When Superman shows his true, pathetic face

My first impulse upon hearing that Dean Cain was signing up for ICE was to laugh at this has-been desperately clinging to racism and sadism to boost his sagging self-esteem. My second, however, was worry that it might work for propaganda purposes anyway.

The recruitment ads for ICE are tailor-made to appeal to weirdos who want to use violence to escape their self-loathing. In this sense, Cain’s a perfect spokesman for the cause. Other white men battling their own demons can see themselves in him. They hear the false promise that they can restore their sense of power by putting on a mask and terrorizing innocent grandmothers and construction workers. 

Bullies are weak people seeking the illusion of strength. Cain is unfortunately a great salesman for that. 

Martial law isn’t usually so pitiful

Donald Trump got tired of waiting for street protests to give him an excuse, and called the National Guard on Washington, D.C., on Monday. He cited “crime” as a reason, but no one believes him. Unless the crimes we’re talking about are those committed by his long-time friend Jeffrey Epstein. So it’s less about fighting crime than about covering it up. 

It’s hard to know how to react. Objectively, it’s a very bad thing that our wannabe fascist dictator is militarizing the police under false pretenses. However, this is such obvious theater that the natural human reaction is to laugh. I keep thinking of every dumb MAGA voter who thinks you get mugged every five minutes if you dare to walk the streets in New York City. Trump is what happens when an imbecilic Facebook meme turns into a human and then is granted unbelievable amounts of power. 

This paradox only deepens with the understanding that a huge part of the point is to cause liberals to get upset and rend our garments. “Triggering the liberals” is all these MAGA fools have left, now that the Viagra stopped working. My instinctive response is to deprive them of the fear response they crave. If progressives respond to a military occupation by saying, “Sure, old man, keep pretending this is ‘Death Wish,’” we reduce the incentives for escalation. But I don’t think it’s great to ignore how serious this situation is. It’s quite a dilemma! 

Here’s one thing I do know: None of this should distract anybody from the Epstein files. Democrats must resist the urge to limply allow that story to fade. As soon as the House is back in session, they need to push it back into the headlines by having press conferences and bringing up more bills demanding a full release of the Epstein files. Spend less time being afraid of Trump — and more time pushing him toward panic. 

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What the CDC shooting says about anti-vaxxers

In a saner society, the shooting at the CDC last Friday would be a wake-up call about the dangers of peddling vaccine disinformation. Reports show that the suspect, Patrick Joseph White, 30, was caught up in conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine, and blamed the shot for his mental health issues. But of course none of the people who fed him those lies, starting with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will learn a damn thing.

That’s partly because anti-vax leaders like Kennedy have no regard for human life. Kennedy just canceled half a billion dollars in vaccine research that experts believe wouldn’t just help prevent infectious disease but also some forms of cancer. This is mostly happening because Kennedy holds barely-concealed eugenics beliefs that lead him to view disease as a force purifying the human race, instead of a scourge. 

Kennedy’s sociopathic contrarianism is extreme, but he’s tapping into the urges felt by a lot of people who are drawn to anti-science views, especially the fantasy that they’ve done “their own research” and know better than the people who have spent years studying this stuff. MAGA is fueled by this kind of resentment, as felt by mediocre people. Imagining that they secretly know better than the experts is a way to avoid facing their deep insecurities. 

We can see this in Kennedy himself, who inherited a famous name but is too erratic and dumb to live up to the expectations that came with it. Or in Trump, who has no redeeming qualities at all and tries to make up for it by pretending to be the absolute greatest at everything — which is why he even cheats at golf. 

It seems that White, the apparent CDC shooter, blamed his mental health issues on the COVID vaccine. A lot of people, and especially men, still feel that mental illness is shameful. Blaming medical science is a way to create an ego-saving narrative, where you’re no longer a person who needs help but a victim of “elites” who conspired against you. This individual took that narrative to an extreme level, but similar attitudes are common among anti-vaxxers. 

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What we're reading this week

• “How the New Atheists Joined the MAHA War on Science,” Sarah Jones, New York

• “We’re Told Men Are in Crisis. A.I. Is Going to Make It So Much Worse,” Jill Filipovic, Slate

• “Texas Democrats face a ‘complicated’ long game,” Russell Payne, Salon

• “TV’s Southern woman strategy,” Melanie McFarland, Salon

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