With the advent of internet shopping, the Black Friday landscape has certainly changed dramatically. Instead of risking life and limb to enter the Hunger Games of holiday shopping — often before you’ve fully digested your Thanksgiving dinner — gifts arrive on your doorstep in days with just a few clicks.

The Daily Wire is here to help with that — with holiday deals on everything from candles and cigars to All-Access DailyWire+ memberships — but first, let’s take a moment to celebrate all the chaos and catastrophe that you’ll be avoiding when you do your holiday shopping with The Daily Wire.

Larger-than-usual crowds — fueled by too much coffee, too little sleep, and the promise of a slightly cheaper video game console — increase the risk of injury. The crush of the crowd pushing to get in as soon as doors open can lead to scrapes and bruises — and in extreme cases, people have been trampled to death. In fact, a website called Black Friday Death Count tracked 17 deaths and 125 injuries that took place either during or in close proximity to Black Friday sales between 2010 and 2021.

In theory, we’ve come along way from the fistfights and near riots as parents scrambled to get their hands on the must-have Cabbage Patch dolls in 1983 …

In 1996, shoppers who had clearly learned nothing from the Cabbage Patch riots went crazy over Tickle-Me-Elmo. Originally $29, the doll quickly hit a black market price of near $1,000. When some 300 customers lined up outside a Walmart — all hoping to get their hands on one of 48 Elmos — an employee was trampled and had to be taken to a hospital for treatment.

In 1998, shoppers rioted over Furbies — tiny talking toys that looked like a cross between a baby owl and a Mogwai. In addition to being nearly impossible to find, the toys routinely caused additional headaches when they would not turn off. Still, desperate shoppers turned to the black market and paid far above the original list price of $30-35 to dealers who bought and resold the hot item for hundreds of dollars.

The Daily Wire is here to help you avoid the lines — and the risk of bodily harm — as you plan your holiday gift-giving this season. Check out The Daily Wire’s official woke-free gift guide for 2025 and find the perfect gifts for your friends and family. 

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Specialist Sarah Beckstrom of the West Virginia National Guard had passed away after being shot near the White House the day before.

Trump delivered the news as families across the United States were celebrating Thanksgiving, saying, “I must unfortunately tell you that just seconds before I went on right now, I heard that Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the Guardsmen that we’re talking about — highly respected, young, magnificent person — started service in 2023, outstanding in every way, she’s just passed away.”

“She’s no longer with us, she’s looking down on us right now,” the president continued. “Her parents are with her. This just happened. She was savagely attacked, she’s dead, not with us. Incredible person. Outstanding in every single way, in every department. Just horrible.”

Trump’s announcement comes just hours after Beckstrom’s father revealed that she was not expected to survive her injuries.

“I’m holding her hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom said earlier on Thursday. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.”

Beckstrom, 20, had reportedly volunteered to serve over the Thanksgiving holiday so that other National Guard members could spend the time at home with their families.

Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at dailywire.com/blackfriday.

“She volunteered, as did many of those guardsmen and women, so other people could be home with their families. Yet, now, their families are in hospital rooms with them while they are fighting for their lives,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

“They answered the call, they took the charge, they volunteered, they put their lives on the line for people they don’t even know, and that unfortunately is becoming a reality more and more for the members of law enforcement,” United States Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro added.

The suspect, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States in 2021 as part of President Joe Biden’s “Operation Allies Welcome,” which — as The Daily Wire previously reported — allowed roughly 77,000 Afghan nationals into the country.