The Cut - Good-bye to Trump's Patriotic Cosplay

I’ve been thinking more than ever about how our country expresses the impulse toward dressing up since watching the January 6 attack on the Capitol, when grown men carried spears and ran around in fur hats, war paint, tights, capes, and animal pelts. One man dressed as Uncle Sam; a woman was Lady Liberty. Someone wore a bald-eagle mask. Others just wore casual weekend wear (T- shirts, MAGA caps) but added elaborate face paint. And some used props to convey their message: Many carried flags on long poles (which got repurposed as weapons), including “Trump Nation” flags. One of these featured Donald Trump with jacked muscles, a wifebeater tee, and the headband Stallone wore in his Rambo movies. Trump has often tweeted just such doctored images of himself, replacing his spongy real physique and giant suits with the cut torso and musclewear of cinema strongmen. It’s what you might call “Rambo drag.”

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Aquarius season has arrived — what that means, here. Terrible financial advice is going viral on TikTok. There was so much to love today about Trump’s exit and the inauguration: the surreality of the YMCA playing, the 46th Street subway station, Bernie’s excellent fit, Amanda Gorman’s powerful words, Ella Emhoff’s dress and eyebrows, Michelle Obama’s beautiful hair, and Greta having the final word.

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