[[link removed]] Ms. Memo: This Week in Women's Rights
November 20, 2024
From the ongoing fight for abortion rights and access, to elections, to the drive for the Equal Rights Amendment, there are a multitude of battles to keep up with. In this weekly roundup, find the absolute need-to-know news for feminists.
Trump’s Cabinet Is Absurd. Republicans Will Accept It Anyway. That’s the Point. [[link removed]]
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(Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
By Jill Filipovic | These choices aren’t just shocking. They’re sending the message that Donald Trump cares about loyalty over basic competence. And perhaps more importantly, they’re setting a norm from the beginning: No matter what Trump does, he expects Republicans to comply.
Trump is coming into his second term as an angry and vindictive authoritarian. But the U.S. does still ostensibly have a separation of powers; the executive can’t do everything on his own, despite right-wing efforts to vest the president with ever-more power. Trump may not be the most sophisticated president of all time, and he may lack even a recent viewer of Schoolhouse Rock’s understanding of government function, but he knows he sometimes needs the advice and consent of the Senate (or the consent of other branches of government) to get stuff done. And so he’s doing what has often worked for him: He’s establishing dominance early. He’s choosing objectively insane cabinet members to show Republican senators, and the country, that he is the boss—and that he can get others in Washington to comply with his demands, no matter how absurd.
It’s an act of dominance, and of humiliation. It is humiliating to be a competent member of the U.S. Senate and consent to the appointment of a vaccine skeptic to lead HHS, or a right-wing news personality to be defense secretary, or a woman who parrots Kremlin talking points and is suspected to be compromised by a foreign government to be director of national intelligence, or a man recently under investigation by DOJ for sex trafficking to lead DOJ.
The whole thing is a big public farce, and Trump is demanding that Republicans publicly play along—that they attach their names to this. It’s a signal that he expects to be treated as powerful beyond measure; that he is not to be questioned, no matter how dangerous or ridiculous his decisions. That he owns the government and everyone in it.
A whole lot of Republicans are about to go along.
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Read more:
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It’s Time for Federal Paid Leave for Caregivers [[link removed]] Stop Trashing Trans People. Get Smarter About Gender. [[link removed]]
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Post-Election Reality Check: Tracking Feminist Setbacks, Resilience and Victories [[link removed]] Project 2025: A Blueprint for Limiting Gender and Racial Equity in America [[link removed]]
What we're reading:
Because it's hard to keep up with everything going on in the world right now. Here's what we're reading this week:
* "Ten Actions Dems Can Take to Protect Abortion Before Trump Takes Office” — Abortion Every Day [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] Listen to the latest Ms. Studios podcast The Z Factor: Gen Z's Voice & Vote — now on Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
In the third episode of The Z Factor, host Anoushka Chander is joined by Olivia Julianna to dive into how young women voters are experiencing this election. From reproductive rights to the economy and housing, young women are concerned about their futures–and are voting and making decisions based on these concerns. Olivia also provides a grim peek into the state of reproductive rights in Texas, discusses her unlikely path to becoming a political strategist and influencer, and talks about what a utopian Gen Z-powered future could look like.
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
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