Margaret Brennan covers politics from a studio.
CBS spent Memorial Day asking men who ran back into enemy fire if America was too dark.
And the man who threw a grenade at Taliban fighters demanding his surrender had something to say about that.
The Question That Said Everything About the Media
Margaret Brennan had two of the most decorated soldiers in America sitting across from her.
Lt. Col. William Swenson ran back into a kill zone – twice – in an unarmored vehicle to drag wounded men out of a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan's Ganjgal Valley.
He was pinned down behind a rock wall, enemy fighters close enough to demand his surrender, stanching a dying man's bleeding when he stopped, grabbed a grenade, threw it at the insurgents, and went right back to saving his teammate.
That man was sitting across from Margaret Brennan.
Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Williams carried critically wounded soldiers to evacuation helicopters through relentless enemy fire on an Afghan mountainside – then went back for more.
That man was also sitting across from Margaret Brennan.
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And what did she ask them?
"This country, at times, can feel dark, these days, there's a lot of darkness. What makes you feel optimistic?"
That's CBS News framing America as a place of despair to the men who bled for it.
They Didn't Take the Bait
Swenson answered first.
"We have to remember that politics aren't everything,” he said. “American lives continue on. Children are born, children go to school. Lives are achieved. Dreams are achieved. This country is a great place."
"No other place in history, time or on this planet have ever gotten to where we are today. We need to be proud of that," he added.
Williams followed with equal fire.
"Take politics aside out of this whole conversation,” he said. “Just talk about our communities, the people that you surround yourself with, and your families, and the opportunity to be free."
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He challenged every American watching to actually show up – to visit the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas, to walk the National Mall this year as America turns 250, and to stop treating history as a tourist obligation and start treating it as something worth being grateful for.
"When you're there in the crowds and you're enjoying yourself, and you're taking your family to go talk about our country – actually celebrate it. Be grateful for what you've got," he said.
What CBS Wanted and What It Got
The media have a playbook for Memorial Day.
Find a veteran. Ask them about sacrifice. Then pivot to darkness, division, the state of the country, how far we have to go – anything that transforms a day of gratitude into a referendum on America's failures.
It has worked before.
Veterans who disagree with U.S. policy, Gold Star families weaponized against political opponents, service members deployed as props for whatever narrative the network is running that week.
This Memorial Day, Democrats even posted a graphic using fallen service members from Operation Epic Fury as ammunition against President Trump – turning the nation's dead into a political attack on the same day Americans were supposed to be honoring them.
That's who Margaret Brennan works alongside in the media ecosystem that feeds this country its news.
Swenson and Williams refused to cooperate.
Swenson Threw a Grenade at Men Demanding His Surrender. Brennan Asked Him About Darkness.
The Battle of Ganjgal on September 8, 2009, left five Americans and ten Afghan allies dead.
Swenson – then a captain – spent seven hours in that valley coordinating defenses, calling in air support, treating the wounded, and making two separate runs back into the kill zone in an unarmored vehicle when the shooting was still active.
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He saved 12 Afghan allies.
His Medal of Honor recommendation disappeared in Army bureaucracy – and he resigned rather than be silenced.
The Army later acknowledged the mistake and corrected it.
Williams carried men off a mountainside under machine gun and sniper fire.
When the evacuation helicopters arrived, he was still loading casualties while returning fire.
These aren't men who theorize about sacrifice.
They have paid its price in full.
Margaret Brennan cannot say the same.
America turns 250 this year.
These two men – who gave everything to keep the American experiment alive – are telling you it's worth celebrating.
That's the story CBS accidentally aired on Memorial Day.
Sources:
- Jorge Bonilla, "Memorial Day: Margaret Brennan Tries to Get Medal of Honor Recipients to Bash America, Is Schooled," NewsBusters, May 24, 2026.
- "Full Transcript: Lt. Col. William Swenson (Ret.) and Command Sergeant Major Matthew Williams (Ret.) on Face the Nation," CBS News, May 24, 2026.
- "Captain William D. Swenson Medal of Honor Citation," U.S. Army, October 2013.
- "Matthew O. Williams Medal of Honor Citation," Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
- Joseph Chalfant, "Democrats Use Fallen Heroes as Props to Bash Trump on Memorial Day," Townhall, May 25, 2026.
- Matt Vespa, "CBS News Host Tried Goading Two Medal of Honor Recipients Into Bashing America," Townhall, May 25, 2026.
