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PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: President Donald J. Trump criticized Senator Chris Van Hollen for his visit to El Salvador, where the senator met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant allegedly deported without due process.
👥 Who’s Involved: President Trump, Senator Chris Van Hollen, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
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📍 Where & When: El Salvador, Truth Social, Friday morning.
💬 Key Quote: “Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone. GRANDSTANDER!!!” – President Trump.
⚠️ Impact: The Democrat senator is under fire for showing an inordinate amount of care for an illegal alien gang member, while having remained largely silent on the victims of migrant crime, such as Laken Riley and Rachel Morin.
IN FULL:
President Donald J. Trump has publicly criticized Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen following the Democrat’s visit to El Salvador. Van Hollen was there to take up the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia—an illegal immigrant, accused MS-13 gang member, and domestic abuser—deported to his native country under the Alien Enemies Act. Trump expressed his disapproval through a post on Truth Social on Friday morning, dismissing Van Hollen’s actions as attention-seeking.
“Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone. GRANDSTANDER!!!” the America First leader wrote. Initially, Van Hollen was not able to meet with Garcia or even speak to him over the phone, but an in-person meeting was eventually arranged.
Photos of the meeting between Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia show them sharing a drink, speculated by some to be a margarita, sparking varied reactions. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele remarked, “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!”
He later added, “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”
The relaxed atmosphere in the photos of Van Hollen’s meeting contrasts sharply with the stern images of the CECOT mega-prison, where some gangsters deported to El Salvador are held. Van Hollen said he had passed on a “message of love” from Garcia to his wife, who previously filed a protective order against him, complaining she was “afraid to be close to him” after receiving several beatings.
Photographs of Garcia’s meeting with Van Hollen show him sporting many tattoos, with social media users arguing that ink visible on his knuckles indicates he is a member of MS-13, as police informants attested in the U.S.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the “death camps” & “torture”, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!🍹 pic.twitter.com/r6VWc6Fjtn
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 18, 2025
PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: Wikipedia editors extensively revised Vice President J.D. Vance’s page during the 2024 presidential campaign and its aftermath, significantly increasing negative content.
👥 Who’s Involved: Vice President J.D. Vance, Wikipedia editors, President Donald J. Trump, MRC Free Speech America, and various media outlets.
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📍 Where & When: United States, particularly Ohio; focus periods include Vance’s campaign announcements in 2021 and 2024.
💬 Key Quote: “Wikipedia editors flooded Vance’s page with 883 edits during the GOP vice presidential sweepstakes in the lead-up to Vance’s debut at the Republican National Convention—far more activity than the mere 500 edits made in a five-year span from March 2017 through May 2022,” the MRC report notes.
⚠️ Impact: During critical political phases, Vance’s public image was reshaped with heightened negativity.
IN FULL:
A recent examination of edits made to the Wikipedia page for Vice President J.D. Vance reveals that the online, open-source encyclopedia’s editors made substantial edits amplifying negative content during and after his selection as President Donald J. Trump‘s running mate. The research, published by MRC Free Speech America, found that in the months leading up to Vance being tapped as Trump’s vice presidential nominee at the 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC), his Wikipedia page saw nearly double the number of edits made compared to the cumulative total over the five years prior.
“Wikipedia editors flooded Vance’s page with 883 edits during the GOP vice presidential sweepstakes in the lead-up to Vance’s debut at the Republican National Convention—far more activity than the mere 500 edits made in a five-year span from March 2017 through May 2022—signaling a clear attempt to negatively reshape his public image,” MRC states, noting: “This mass editing began soon after legacy media floated Vance as a possible Trump running mate.”
The edits made to Vance’s entry on the free online encyclopedia almost uniformly use partisan-style talking points to highlight allegedly negative aspects of the Vice President’s background. Instead of a viewpoint-neutral source of information on Vance, his Wikipedia page essentially became a dumping point for Democratic Party talking points and opposition research. This effectively allowed the corporate media to use Wikipedia’s perceived ‘legitimacy’ as a fig leaf to cover their laundering of a partisan Democrat narrative.
Despite Vance having on multiple occasions stated his opinion of President Trump had changed significantly after 2016, Wikipedia editors altered the Vice President’s page to amplify his nearly decade-old criticisms of the America First leader while downplaying his subsequent support for Trump’s policies and leadership. The edits, mostly occurring before Vance was formally announced as the vice presidential nominee, appear to have been intended to undermine his chances of being named as Trump’s running mate.
Additionally, the editors are accused of presenting Vance’s nonprofit work regarding the opioid crisis in a negative light, suggesting ties to Big Pharma. This was further compounded by contentious portrayals of his acclaimed book Hillbilly Elegy, which Wikipedia did not emphasize prior to his entry into national politics.
The findings published by MRC mirror a pattern found with other Trump administration officials. Previously, the media watchdog group found that Wikipedia editors made similar partisan interventions with the page entries for Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, and Kash Patel. The National Pulse previously reported that Wikipedia’s cofounder, Larry Sanger, warned that the massive open-source online encyclopedia is likely ideologically corrupted due to the efforts of its former chief executive, Katherine Maher. Maher led the Wikimedia Foundation, which oversees the online resource, before she was hired as the CEO of NPR.
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