You can’t win with a man who hates you

June 11, 2026

The failing strategy of “pick me” ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

June 11, 2026

Greetings, Meteor readers,

So we’re all in agreement that any infants born in New York after this week will be named OG, right?

VIA ESPN

In today’s newsletter, we are reminded once again that the real path to power can never go through a man. Plus, a special giveaway for fans of UNDISTRACTED.

Your second favorite bodega baddie,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Was it worth it? This week, far-right Republican and former Trump acolyte Nancy Mace lost her bid for governor of South Carolina in what has been described as a thrashing. Now, to be clear, Mace is a self-described anti-transgender warrior who bullied her colleagues, and her downfall was entirely earned. But what’s interesting about Mace is the fact that she actually could have gone pretty far in MAGA-world with her anti-trans rhetoric had she not made one fatal error: breaking ranks with Donald Trump.

In between bouts of bigotry, Mace accused four men of sexual assault in a speech on the House floor, counting herself as one of their survivors and sharing her experiences of being raped as a teenager. She has taken aim at several members of Congress accused of sexual abuse, including Republicans like former Texas representative Tony Gonzalez and Florida Rep. Cory Mills. She was also one of the few Republican women to call for a full release of the Epstein files. The latter position and Trump’s subsequent rejection of her, she believes, is what cost her the gubernatorial election. Political analysts are inclined to agree—CNN found that three of the four Republicans who supported the release of the Epstein files no longer hold elected office. “Their demise has happened much faster than that of other Trump apostates in the GOP,” Aaron Blake writes.

MACE PROBABLY HAVING THE REALIZATION THAT THIS AINT IT. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Two of those three Republicans also happen to be women: Mace and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, another onetime Trump loyalist. Then there are the women who, for a moment, were part of the Cabinet only to be either fired or forced to bow out. Every single one of them was replaced by a man.

Are we throwing a pity party for these women who lost their position? No. But there’s a bigger picture to behold. Mace’s loss isn’t just a lesson in politicking. It’s a reminder that no matter how much women align themselves with misogynist white men in power, they will never actually get to use that power. They may hold our attention for a moment, as we saw with Greene; they may see some benefits, like recognition; they may even be perceived as powerful for a fleeting moment. But what the white man giveth, the white man taketh away, and no one has taketh away more from women who dishonor him than Donald Trump.

AND:

Last June, we told you about an effort to close an enraging loophole in New York’s penal code called the “voluntary intoxication exclusion,” which exempts a rape victim who willingly got drunk from being protected by the state’s sexual assault law. (In other words, you can prove you were incapacitated if someone drugged you, but if you got drunk yourself, the resulting rape is technically not a crime.) That effort was doomed, despite passing unanimously through the state senate three years in a row, since the law closing the loophole was not scheduled for an assembly vote by Speaker Carl Heastie. Well, the same thing just happened again: The assembly adjourned last Friday without taking up the legislation. What is going on here??
So you know how there wasn’t that much snow this last winter? That lack of powder means “60% of the continental United States is experiencing moderate drought,” according to researchers who spoke to Atmos.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has now gone on for longer than World War I.
The CDC’s vaccine-skepticism streak has been particularly focused on pregnant women, so the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (which has had beef with the CDC before) released its own, evidence-based guidelines for the first time. Bookmark if you’re expecting!
Folk heroine Ms. Rachel paid a visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, clad in a pink linen suit and carrying a suitcase full of letters and drawings of kids in ICE custody. She handed out the papers to members of Congress to convince them to end family detention. Just hours later, the House passed a $70 billion funding package for immigration enforcement.

MS. RACHEL WITH SENATOR ANDY KIM OF NEW JERSEY. AFTER HER VISIT TO CAPITOL HILL, MS. RACHEL SPENT TIME IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, WITH CHILDREN WHOSE PARENTS ARE BEING DETAINED IN DELANEY HALL. (VIA INSTAGRAM)

The Knicks aren’t the only game in town: The viewership numbers are out for Saturday night’s WNBA matchup between the New York Liberty and the Indiana Fever. The women of the W locked in three million viewers—the second most-watched WNBA game since 2000.
Jennifer Lawrence, it turns out, is a national hero. Where is her statue?
Momfluencers are shilling a hot new product to their followers: coparenting with AI.
This week we learned that a very straight line can be drawn from the dawn of Shondaland to having a viable Black woman candidate for the presidency. That’s the fun news. The bad news, as Dr. Brittney Cooper explains, is that now the U.S. is “trying to vomit out diversity.” Listen to the full conversation here.

WANT TO HANG OUT IN D.C.?

Ever wanted to listen to an episode of UNDISTRACTED with Brittany Packnett Cunningham before anyone else? Well, you can!

The Meteor is giving away two tickets for you and a guest to a live podcast recording of UNDISTRACTED in Washington, D.C. at 6 PM on June 23. Spend the evening with your favorite host and a few of her friends, like Preston Mitchum and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. Talk about rarified air.

To enter the giveaway, just click the button below. One lucky winner will be chosen at random no later than Wednesday, June 17. Good luck, and hope to see you in D.C.!

ENTER TO WIN