Bari Weiss is a terrible cover-up artist

As I noted in a previous newsletter, Bari Weiss, the new head of CBS News, just isn’t very bright. A more clever right-wing operative masquerading as a fair-minded journalist would have simply let “60 Minutes” run a story about the Trump administration deporting innocent men to an El Salvadoran torture prison, content with the knowledge that not many people watch the network’s famous news-magazine show these days, and those who do are super-likely to hate Trump, so it wasn’t likely to move the needle. Spiking the story — and in such a clumsy public fashion — drew far more attention than it would have gotten if it had simply run as scheduled. 

That said, as one Bluesky poster noted, the fact that Weiss felt the need to kill this story is a good sign. Earlier this year, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was posing for pictures at the prison. Now the MAGA forces and their allies are in cover-up mode. It makes clear that the politics of this haven’t worked out the way the right hoped, and now they’re scared of public opinion. 

Pam Bondi is an even more terrible cover-up artist 

As expected, Donald Trump’s signature on a bill mandating the release of the Epstein files was a lie. Trump and his goons like Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had no intention of releasing much of those files, especially anything that’s likely to embarrass or implicate Trump. 

But even I was shocked at how shoddy the cover-up has been, since the administration blew past its own deadline. Only about 10% of the documents, according to House Democrats, have been released, and the redactions are so heavy-handed that more than 500 pages have been blacked out entirely. Granted, they’ve successfully prevented new evidence of Trump’s involvement in Epstein’s criminal schemes from piercing the MAGA media bubble, but right now it’s hard not to wonder if Trump’s links to Epstein exceed even the worst expectations. 

That impression was confirmed by a lengthy New York Times investigation published last week, which revealed that Jeffrey Epstein was telling the truth when he described himself as “Don’s best friend.” Epstein clearly was closer to Trump than any of Trump’s wives ever was. They hung out frequently for more than a decade, often chatting on the phone several times a week. At least six women identified as Epstein’s victims were introduced to Trump at some point. 

It’s clear the White House is worried that it can’t hide this information forever. The strategy, based on what’s been released so far, seems to be to condition the MAGA base into ignoring the truly damning information, if and when it finally gets released. 

They’ve put out a bunch of photos of Epstein with people like Mick Jagger, Bill Clinton and Michael Jackson, hoping to seed the narrative that Epstein hung out with lots of famous and powerful people, so Trump is no different. But as the Times story shows, it really was different — and much worse. Unlike with most of those people, Trump and Epstein’s friendship was based on shared delight in their own sexual “conquests.” It’s now seems impossible that Trump was entirely unaware of Epstein’s sex trafficking.

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Mike Johnson doesn’t want women in Congress

I’ll admit that I laughed deeply and joyfully when Rep. Elise Stefanik bowed out of the New York gubernatorial race this week, and also decided not to run for her current seat in Congress next year. Stefanik is perhaps the premier example of an elite Republican — she graduated from Harvard and started working for the Bush administration straight out of school — who foolishly thought she could play ball with Trump, but ended up being used and discarded. So screw her. 

This is also a story about gender. Stefanik is now the third Republican woman within the past month to simply give up on Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dropped out late last month and Rep. Cynthia Lummis announced she won’t run again on Friday. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that Republican women in general loathe Speaker Mike Johnson, saying he boxes them out and denies them leadership opportunities. 

To which I say: Well, yeah. Johnson has never concealed the fact that he’s a fundamentalist Christian who takes a dim view of women in leadership roles, or for that matter women working at all. (His wife works as a Christian “counselor,” one of those loopholes traditionalist women use to work outside the home while pretending they don’t.) Of course he’ll embrace any opportunity to push women out of his caucus. It may be his only real accomplishment as House speaker. 

I think a lot of Republican women convinced themselves that all the demonizing of “DEI” had nothing to do with them. That, of course, was dumb. Women were always part of the equation of improving diversity, equity and inclusion, which is all that acronym ever meant. Misogyny has always been a central element of MAGA, along with racism. If you track the obsessions that are driving the movement, pushing women out of prominent roles in society into dependence and submission is one of the top priorities. All that tradwife lust isn’t just a pose, ladies. 

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What we're reading this week

• “A Forgotten Young Republicans Scandal Shows How Hard It Is for Party Elders to Control Young Troops,” Ian Ward, Politico

• “Donald Trump Is Very Unhappy With You,” Jamelle Bouie, New York Times

• “Conservatives Want the Antebellum Constitution Back,” Adam Serwer, Atlantic

• “What’s going on with Donald Trump’s health?” Moira Donegan, Guardian

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