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Weekly Digest
Letter from an Editor | May 30, 2026
Dear John,
On Friday, in response to a lawsuit brought by Democracy Forward, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s “anti-weaponization” fund—which, as we reported earlier this week, would have directly funded the work of antiabortion extremists. The $1.8b fund’s announcement “explicitly identified antiabortion extremists convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act as presumptive recipients—the same FACE Act violators Donald Trump pardoned in January 2025,” wrote Teresa Burton in Ms .
The restraining order against the fund is intended to make sure that no funds are distributed before the lawsuit brought on behalf of the National Abortion Federation; Andrew Floyd, a former Jan. 6 prosecutor; professor John Caravello of the City of New Haven; and Common Cause, a government accountability group, has a chance to play out. It will pause the fund’s establishment until at least June 12, when a hearing is set. “President Trump wants to take your hard-earned tax dollars and hand them over to criminals, cronies, and insurrectionists,” said Common Cause president and CEO Virginia Kase Solomón in a statement announcing the lawsuit against the fund. “It’s unconscionable, and more importantly, it’s illegal.”
This week, the Justice Department announced that it is opening a criminal investigation into writer E. Jean Carroll over whether she committed perjury during depositions tied to her civil lawsuits against Donald Trump. The move comes after two juries found Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation against Carroll. And, as critics were quick to point out, it is clearly just the latest move in Trump’s broader campaign of retribution against his political and legal adversaries.
There couldn’t be a better time to watch Ask E. Jean , a new documentary from director Ivy Meeropol about E. Jean Carroll that tackles not just Carroll’s cases against Trump, but her career as a writer, and “how insidious.. misogyny is,” in Meeropol’s words. Delving into Carroll’s archival material “really delivered in telling the bigger story that we were trying to get at, which is that from the minute we’re born, we are confronted with having to look at ourselves through how men are perceiving us,” says Meeropol. You can read more from her, or revisit last year’s interview with E. Jean and her lawyer Roberta Kaplan on our #OnTheIssues podcast below.
The insidiousness of misogyny is such that, whether it’s present in Trump’s prosecution of his enemies, the legal system’s broader treatment of women who accuse powerful men of sexual abuse, or even its role in men’s acts of mass violence, it often goes overlooked.
“While supremacist beliefs regularly appear with such intersections of multiple dehumanizing and conspiracist ideologies, [news] coverage often appears to struggle with this, focusing on one ideological strand and neglecting the other elements of the belief system,” wrote Alex DiBranco in her analysis of the reporting on the recent tragic shooting at a San Diego mosque. Media coverage of the tragedy has largely overlooked the fact that both shooters’ manifestos specifically identified mass shootings that predominantly targeted women among their inspirations, and used language popular among misogynist online communities.
Even if the mainstream media doesn’t tell the whole story, Ms. will always examine the ways that patriarchy and misogyny inform the world around us—and we’ve been doing it since 1972. As a member of the Ms. community, you play a crucial role in making this work possible, and I thank you for your support.
Onward,
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Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor
This Week's Must-Reads from Ms.
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The Trump Administration Isn’t Just Ignoring Violence Against Abortion Clinics—It Wants to Fund It [[link removed]] Where to Watch ‘Ask E. Jean,’ a New Documentary on the Wit, Fury and Fearlessness of E. Jean Carroll [[link removed]]
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Male Supremacism and Misogyny Was Central to the San Diego Mosque Shooting. Why Did So Much Coverage Miss It? [[link removed]] Black Women Political Candidates Are Expected to Be ‘Likable,’ Qualified and Tireless. Men Aren’t. [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin, at MsMagazine.com, [[link removed]] Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] or wherever you listen to podcasts.
E. Jean Carroll and her lawyer Roberta “Robbie” Kaplan made headlines in 2023 and 2024 for winning a significant legal battle against Trump, with a jury finding him guilty of sexual abuse and defamation, and awarding Carroll $5 and then later an $83.3 million verdict. What can we learn from E. Jean Carroll’s case to fuel our fight forward?
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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 over 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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