Trump’s long weekend of humiliation, mocked by Americans and foreign leaders, is a great thing. He needs the illusion of strength. So keep on talking about how frail he’s looking β€” and what he is hiding.
Salon.com
Trump's long weekend of humiliation
The harder he tries to be a dictator, the more he's mocked by both Americans and foreign leaders
Kids returning to school may face a ritual humiliation that we thought we'd left behind: the presidential fitness test. RFK's definition of "health" is about outside appearance β€” and even kids aren't exempt from his hot-or-not evaluation.
Salon.com
The sinister reason Trump revived the presidential fitness test
POTUS and the HHS secretary equate looks with how healthy you are
Ghislaine Maxwell is a liar and sex criminal. But MAGA is using her gender to lull people into thinking she's trustworthy. Notably, this is the same scam she ran on her and Epstein's victims: Make them think she's "safe" because she's a woman.
Salon.com
Ghislaine Maxwell serves Trump like she served Jeffrey Epstein
She's using her gender to dupe a man's targets into compliance
I looked at the videos of the DC takeover MAGA is sharing online. They aren't about crime. Instead, MAGA thrills to images of innocent people get abused and harassed. As the Smithsonian attack shows, this is about lashing out at blue America.
Salon.com
MAGA knows DC takeover isn't about crime β€” which is why they love it
Trump's war on the Smithsonian reveals that this is about childish resentment, not safety
MAGA faked liberal "outrage" in order to leer at sorority rush videos. But it was just a few months ago that MAGA was rage-stroking at other women who posted online dances, declaring they were the end of civilization. I analyze this contradiction.
Salon.com
MAGA can't decide if women should be allowed to dance
Republicans claim to love sorority dances. But mere months ago, carefree girls were objects of over-the-top hate
Charlie Kirk used to be proudly secular, but now he's among the loudest Bible-thumpers. There's many reasons for this. But I'm going to focus on one: to justify his racism. He admires a pastor who said God cursed Black people to "perpetual slavery."
Salon.com
How Charlie Kirk turned to religion to level up his racism
The "debate me" bro reveres a minister who claimed God cursed Black people to be "servile"
New Standing Room Only! Today's excerpt: MAGA is outraged over the Epstein files, but don't think they care about sex abuse. You can now read SRO online, btw:
Standing Room Only
Standing Room Only
Amanda Marcotte's biweekly politics newsletter for Salon readers who like to be plugged in and a little bit rowdy.
 Today's song by Gorgon City. image
Trump and Noem still plan to destroy FEMA, despite the temporary pause in overt threats to the agency. The hatred of FEMA is hard for outsiders to parse. So I wrote this short, readable explainer of why MAGA loathes the emergency relief agency so much.
Salon.com
Why Kristi Noem hates FEMA
No, Trump has not given up on the conspiracist mania to kill the popular agency
The IRS ending the Johnson amendment is a big change. It could turn churches into PACs, giving GOP donors a tax break for unlimited political spending. The good news? It could drive even more people to leave conservative churches. Millions already have.
Salon.com
Trump's IRS payola for churches will backfire on evangelicals
Millions have already left right-wing Christianity because of politics
More than almost any other figure in the Trump administration, Karoline Leavitt annoys people, especially women. Everyone in the White House sucks, so I look at why she's especially aggravating. Hint: Her ability to irritate you is why she got the job.
Salon.com
Why Karoline Leavitt is so annoying
From trolling the media to gaslighting the public, it's clear why Trump hired her as press secretary