Busy day so a quick post for now and no time to dress up yesterday’s post. Today I have a couple long items that will have to wait until tomorrow.
\\
There may be a tie in all this to the so-called masculinity crisis. As a couple commentators have mentioned, nothing upsets a macho MAGA guy more than thinking a woman is laughing at him, or not taking him seriously. And if that guy has a gun…
Salon, Andi Zeisler, 12 Jan 2026: In Renee Good’s killing, ICE’s misogyny isn’t a side note — it’s the point, subtitled “The words of the man who shot Renee Good speak to the Trump administration’s fixation on masculinity”
Moments before she’s killed, Good is on video speaking directly to Ross: “It’s okay, dude. I’m not mad at you.” Ross’ response comes only after he fires three shots into Good’s face as she attempts to turn her car away; Ross still has the phone in his hand when a man’s voice — presumably his — utters two words: “F*cking b*tch.” Conservative onlookers celebrated the video: To them, the disdain in Ross’ voice wasn’t evidence of guilt, but confirmation that a woman who challenged the authority of a man in uniform got exactly what she deserved.
But even before the recording surfaced, Good had been condemned by conservative onlookers in language that was terrifyingly familiar: She must have done something to provoke him. Why didn’t she just do what she was told? It’s too bad, but she brought it on herself. These are phrases that have been used to explain away assault, rape and domestic violence against women since time immemorial. They are also, apparently, how the MAGA crowd now identifies women whose desire to help neighbors avoid being deported offends their sensibilities, as talk-show host Erick Erickson established when describing Good with the acronym AWFUL (Affluent White Female Urban Liberal) in a now-deleted post on X.
\\
And, of course, you see this attitude from Fox News.
JMG, 12 Jan 2026: Fox Host: “Smug Liberal White Women” Had It Coming
Quoting Fox host Will Cain.
“There’s a weird kind of smugness, by the way, in the way that some of these liberal white women interact with authority. Most guys learn early in life that every confrontation has a sort of escalation chain. A joke, a push, an argument can eventually turn to violence.”
But it’s violence from men! Cain also claims:
This comes — in this press conference today — comes as we’re getting new witness video of Renee Good before the shooting. She can be seen in her vehicle blocking agents for several minutes, even dancing to the tune of her own car horn. You know, all the behavior of a legal observer.
First, some of these new videos are AI. I saw one today on Fb showing the ICE agent standing directly in front of her car — which no peace office is supposed to do — but taken from on high. By a drone? If there were drone videos of the incident, wouldn’t we have seen them by now?
Second, this is all about conservatives taking the worst possible interpretation of any incident, and of anyone not like themselves.
She was just a woman who had dropped off her kid at school, was driving home, turned onto a street filled with ICE agents, and tried to do a 3-point-turn to leave the scene.
\
Same point.
JMG, 12 Jan 2026: Franklin Graham: Pray At Noon Wednesday For Jesus To Protect Trump Officials From “The Lying Paid Agitators”
\
This will only get worse.
Slate, Mark Joseph Stern, 12 Jan 2026: Trump Loves Calling People “Terrorists.” We’re Starting to See How That Ends.
Title on Slate homepage: “Trump Says He Can Kill Anyone He Labels a ‘Terrorist.’ We Can Already See How That’s Going.”
\\\
Two more items for today, that lead me to an essential insight.
NY Times, 12 Jan 2026: E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution, subtitled “In a reversal, the agency plans to calculate only the cost to industry when setting pollution limits, and not the monetary value of saving human lives, documents show.” [gift link]
\
There’s a German rebuke to unsolicited advice from RFK Jr., which I thought I saw from Heather Cox Richardson, but now I can’t find the link. I’ll find it tomorrow.
\
But the insight is: everything the Trump administration does is to favor big business. Cut regulations that would improve the climate, because such regulations would hurt big business. It’s all about short-term gains, and never mind long-term consequences. Rearrange the food pyramid to favor big meat. And so on and so on. This must have been obvious to everyone except me, since I keep looking for deep explanations. It’s all about making money. Which is what Trump and his family have done all along.
