stupid.” He directed it to the campaign workers to ensure that they remained laser-focused on kitchen-table issues. In November’s elections, voters delivered that same message, loud and clear, in New York City, Virginia, and New Jersey. The results were not surprising — even the margins were roughly in line with 2017, the last off-year elections in those localities when Trump was president.
The message was clear: Many young voters are hurting economically. Of course, the Trump administration is well aware of this. The government has been digging out of the economic disaster Joe Biden left behind. Compared to Europe and much of Asia, the U.S. is doing better, but the global macro environment is still challenging — especially for young people.
Once again and as ever: ‘It’s the economy, stupid.’
This is why almost immediately after the election, the administration focused on ramping up its communication efforts on the economy. President Trump indicated an urgent need to blow up the filibuster and enact a legislative agenda commensurate with the issues young voters are facing. Trump’s approach was echoed by Vice President JD Vance, who noted, “We’re going to keep working to make a decent life affordable in this country, and that’s the metric by which we’ll ultimately be judged in 2026 and beyond.”
It is useful to do a deep dive into the 2025 election data so that we can learn what happened and how we can be ready with the right political and policy prescriptions to win the much more important midterm elections in 2026.
A coalition of the ‘falling behind’
Contrary to the thinking of most political commentators, Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York City mayoral race wasn’t about racial identity politics. I’m not saying he doesn’t believe in racial identity politics. It’s quite central to his worldview. After all, this is the guy who tweeted in 2020 that “Black + brown solidarity will overcome white supremacy.” Mamdani’s anti-Israel activities have also been well known and much remarked upon. But that’s not what led his coalition to victory on Nov. 4.
First, Mamdani’s campaign was fundamentally a youth movement. Young women ages 18-29, while a relatively small part of the electorate, gave him 81% of their support. These are staggering numbers. Overall, Mamdani won younger voters under 45 by an incredible 69%-25%, while former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) won voters over 45 by 51%-39%. Just as importantly, Mamdani actually won white voters by one point. He certainly did well with Muslims and in the South Asian community.
It’s possible that Mamdani may in fact be a Third-Worldist or Muslim supremacist, as some have alleged — but these were peripheral issues in electing him, and a look at his coalition suggests that focusing on them would fracture it.
Likewise, feelings about Israel were overblown. While it was a “major factor” in 38% of voters’ minds, it was essentially a political wash, with Mamdani losing 47%-46% among those who felt passionately about the issue. While Israel may be personally important for him, it was not a driving issue for most of his voters.
Mamdani’s coalition is spiritually and geographically rootless. While he did strongly among Muslims (presumably a significant chunk of the 14% of voters of “other religions” that he took 70% of), far more powerful was the 75% he took among the 24% of voters who claimed no religion. For those who have made politics their god, Mamdani is a comforting idol and socialism a powerful liturgy.
RELATED: Mao tried this first — New Yorkers will not like the ending
Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
His is also a coalition of the mobile, anchored by those with shallow roots in New York — and, one might suspect, America. Mamdani dominated among newer arrivals, winning a staggering 82% among those who have lived in New York City for less than 10 years. Cuomo, meanwhile, carried the NYC-born 50%-38%, but that group comprised just 45% of the electorate. Likewise, Mamdani racked up a 59%-34% margin among renters.
The fundamental point that anchored Mamdani’s coalition was the economy: 25% of voters described themselves as democratic socialists, and he won 86% of them. And many appear to have been motivated by jealousy or frustration. He actually won 59% among those who thought the NYC economy was good, but also 59%-34% among those who felt they were personally falling behind. If you were among the one-third of voters who looked around and saw everyone else getting ahead but you, Mamdani was your candidate.
Fifty-six percent of voters said the cost of living was the most critical issue, and Mamdani won 66% of them. If he had only won these voters, Mamdani still would have come within a few percentage points of beating Cuomo (41%-37%). This is an essential message for the GOP to internalize if it wants to win back these voters at the 2026 midterms.
Of the 34% of voters who supported raising taxes, an incredible 86% were for Mamdani. But his coalition is not a working-class coalition. White voters with a degree supported Mamdani 57%-40%, while he took just 26% of white voters without a degree — a group that would have comprised eight out of ten voters in 1950 but just 14% today. Nor was it truly a coalition of the financial elite: Cuomo won 62%-33% among families earning over $300,000 per year.
Kitchen-table issues, again
While the circumstances in New York City were somewhat unique, the story in Virginia was more typical. There was a huge gender gap — which is really a marriage gap — though unfortunately, we have only the gender breakdown since pollsters, for whatever reason, didn’t ask about marital status, despite its enormous effect on women’s votes in particular. Republican Winsome Earle-Sears actually won men 51%-38%, but Abigail Spanberger crushed her among women, 65%-35%. If gender gap patterns here are similar to 2024, Spanberger took approximately 72% of single women’s votes.
Also notable is the incredible failure of tokenistic identity politics to appeal to left-wing identity groups. Earle-Sears, a black woman, took just 7% of the black vote — and, incredibly, just 3% of black women’s votes. Meanwhile, she took 61% of white men’s votes, even while losing by 14.5 points overall.
The lesson for the GOP is simple: Voters want tangible results on immigration, jobs, and affordability.
Spanberger was similarly dominant among youth, winning the under-45 vote 65%-34%, as opposed to a much narrower 53%-47% margin among the 45-and-over crowd. Similarly, we see how much the Democrats have become the party of the elite, with Spanberger winning 68%-32% among those with advanced degrees. Earle-Sears, meanwhile, won 2-1 among the one-third of Virginia voters who are white and do not have college degrees and 80% of white born-again Christians, who made up 28% of the voters.
Earle-Sears won 61%-37% among the 37% who are not affected financially by the shutdowns, while the 20% who are affected went for Spanberger 82%-18%. If you look at those Virginia voters who are only a little or not at all financially affected by federal cuts, Spanberger eked out only the narrowest victory over Earle-Sears. Almost her entire positive margin came from those 20% of voters who are substantially financially affected by federal job cuts. This illustrates in dramatic fashion how much Virginia has become a company town for the federal government, with politics that reflect that fact.
By a 58%-40% margin, Virginians said that the economy was good, but Spanberger won among the 23% who felt they were falling behind, by a 76%-24% margin. Again, we see that those who are unhappy with their place in the current economy went overwhelmingly for the Democrats.
Spanberger also won on kitchen-table issues. Among the 48% who felt the economy was the most important issue, she won 63% to 36%. And among the 21% who said health care was the most important issue, she won an incredible 81% to 18%.
By contrast, Earle-Sears had only a narrow advantage (50%-47%) on the transgender issue despite having made men in women’s or girls’ bathrooms and similar matters a centerpiece of her campaign. While it’s very likely that particular issue had a larger gap when related to men in women’s locker rooms than transgenderism as a whole, as insane as transgenderism is to most Republicans, it does not trump the economy for most swing voters.
RELATED: Accountability or bust: Trump’s second term test
Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Carville’s maxim
In New Jersey, once again, we saw economic anxieties come to the fore. Like New York, most people in the Garden State said the economy was not good. But they did not blame the extended period of Democrat governance, including a two-term Democrat governor. Instead, they blamed the Republicans who have been in power for less than a year. Indeed, among the 24% of voters who felt they were economically falling behind, they went 69%-31% for Democrat Mikie Sherrill.
GOP candidate Jack Ciattarelli barely won white voters, 52%-47%, while 68% of Latinos and 82% of Asian Americans voted for Sherrill. For both Spanberger and Sherrill, the Democrats were gifted with almost ideal candidates — experienced, elected congresswomen — given their potential coalition: relatively moderate, affluent white women who could deliver enough red meat to their minority base to turn out most of them while feeling very safe for moderate white suburbanites. Notably, both Sherrill, a Naval Academy graduate and veteran, and Spanberger, a former CIA officer, are married suburban moms, which makes it hard for your average independent voter to portray them as unpatriotic.
One encouraging point was that these results may say less about Republicans and Democrats than one might think. Among a much more Democrat-skewed electorate than in 2024, party favorability for the GOP in New Jersey was only five points under water (46%-51%), while the Democrats (49%-48%) were barely viewed favorably. But a staggering 23% of those with a somewhat favorable view of the Republican Party voted for Sherrill, speaking to her ability to win independent voters.
The GOP retained some gains it made among Hispanic voters in 2024, but overall, 18% of Hispanic voters who voted GOP in 2024 switched to the Democrats in this election. This still represented a significant gain in Hispanic votes for the GOP compared to the last governor’s race in 2021, but it was not enough to keep the race close.
A silver lining
One bright spot from the exit polls after a tough evening for the GOP is that immigration remains a solid issue for Republicans, even with Democrat intransigence. The Trump administration’s aggressive actions haven’t soured voters. Winsome Earle-Sears won 88% among those who considered immigration the most critical issue in Virginia (unfortunately, only 11% of the electorate). Jack Ciattarelli won 72% among voters who cared most about immigration (but again, just 7%).
The economy is the dominant issue, which is why it’s essential to spend more time talking about deporting illegal aliens as a kitchen-table issue that frees up jobs and housing for citizens, while reducing the tax burden on social services.
In each of these constituencies — New York City, Virginia, and New Jersey — Trump’s immigration policies were more opposed than supported. But these are all liberal constituencies in a Democrat wave election. If Trump’s policies polled this well among these constituencies during this election, they still retain solid popular support nationwide.
In New Jersey, 47% said the next governor should cooperate with the president on immigration, versus 49% who said she should not, a virtual tie in a state where the GOP gubernatorial candidate lost by 13 points. By a 15-point margin, Virginians opposed Trump’s immigration policies, identical to the gap in the governor’s race. Even in NYC, 34% of voters wanted the city to cooperate with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement, versus 61% opposed. That 34% number is several points higher than the 30% Trump won in the city in 2024, which represented the highest vote total for a GOP candidate in NYC since 1988.
The lesson for the GOP is simple: Voters want tangible results on immigration, jobs, and affordability. Recent polling suggests that these are the top three issues for 60% of low-propensity voters. If the GOP delivers on these points, it can have a great 2026 midterm election. If not, 2026 will look a lot like 2025.
Once again and as ever: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at the American Mind.
COSTS COMING DOWN! Trump Makes ‘Breakthrough Trade Deals’ to Lower Food Costs
A full-court trade push — and a major hemispheric win for Trump.
Newsom Says California Will Oppose Offshore Drilling Expansion As State Relies on Iraqi Imports To Meet Energy Demands
California governor Gavin Newsom (D.) declared this week that a Trump administration proposal to expand oil drilling off the coast of his state is “Dead on arrival.” His opposition comes as California relies on imported oil from authoritarian states like Iraq and Saudi Arabia to meet its energy demand.
The post Newsom Says California Will Oppose Offshore Drilling Expansion As State Relies on Iraqi Imports To Meet Energy Demands appeared first on .
SEE YOU IN COURT, GAV! DOJ Sues Newsom Over ‘Racial Gerrymander’ of California Map
The feds just blew up Newsom’s redistricting push.
Schumer Shutdown: Georgia Swing Voters Blame Record-Breaking Government Closure on Dems
A majority of Georgia swing voters surveyed in focus groups this week are blaming Democrats for the record-breaking 42-day government shutdown that ended Wednesday.
The post Schumer Shutdown: Georgia Swing Voters Blame Record-Breaking Government Closure on Dems appeared first on .
Shutdown Over, Trump Saves Thanksgiving
WASHINGTON — The government shutdown that never should have happened is over. Voters should be furious with most Democrats, and…
‘More Operations In More Major Cities’: Homan Tells Americans To Prepare For More Border Patrol Activity
‘the border is the most secure border in history’
Georgia Judge Drops Three Of Trump’s Charges In Election Interference Case
‘informed and transparent determination’
