Following the results of Election Day, the outgoing President has intensified his baseless claims that the results are false, as well as repeating his attacks on democratic institutions, his opponents and, of course, the media.
This grievance orbit has increasingly widened to include criticism of social media platform, almost certainly due to their labelling of his tweets concerning voter fraud, an accusation that has been repeatedly disproven. However, as with any attack emanating from the White House, the cry that social media platforms are censoring "Conservative" voices has been parroted vigorously within the ranks of his most loyal supporters, including Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Ted Cruz, The Proud Boys and David Duke. Declaring a "mass exodus" from Facebook and Twitter, this group is moving to another app called Parler.
Founded in August 2018, Parler claims to have eight million active users, the majority of which are Trump supporters, conservatives, and right-wing extremists. The majority of content consists of far-right content, antisemitism, and conspiracy theories.
It's also not the first site that has courted conservative users in the past few years, but although it shares similarities to previous alt-right social media alternative incarnations, such as Gab or Telegram, Parler has seen its influence and hope for staying power boosted by the election.
Following the race being called for Biden, millions of angry users seemingly defected to the new app, almost crashing its system, with more than 4.5 million new people signing up for accounts.
Despite the claims of free speech and open discussion, Parler has grown into more of an extremist feedback loop than anything else — and it has the potential to widen an already gaping political chasm in the nation. The platform also has the potential risk of becoming an extremist hunting ground for recruitment, using the election results as an entryway into more hateful rhetoric.
According to the ADL, Parler is a place where "Proud Boys, QAnon adherents, anti-government extremists (Oath Keepers, Three Percenters and militia) and white supremacists (from members of the alt right to accelerationists) openly promote their ideologies on the site, while Holocaust denial, antisemitism, racism and other forms of bigotry are also easy to find."
Speaking with CNN, Oren Segal, vice president at the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, outlined his worries regarding the platform, "We have seen, time after time, that extremists always look for alternatives to migrate to if they are finding difficulties on the platforms on which they're established," Segal said. "If a lot of people start migrating onto a platform to hear the Laura Ingrahams and Sean Hannitys, but are getting a steady dose of Proud Boys ... that may normalize the fringes in a way that normally it wouldn't."
As weeks pass without a concession from the outgoing President, it remains to be seen just how much influence these fringe groups will gain during the instability that has been left in the absence of a peaceful transfer of power.
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Ketel Marte was brought to tears during an MLB game after facing a shameful fan taunt.
Baseball manager's poignant support for a player brought to tears after shameful fan taunt
Whether they’re expecting perfection from their favorite players or, worse, behaving callously toward opposing teams, sports fans often forget that athletes are human beings. But athletic competition has the ability to unify and uplift, even amid such painful and unpleasant encounters. Take, for example, a major-league baseball game held June 24, 2025 between the home team Chicago White Sox and visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
A shameful low point occurred when Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte was at bat in the seventh inning. Per ESPN, a fan reportedly yelled out a comment regarding Marte’s late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a 2017 car accident in the Dominican Republic. Team personnel, including manager Torey Lovullo, then requested the 22-year-old fan be ejected. (Though he was remorseful and admitted his actions were inappropriate, according to an ESPN source, he was nonetheless banned indefinitely from all MLB ballparks.) "We commend the White Sox for taking immediate action in removing the fan," the MLB said in a statement. Marte reportedly declined to comment.
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While the fan’s behavior is inexcusable, it did spark a powerful and inspiring moment. After hearing the comment, Marte was visibly upset, prompting Lovullo to walk on the field, put his arm around him, and offer some words of encouragement. "[I said,] 'I love you, and I’m with you, and we’re all together, and you’re not alone,'" Lovullo said in a post-game interview, as documented by The Rich Eisen Show. "'No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you’re heard, that guy is an idiot.’"
According to Arizona Republic, Lovullo heard the fan’s comment but didn’t want to repeat it. “I looked right at [Marte] when I heard,” he said. “I looked right at him, and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure."
Elsewhere in the post-game interview, the manager called the moment "terrible" and reflected on why he stood up for Marte. "Fans are nasty, and fans go too far sometimes," he said. "I love my players, and I’m gonna protect them…I’ve known Ketel for nine years. He’s had some unbelievably great moments and some hardships as well and some really tough moments in his life. I know those. At the end of the day, we’re human beings, and we have emotions. I saw him hurting, and I wanted to protect him."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
The following day, the Chicago White Sox X account sent out a message in support of Marte, writing, "We’re with you" and "Baseball is family." On The Rich Eisen Show, the show's host addressed the need to eradicate this kind of toxic athlete-fan interaction: "I was hearing [people saying], 'There’s no place for this in major league baseball.' There isn’t. There’s no place for this in our society. I understand that people are saying the MLB has got to do something about this. Fans have a right to heckle players—this is something that has happened forever…But there is a line."
In another recent, depressing sports moment with a beautiful coda, let’s look to Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the first quarter, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon—a devastating injury that could potentially sideline him for most of the 2025-2026 season. Following the game, in a lovely display of sportsmanship, Thunder point-guard and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went to the Pacers locker room to check on his competitor. In a press conference, he said, "You just hate to see it, in sports in general. But in this moment, my heart dropped for him. I can't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. It’s so unfortunate."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com