Latest posts

  • Trump’s Meme Administration: When the Government’s Group Chat Took Over the Country

    Trump’s Meme Administration: When the Government’s Group Chat Took Over the Country

    Somewhere between the press briefing room and a Fortnite lobby, the machinery of American governance appears to have been replaced by a collection of preteens armed with official seals, a ring light, and an unhealthy relationship with social media validation. The official feeds of the White House, DOJ, Pentagon, and assorted Cabinet offices now read

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  • Divide, Distract, Deregulate, Disappear: Your Anger Was Focus-Grouped

    Divide, Distract, Deregulate, Disappear: Your Anger Was Focus-Grouped

    Culture-war noise keeps you busy while antitrust is gutted, noncompetes spread, and public money builds luxury towers. The Hand in Your Pocket Is Wearing a Cufflink The oldest magic trick in politics begins with a sigh and ends with your wallet. The sigh is theatrical, “What is happening to our great nation?”, and the wallet

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  • Watchdog? More Like Watchdogged: The Tanking of Trump’s “Nazi-Streak” Nominee

    Watchdog? More Like Watchdogged: The Tanking of Trump’s “Nazi-Streak” Nominee

    You’d think after a year of government face-plants, someone in Trump’s orbit might nominate a watchdog who didn’t actively bite democracy. Instead, the White House delivered Paul Ingrassia—a 30-year-old law school graduate with the résumé depth of a TikTok bio—to run the Office of Special Counsel, the federal agency designed to protect whistleblowers and keep

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  • Fascism, ‘Woke,’ and $7 Lattes: How We Got Played While the Billionaires Cashed In

    Fascism, ‘Woke,’ and $7 Lattes: How We Got Played While the Billionaires Cashed In

    From immigration panics to crime bait, the outrage machine drowns out the boring policies that actually save you money. A love letter to boring policies in a country addicted to feelings “Kitchen table issues” sounds like a placemat you forgot to rinse. It lands in the brain like a PSA about flossing. Everyone nods at

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  • Trump the Wannabe King and the Sludge: A Royal Flush from the Sky of Delusion

    Trump the Wannabe King and the Sludge: A Royal Flush from the Sky of Delusion

    Some men crave legacy. Others crave power. And then there are those who crave the cinematic experience of dumping digital sewage on protesters while “Danger Zone” blares in the background. Donald J. Trump, patron saint of grievance and green screen, has once again redefined leadership—not as the art of governance, but as a content genre.

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  • Soap Operas, Talk Show Thrones, and the Gospel According to Drew Barrymore

    Soap Operas, Talk Show Thrones, and the Gospel According to Drew Barrymore

    There’s a special kind of American optimism in handing out golden statues while the world burns. On October 17, the 52nd Daytime Emmy Awards beamed from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, where a theater full of people in sequins and spray tans cheered for the institutions that have taught us to cry at noon, gossip at

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  • No Kings Day: America Remembers We Do Not Bow To Authoritarian Rule

    No Kings Day: America Remembers We Do Not Bow To Authoritarian Rule

    I woke to drums on my phone, not the kind that say war, the kind that say get dressed. Somewhere a sousaphone blared and a snare line snapped, and every clip in my feed looked like a country remembering how to count. A multi-city rhythm rose up from breakfast tables and bus stops and union

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  • Trump Justice Department’s Loyalty Program: Prosecuting Critics for Points

    Trump Justice Department’s Loyalty Program: Prosecuting Critics for Points

    There’s something almost admirable about the efficiency of it all. America’s justice system, once the weary guardian of impartial law, now runs like a Vegas rewards app for political vendettas. Axios’ reporting on the “enemies to defendants” scoreboard inside Trump’s Justice Department reads like dystopian fan fiction written by a disbarred screenwriter who found QAnon

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  • The Church of Selective Justice: Saint George of Santos and the Gospel of Trumpian Mercy

    The Church of Selective Justice: Saint George of Santos and the Gospel of Trumpian Mercy

    There are miracles, and then there are Trump-era miracles — the kind that make you question if God outsourced justice to a reality show producer. George Santos, the man who lied about everything from his résumé to his existence as a mammal capable of shame, just walked out of federal prison after less than three

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  • Trump: The Mirror, The March, and the Misdirection

    Trump: The Mirror, The March, and the Misdirection

    A field guide to déjà vu in a country pretending it has never read this chapter He tells a story about a wounded nation and casts himself as the cure, and the lights are bright because glare is a better costume than truth and the soundtrack thumps because rhythm is easier to remember than evidence.

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