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Weekly Digest
Letter from an Editor | July 20, 2024
Dear John,
Between the events of last weekend, this week’s Republican National Convention, and so much more, it was a week of nonstop whiplash when it came to the news.
Let’s start with the Republican National Convention. In the “you can’t make this stuff up category,” as Mel Leonor Barclay writes, the GOP convention was a “display of the party’s version of masculinity.” Hulk Hogan ripped his shirt off onstage as he called Trump a “gladiator.” A Kid Rock song called Trump an “American badass.” And Trump entered the convention hall “to a reverberating rendition of ‘A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,’ the dramatic R&B hit that credits men with the major inventions of modern civilization, while saying it all means ‘nothing without a woman or a girl.’”
And then there’s Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who notably once called Vice President Kamala Harris, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg “a bunch of childless cat ladies.” He is staunchly anti-abortion, and defends abortion bans’ lack of exceptions for rape or incest, saying that “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Need I say more?
Mainstream media reported this week that the RNC was softening its position on abortion, at former President Trump’s request—omitting, for the first time since 1984, the party platform’s explicit call for the passage of a national abortion ban. But what the mainstream media failed to note is that “the language of the platform maintains the party’s longstanding position that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment extends rights to fetuses—an interpretation that Republicans are already asking the Republican-stacked Supreme Court to adopt,” writes contributing editor Carrie Baker in Ms. this week. “They don’t need a new constitutional amendment or act of Congress when they have a stacked Supreme Court ready to interpret the current Constitution to ban abortion nationwide.”
And we can’t leave out the dramatic development in the criminal case against Trump for obstruction and mishandling of classified documents. Early last week, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (a Trump appointee) quietly dismissed the case against Trump. It’s a distressing chain of events stemming from the Supreme Court’s Trump v. United States immunity decision earlier this summer, as legal journalist Chris Geidner points out: “Roberts has led the Supreme Court into an era in which precedent can selectively be ignored, eviscerated or overruled when it gets in the way of conservatives’ goals. That, in turn, has led lower court judges to feel that they have been given power to do the same—predicting, in essence, the precedents that they believe the current Court would ignore.”
And don’t forget about Project 2025. Like I said, a week of whiplash—in full force. Stay tuned to MsMagazine.com—we’ll be bringing you the latest updates as events continue to unfold.
For Equality,
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Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor
This Week's Must-Reads from Ms.
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Trump Is Man in a Man’s World. The RNC Underscored That. [[link removed]] Republican National Platform Invites Nationwide Abortion Ban by Supreme Court Decree [[link removed]]
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Judge Aileen Cannon Does Trump’s Bidding in Dismissing Mar-a-Lago Case [[link removed]] The 22 Scariest Lines We Found in Project 2025’s 900-Page ‘Mandate for Leadership’ [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on
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In this episode, we’re joined by two co-hosts of the Webby Award-winning #SistersInLaw podcast to discuss where our nation stands as we approach the 2024 elections—from the ongoing trials faced by former president Donald Trump, to Nikki Haley, to the Supreme Court’s recent opinions and so much more.
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
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U.S. democracy is at a dangerous inflection point—from the demise of abortion rights, to a lack of pay equity and parental leave, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and attacks on trans health. Left unchecked, these crises will lead to wider gaps in political participation and representation. For 50 years, Ms . has been forging feminist journalism—reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Amendment, and centering the stories of those most impacted. With all that’s at stake for equality, we are redoubling our commitment for the next 50 years. In turn, we need your help, Support Ms. today with a donation—any amount that is meaningful to you [[link removed]] . We are grateful for your loyalty and ferocity .
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