Why a MAGA girlboss matters

Readers may not know who Brett Cooper is, but she matters. She’s a 23-year-old MAGA wunderkind who is building up a huge audience, despite being a rip-off of Ben Shapiro.

We dedicated an episode of “Standing Room Only” to her, because she represents a new era of anti-feminist hypocrites. She replicates all the millennial “girlboss” tropes, but in service of selling an ideology that denies that women deserve full rights and equality. As our producers discovered, she is reaching a younger, more female audience, by packaging far-right and misogynist ideas with feminist-ish aesthetics.

Plus, she does look like Ben Shapiro’s daughter, which makes it weirder when he does these flirty videos with her. Worth a watch just for that.

Right-wing punditry is the fallback career for failed entertainers

My guest, journalist Kat Tenbarge, and I spoke about how Cooper, like her boss Ben Shapiro, turned to conservative commentary when a career in Hollywood didn’t work out. Kat even went to see Cooper’s stand-up, and told me about it in this short clip.

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Encore song of the week: “My Spine Is The Bassline” by Shriekback

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