☕️ ELITE PANIC ☙ Wednesday, February 25, 2026 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

Trump's record SOTU vaporizes Dem talking points; Trumpian jiu jitsu; Don Lemon sued; 15 states sue RFK Jr.; Nine outlets, three weeks, one phrase — the Epstein 'moral panic' psyop exposed; more.

Good morning, C&C family, it’s Wednesday! We are back in the saddle at C&C HQ, slightly jet-lagged, and riding pretty. Or words to that effect. (You get the idea.) Today’s roundup includes: President Trump delivered the longest State of the Union in modern history — and the most politically devastating. His new universal retirement accounts with $1,000 federal matching just vaporized the Democrats’ ‘K-shaped recovery’ talking point overnight. He ordered Big Tech to build their own power plants (genius). Two Medals of Honor were awarded — including to a 100-year-old Korean War pilot — the first ever during a SOTU. The gold-medal men’s hockey team got a standing ovation; the women’s team had ‘scheduling conflicts.’ Don Lemon’s legal spiral deepened as a churchgoer sued him for emotional distress. Fifteen progressive states are suing RFK Jr. for daring to let experts question the vaccine schedule. And in today’s lead investigation: at least nine major outlets published pieces in three weeks calling the Epstein fallout a ‘moral panic’ — using the exact same phrase at the exact same time. We tracked the pattern, named the players, and found the kill shot. It’s not a moral panic. It’s an elite panic.

🌍🇺🇸 ESSENTIAL NEWS AND COMMENTARY 🇺🇸🌍

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Last night, President Trump delivered the longest State of the Union address in modern history— one hour and forty-eight minutes of populist proposals, military drama, tugged heartstrings, trolling, and the kind of political jiu jitsu that left Democrats wondering whether it was worse to clap or not to clap. CBS reported the speech broke the previous record (100 minutes, which Trump set last year), which was totally on-brand. The New York Times ran a dozen stories (or more); the lead story was headlined, “‘Stand Up’: With One Maneuver, Trump Tries to Box In Democrats.”

The speech was packed— I can’t possibly do it justice. (In case you missed it, here’s the CNBC YouTube link, and here’s NPR’s transcript). It was richly dense, and our political adversaries took it very seriously. In one of its many SOTU stories, the New York Times explained, “On Tuesday night, more than 50 New York Times journalists will cover the event.” Fortunately, one Coffee & Covid author easily out-thinks 50 Times reporters.

Around a dozen or so confused Democrats attended a competing “People’s State of the Union”— though they’d originally advertised 80. False advertising. Plus, it was outside. In the bomb cyclone (or whatever it’s called). Nobody reported on it. Sad, really. Other Democrats just checked out completely. Deranged liberal Robert Reich excreted an op-ed —in the UK Guardian— titled, “Why I’m not watching the State of the Union – and you shouldn’t either.” Fine.

The State of the Union is the President’s annual prime-time performance review before Congress, the Supreme Court, and invited guests—except he writes it himself, one half of the chamber delivers repeated standing ovations on a 90-second timer, and the other half sits stone-faced, like jurors in a tax trial. It’s constitutionally required in the loosest possible sense (the Founders just said “from time to time”), but it has evolved into a televised annual spectacle: the Super Bowl of Politics.

Whether you watched or didn’t watch, you came to the right place for the highlights reel of what was likely one of the most significant events in the world yesterday, and probably captured the entire globe’s attention. (Side note: Do you think foreigners get confused when we say, “State” of the Union, since the Union is made up of 50 “States?” Discuss.)

🔥 It’s impossible to pick a ‘favorite’ moment or topic; there are simply too many options. Keeping in mind the political elephant that was in the room —the November midterms— I’ll start with the most politically significant announcement. Axios covered the story, headlined, “Trump announces new retirement plan at State of the Union.”

In around three sentences, President Trump eviscerated the Democrats’ main economic talking point and its internal organs slid right out on the Chamber floor. In order to sneer at all the great economic news, like the historic stock market, Democrats invented a so-called “K-shaped recovery,” a progressive dog whistle that means sure, maybe seniors with retirement accounts, Congressional inside traders, and rich people are doing well, but everybody else is suffering.

In other words, if you don’t own stocks, the market is useless, and you should be jealous and angry at people who do, and help Democrats tax them until their eyes bleed.

Recall that last month, the President switched on his new Trump Accounts for all American kids. Any American under 18 can open their own supervised stock account. Parents, employers, and non-profits can kick in. The federal government will contribute $1,000 for all kids born between January of last year (2025) and December 31, 2028.

So now, every single American child reaps the benefits of a rising stock market. Like Congressmen, who are also very childlike, when you think about it.

🔥 Last night, the President took Trump Accounts for Kids and launched it into orbit. “Half of all working Americans still do not have access to a retirement plan with matching contributions from an employer,” the President told Congress. That was the Democrats’ argument. Then he pulled the pin from the political grenade.

“To remedy this gross disparity,” he explained, “I am announcing that next year, my administration will give these often forgotten American workers, great people, the people that built our country, access to the same type of retirement plan offered to every federal worker. We will match your contribution with up to $1,000 each year, as we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market.”

And just like that, the tables turned. Everyone is invested in the market now. (Or at least, can be, by simply checking a box on their income tax form. Citizenship and ID are required.) Federal workers already have retirement accounts linked to the market. Corporate workers get IRAs and 401Ks in which they can invest. Now every single child gets one and, if —and only if— Republicans keep the House this November, every other person will get one too, plus $1,000 bucks to kick it off.

Axios added, “A White House official tells Axios that, like with Trump accounts for kids, philanthropic interests will be able to contribute.” Meaning, non-profits can kick in, too. The pressure will be enormous. Imagine union members, wondering why their unions are spending hundreds of millions on political campaigns to advance gender mutilation instead of depositing funds into roofers’ investment accounts.

Genius. Nobody saw this coming. So long, “K-shaped recovery,” whatever that was. (I think the ‘K’ stood for ‘Karl Marx.’) A rising stock market now floats all boats. It’s a Sovereign Wealth Fund disguised as your Robinhood App.

Don’t miss this: You believe Trump just came up with the idea for the State of the Union? Rubbish. This was planned since before kids’ Trump Accounts were added to the OBBBA. Trump smuggled the logical extension —the adult version— in with a bill that was for the children. Who could oppose that?

(Trump immediately pivoted to calling for a ban on Congressional insider stock trading. The only bipartisan standing ovation ensued, though Dems quickly soured when Trump innocently asked, “Where’s Nancy?”)

🔥 In another stellar example of Trump turning Democrats’ complaints back against them, the President switched to energy affordability. Sure, Democrats will stingily concede, when pressed, the prices of eggs, rent, gas, turkeys, and prescription drugs might be down, but how about electricity? After all, they complain, evil AI data centers are gobbling it all up, thereby raising rates on humans’ basic power costs. Welp, that’s over. Reuters reported, “Trump says he has told big tech companies to build their own power plants.”

“The impacts of the rapid proliferation of AI data centers on power prices have become a potential vulnerability for Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections,” Reuters reported. Not anymore.

“Many Americans are concerned that energy demand from AI data centers could unfairly drive up their electric utility bills,” Trump announced. Another Democrat argument. “Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that I have negotiated the new Ratepayer Protection Pledge.”

It’s not Marxist price controls. It’s the most free-market solution imaginable. “The major tech companies can build their own power plants as part of their factory,” the President explained, “so that no one’s prices will go up, and in many cases, prices of electricity will go down for the community— and very substantially down.” He correctly noted, “This is a unique strategy never used in this country before.”

He explained it further, using small words and visual aids, for the benefit of members who still think electricity comes from the solar panel fairy. “They’re going to produce their own electricity. It will ensure the company’s ability to get electricity and lower prices— and could be very substantial for all of your cities and towns.” Democrats winced in pain. More power plants.

He isn’t waiting for Congress. He’s using the ‘bully pulpit’ and getting data center builders to voluntarily agree, just as he did with Big Pharma on drug prices. “The White House is expected to host companies in early March to formalize the effort,” Reuters reported.

Executive branch agencies have lots of options. They can incentivize AI builders by fast-tracking permits and approvals, conditioning development loans, and easing regulatory burdens. Data centers can sell excess power back to local grids, creating more power supply, which will in turn lower prices for everyone. It’s more genius.

He’s running rings around them. Democrats are running out of stuff to complain about. We’ve never seen anything like this before. No wonder it was such a long speech.

🔥 President Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to helicopter pilot and Chief Warrant Officer 5, Eric Slover, who was wounded during the Maduro capture raid. Slover was hit four times in the leg and hip while landing the lead Chinook under fire, but held the aircraft steady and heroically completed his mission anyway. President Trump said, “The deeds of one warrior that night will live forever in the eternal chronicles of military valor.”

The President also awarded a Medal of Honor to E. Royce Williams, a 100-year-old Navy veteran of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. The medal was for an electrifying 1952 Korean War aerial dogfight.

Last night was the first time a president had ever awarded the Medal of Honor during a State of the Union.

🇺🇸 President Trump also honored the USA’s ecstatic gold-medal Men’s Olympic Hockey team, which was funneled into a sullen press gallery:

The men’s hockey team won the gold medal Sunday in a thrilling overtime final against rival Canada. It was the first U.S. gold in men’s ice hockey since 1980, when an underdog American squad pulled off the “Miracle on Ice.”

“Our country is winning again,” Trump said enthusiastically, about 15 minutes in. “To prove that point,” he continued, “here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud: the men’s gold medal Olympic hockey team.” (The Women’s team, which also beat Canada in overtime for the gold, declined to appear, citing undisclosed “scheduling conflicts.” Maybe a hair braiding appointment?)

🔥 One month ago, the New York Times admitted it was baffled:

No one knows for sure. Last night, President Trump said, “In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States.” Coincidentally, “last year the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history.” Trump stressed the point: “This is the biggest decline, think of it, in recorded history,” he repeated, “the lowest number in over 125 years.”

The Times’s 50 reporters watched, listened, and remained confounded.

🔥 Since the address is being well-covered on social media, and we have a few other stories to discuss, I’ll leave it with the Coffee & Covid SOTU Score: 5/5 (recommend).

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Don Lemon’s 2026 just keeps getting worse. Yesterday, TMZ reported that Ann Doucette, a parishioner who was simply trying to attend Sunday worship at Cities Church in St. Paul when Lemon and a squad of anti-ICE protesters burst through the doors in January, has now filed a civil lawsuit against the former CNN anchor and his co-conspirators for severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma. Headline: “Woman Sues Don Lemon for Emotional Distress From Minnesota Church Protest.”

Doucette filed the lawsuit herself— no attorney, just a regular churchgoer who’d had enough. (Maybe a local lawyer could help?) Her complaint alleges that Lemon didn’t simply show up to cover the protest but “appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption.” She also cited a protester’s social media claim that they’d assisted Lemon with “logistics and local contacts in support of the operation.” Operation. Lemon insisted it was merely an exercise of the free press, even though he’s only a podcaster.

To summarize Lemon’s current legal situation: he was arrested, federally indicted under the FACE Act and —ironically— the KKK Act, pleaded not guilty, and is now being sued civilly by a parishioner. Lemon faces federal charges, a civil lawsuit, and the dawning realization that ‘terrifying church attendees’ is not in the First Amendment’s fine print.

When life gives you Lemons, just sue them. (Sorry, I couldn’t help the dad joke.)

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Oh, how they love their mandates. Even more than the CDC, apparently, which about ten minutes ago was their “gold standard.” Yesterday, Bloomberg reported, “RFK Jr. Faces Lawsuit by 15 States Over US Vaccine Changes.” A coalition led by California’s attorney general —with New Jersey, Oregon, and a dozen other progressive states right behind— is suing HHS Secretary Kennedy, newly named Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya, and the federal health agencies over a January 5th CDC memo that shifted six childhood vaccines from “universally recommended” to “risk-based only.”

The six removed vaccines include rotavirus, meningitis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza and —shocker— covid.

New Jersey’s AWFL Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, with the kind of theatrical outrage that only a pasty, blue state AG can muster at 9 AM on a Monday, called Kennedy’s approach a “radical and unlawful overhaul” that “gambles with children’s lives” and “rests on fringe theories.” Fringe theories! California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned darkly, “Undermining confidence in vaccines will lead to lower vaccination rates and more infectious disease.”

Three years ago, if you suggested that covid came from a lab, or that mRNA vaccines might have side effects, or that natural immunity existed, or that wearing cloth masks outside was retarded, you would have been referred to the Centers for Disease Control guidance— right before your Facebook account was permanently deleted for spreading disinformation. Now the same people are suing the gold standard.

The states’ legal argument is that the changes were “arbitrary and capricious” and that the new ACIP members are “unqualified” because —and this is the best part— most of them have “publicly expressed anti-vaccine views.” They aren’t the RIGHT KIND of experts. Seriously, that is so dumb. Why doesn’t it work the other way? Why aren’t experts disqualified for publicly expressing pro-vaccine views? Morons.

In 2026, having any concerns about the ‘robust’ vaccine schedule is apparently a disqualifying credential for serving on the committee that reviews the vaccine schedule. You’d think asking tough questions would be in the job description, but these states seem to prefer a committee where everyone agrees before the meeting starts.

The same states that told us to trust the science are now suing the scientists. They’re not suing to protect children. They’re suing to protect the schedule.

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In the last three weeks, at least nine major publications have published pieces calling the Epstein fallout a “moral panic.” Nine! The Wall Street Journal, The Spectator, Reason, National Review, Quillette, UnHerd, Compact, The Free Press, and Public. The latest vomitous excresence appeared in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, coughed up by editor Gerard Baker like something the dog shouldn’t have eaten in the yard. Headline: “Even Contemptible Men Don’t Deserve Mob Justice.” In case it wasn’t clear which contemptible man he was referring to, he chose this picture of former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Whatever:

Moral panic. All these seemingly disparate journalists all ‘independently’ arrived at the exact same conclusion using the exact same phrase at the exact same time. How organic! How uncoordinated! But never mind. It’s just one of those coincidences. Coincidences like the way all of Epstein’s cell cameras just happened to malfunction at the same moment.

Don’t doubt me. Corporate media is desperately trying to trickle the toxic Epstein toothpaste (“now with extra fluoride!”) back into the bloodstained tube. They can’t come right out and oppose it —how could they, after all of last year’s ‘transparency’ hysteria— and because any pro-Epstein talk remains unthinkable. So they’ve come up with a sneaky new narrative: moral panic.

In other words, it’s our fault.

The stealth campaign is orchestrated and Orwellian. Over the last three weeks, at least nine major outlets have published pieces re-framing the Epstein fallout as a “moral panic,” “witch hunt,” or “hysteria.” The phrase “moral panic” appears to be the consensus label. This isn’t one columnist going rogue — it’s a detectable pattern.

Regardless of which precise label they use, their argument is always the same: The real danger isn’t what Epstein did or who was complicit —no, of course not— it’s that the public is overreacting. The files are being “weaponized!” Innocent people are getting caught in the crossfire! Due process! Presumption of innocence! Calm down.

Trump saw this coming. In August, before the first DOJ dump, he warned, “Innocent people shouldn’t be hurt, but I’m in support of keeping it totally open. I couldn’t care less. You got a lot of people that could be mentioned in those files that don’t deserve to be.” You know who couldn’t care less about innocent people getting hurt? The media. They just hoped it would be different innocent people.

This is no surprise. A December story in the UK Guardian sneered dismissively at President Trump’s warnings. “A lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein,” the Guardian quoted. “But they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruin the reputation of somebody,” Trump predicted.

Now, for some reason, two months later, after a series of progressive legends have toppled, domino-like, now they’re suddenly worried about innocent people in the files. Weird.

The Narrative DNA of the ‘Moral Panic’

The combined word count of the nine articles I could find in a morning’s quick search weighed in at roughly 25,000 words— a decent-sized novella. The number of words in those nine articles quoting trafficking victims: about zero. It turns out the “moral panic” frame has a very specific lens: it centers on the discomfort of people named in the files and ignores the people who were actually trafficked. The victims aren’t even characters in the story anymore. They’ve become an inconvenient footnote to the real story: “moral panic.”

The label itself does the heavy rhetorical lifting. Once you call something a “moral panic,” you’ve reframed the public’s reaction as the problem — rather than the underlying crime. Here’s how it works. First, the media leads with the sympathetic victim who was ‘innocently’ named in the files and got swept along in a current of criticism.

Almost every piece starts with someone “unfairly” caught up. For example:

• Spectator: Casey Wasserman (flirted with Maxwell 20+ years ago)

• Reason: J.K. Rowling (Epstein showed up to a Harry Potter event uninvited)

• Public: Peter Attia, Sarah Ferguson, Larry Summers

• UnHerd: Merlin Sheldrake (discussed a grant that never happened)

Many of these folks, like Sarah Ferguson, Larry Summers, and Peter Attia, are far from “innocent.” But Shellenberger compared the growing blast radius around the Epstein files to the “Me Too” disaster. For instance, he complained about Peter Attia having to leave CBS (I wrote about this yesterday) over a handful of ungentlemanly comments in a few emails. (Attia’s the one who stayed with Epstein in New York while his infant son and wife were in the ICU.) Shellenberger argues that, while these things might be ugly, they don’t justify nuking someone’s career from orbit.

Um, no. Even if you agree with the Peter Attia example —I don’t— Shellenberger is still cherry-picking straw men. It’s the rhetorical equivalent of covering a five-alarm fire by interviewing the guy whose garden gnome got crushed by the fire truck.

The problem is, until ten minutes ago, Democrats were still crowing that “Trump is in the Epstein files 1,800 times”— even though the President was exonerated by what was in there.

Shellenberger’s UCLA professor example came closest to being sympathetic. But the timing of Shellenberger’s concern is the tell. Where was this concern for due process when the “1,800 times” number was being used to imply the sitting president was a child rapist? That wasn’t a “moral panic” — that was just Tuesday.

🔥 The Satanic Panic Comparison.

Several pieces invoked the 1980s Satanic Ritual Abuse or Salem Witch Trials panics, either directly or indirectly:

• Spectator: “It has the feel of the Satanic Ritual Abuse panic”

• Quillette: “From Witch Trials to Epstein Mania”

• Reason: implied throughout

The psyop is that (now, suddenly) they are trying to psychologically link credible evidence of sex trafficking and political corruption with debunked conspiracy theories. If you can get the reader to associate “Epstein files” with “Satanic panic,” you’ve pre-discredited everything in the files.

We know for sure it’s a psyop. The “moral panic” frame didn’t emerge when Democrats were weaponizing the files against Trump. Nobody at the WSJ or Reason or The Spectator published “End The Witch Hunt” when Keith Edwards posted “BREAKING: The Epstein files confirm Melania met Trump through Epstein” — which was false and had to be walked back.

Nobody called it “hysteria” when “Trump appears 1,800 times” was trending.

The timeline tells the story:

1. Files drop → Democrats crow about Trump being mentioned 1,800 times.

2. Files actually get read → Trump is exonerated; the real names are Democrats, academics, media elites, progressive foreign officials.

3. Suddenly → Nine outlets in three weeks: “moral panic,” “witch hunt,” and “everybody calm down.”

🔥 The “moral panic” frame activated precisely when the files stopped being useful against Trump and started being dangerous to the establishment’s own people. That’s not a principled stand for due process — it’s a cold, calculated, and probably super expensive psychological operation to change the subject.

In case anyone doubts this, here are the nine stories that I found, across nine different publications:

This coordinated media pushback does not evidence any moral panic. What it shows is elite panic. Someone is spending a lot of money and effort on behalf of elites trying to smother the Epstein story in the crib.

The Epstein files weren’t leaked by hackers or dug up by conspiracy theorists. Congress voted 427-1 to release them! That’s not a moral panic— that’s a bipartisan transparency remedy. And when the most lopsided vote in modern congressional history produces documents that make powerful people uncomfortable, those people don’t get to call the public “hysterical” for reading them and asking questions. The powerful get to explain themselves.

We are not the problem. The problem is billionaires in boardrooms, captive journos on group texts, Manhattan publicists speed-dialing friendly columnists, and sneaky psyops. This is what panic looks like when rich people do it.

One hour and forty-eight minutes to explain everything that’s going right. Three weeks and nine outlets to explain why you shouldn’t notice what’s going wrong. (Thanks a lot, media.) It’s not going to work. Whenever you see someone on social media use the term “moral panic,” push back with elite panic.

Fear not. We will stop their mind virus before it spreads any further. This is only going to hurt for a very long time.

Have a wonderful Wednesday! It’s nice to be back at home. Tomorrow we’ll pick up the threads —jet-lag free— and continue our enduring exploration of essential news and critical commentary.

Don’t race off! We cannot do it alone. Consider joining up with C&C to help move the nation’s needle and change minds. I could sure use your help getting the truth out and spreading optimism and hope, if you can: ☕ Learn How to Get Involved 🦠

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