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2023 Man of the Year: Ben Collins

NBC News's Ben Collins

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about countless atrocities that include President Joe Biden, $19 Big Macs, and a whole lot of myocarditis.

Except there was some good: quiet quitting. We’re no fans of socialism here at the Washington Free Beacon, but the idea of sitting on your ass all day and letting the cash roll in is the kind of European tradition we can get behind. And no one did it better this year than NBC reporter Ben Collins.

As of this writing, Ben has not filed a story in 78 days. Before then, he published a roughly 400 word piece entitled "Fake Picture of Explosion at Pentagon Spooks Twitter" in May.  In total, Collins only wrote four stories where his name was the only bylined author (another of which was called "Cat and Dog Torture Videos Litter Twitter, Adding to Concerns About Moderation"—the Free Beacon could not confirm any sightings of these videos).

We’re told Ben is still employed at NBC, although none of his colleagues we spoke with seemed to have any idea what he does other than cry on Twitter all day. But the joke’s on them: Ben is still getting paid.

At some point this year Ben’s beat changed from "disinformation" to "investigations." So far he hasn’t broken the next Pentagon Papers, but his liberal sugar daddies at Comcast Corporation don’t seem to mind.

Because of his online belligerence, MSNBC told him at the end of last year that he was temporarily suspended from appearing on TV. That was probably music to Ben’s ears. He had even less work to do.

But no work and all play makes Ben a sad boy. This fall, Ben said he was "irrevocably depressed and anxious" because of all the "death threats" he receives and was considering leaving journalism.

"What’s next, I’m not sure," he wrote on Bluesky. "I don’t have skills or family connections or money or anything."

We don’t know about Ben’s family or personal finances, but we certainly can’t disagree about his lack of skills. But for someone with absolutely no ability, Ben has found the perfect gig.

Don’t give up Ben, you have a whole lot of nothing to look forward to. Only now, when you do nothing, you'll do it as a Free Beacon Man of the Year.