NEWSLETTER

Greetings, Meteor readers,

Remember last week when I said we would be doing a special photos-only send of my Christmas sweater once I finished making it? Well, guess what?

We are totally not doing that because we are serious news people and these are serious times, but if you want a little holly in your jolly, you may or may not find it here.

In today’s newsletter, we’re talking about bathroom bullies in Congress, Matt Gaetz, and a win in Wyoming.

Seriously serious,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

It’s a privilege to pee (apparently): When I first heard that Delaware lawmaker Sarah McBride had won her election, making her the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress, I turned to my roommate and said, “How long do you think we have until Republicans completely lose their shit?”

As it turns out, not long at all.

On Monday, South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace (R) introduced a resolution banning any members of Congress or House employees from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.” When asked by reporters if the bill was targeting McBride specifically, she responded, “Yes and absolutely, and then some… I’m absolutely 100% gonna stand in the way of any man [sic] who wants to be in a women’s restroom, in our locker rooms, in our changing rooms.”

MCBRIDE AT THE CAPITOL (VIA GETTY)

There’s been much ado lately about whether or not all women should be allowed in women’s restrooms, women’s locker rooms, women’s sports. But this conversation has never really been about restrooms. We are witnessing a debate on whether or not trans people should be allowed to exist in public life.

If we were all in agreement on that point—if this public panic was truly about women’s safety or the sanctity of your 8th grade daughter’s Little League team—then this conversation would be a logistical one. Those in opposition would propose alternate solutions. They’d have an answer (any answer at all!) for where a grown-ass man with a full beard and a vagina should pee. But they’re not even considering the question.

Nancy, if you really want women in Congress to be safer, I’d start focusing your energy on…well, just read the next item.

—Bailey Wayne Hundl

About that (alleged) abuser: Ever since last week’s bombshell that Matt Gaetz is Trump’s pick for Attorney General, the media has been asking why, exactly, anyone (even Trump) would nominate him. As a refresher: Not only is Gaetz patently unqualified for the job, deeply disliked by his Republican colleagues, and primed to carry out the retribution Trump has been threatening, he’s also been the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation amid various accusations including sex trafficking and bribery. (Some details from that investigation have already leaked; WaPo reports that two women testified they were paid to have sex with Gaetz.)

According to the New York Times, even Trump himself privately acknowledges Gaetz’s uphill struggle in winning the nomination. So the question remains: Why did he nominate this creep in the first place? We have to presume he knew what was in the House investigation and doesn’t care. But analysts suggest there may be something more nefarious at play: The kerfuffle around Gaetz draws attention away from Trump’s other dangerous choices, like anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., accused sex offender Pete Hegseth, or Putin darling Tulsi Gabbard. Gaetz makes them all seem less clownish in comparison. The plan may be to lower the bar for nominees, presenting so many extreme choices that the Senate can’t block all of them. So although it’s good news that Gaetz is far from a shoe-in, it’s unsettling that he might help pave the way for some equally abysmal government officials. (And if you too are unsettled, keep calling.)

—Nona Willis Aronowitz

AND:

• Good news! Yesterday, a Wyoming judge ruled that the state’s two abortion bans violated the state’s constitution and were not enforceable. The judge presiding in the case wrote in her decision that the bans “suspend a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions…and are not reasonable or necessary to protect the health and general welfare of the people.” This is a massive win for the people of Wyoming, although one of the plaintiffs, an OB/GYN named Giovannina Anthony, expects the state to appeal the decision. “But for now,” she told the New York Times, “we can continue to provide evidence-based care without fear of a prison sentence.”

• Today, the Norwegian Refugee Council named Burkina Faso the world’s most neglected displacement crisis of 2023, the second year in a row the country has been given the designation. According to the NRC, because of extremist violence and the destruction of over 400 medical facilities, approximately 3.6 million Burkinabè have lost complete access to healthcare, more than eight thousand were killed last year alone, and two million remain internally displaced.

• Remember when Donald Trump unconvincingly claimed he wasn’t associated with Project 2025? Well, he’s selected Brendan Carr as the next head of the FCC. Carr is a co-author of Project 2025 and wrote an entire chapter about changes the next administration should make to the FCC. One change Carr would like to see? The “advancement of America’s space leadership,” which could be made possible by offering more federal funding to companies like StarLink. And for those of you playing six degrees of separation at home, StarLink is owned by Elon Musk, Trump’s second biggest financial backer.

• Despite the litany of both technical and moral issues with its last live sports broadcast, Netflix will be airing some NFL matchups live on Christmas Day. Why should this matter to you? Because Beyoncé will be doing a halftime performance for one of them and the last time she did the NFL a favor, there was a blackout. Netflix is not ready for the wrath of the Beyhive if her performance is stuck on buffering.

• For the first time in more than 20 years, New York City and parts of the Hudson Valley region have been placed under a drought warning—one step away from a drought emergency. As of now there are no water restrictions in place, but officials are asking New Yorkers to conserve water as best they can. The warning is an unfortunate reminder that nowhere is safe from climate change.

• A hearty congratulations to Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett, hosts of the In Retrospect podcast from The Meteor and iHeart, who won a Signal Award!! Their episode about the Rutgers women’s basketball team was also recognized as one of the Best Conversation Starters in the pop culture category. We know you like starting conversations, so give it a listen.

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Greetings, Meteor readers,

I am roughly two days away from finishing a Christmas sweater I started knitting in 2022, so please know that when it’s done you will be receiving a special newsletter that is only pictures of this sweater. I will not be stopped!

In today’s newsletter, we are picking ourselves up and reminding ourselves who’s really in charge in this country. Plus a call to greater action for GBV survivors in Kenya and your weekend reading list.

All the way from sleeve island,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

The bad boys club: Donald Trump’s horrifying picks for key government positions continue apace. There’s Stephen Miller for deputy chief of staff, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for health secretary, Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, and the pick that has produced the most mouth-frothing of all: Matt Gaetz for attorney general.

By now you likely know many of the reasons this newly former congressman should not get this job. The alleged sex trafficking for which he was being investigated by the House Ethics Committee. The terribly kept secret of his relationships with underage girls. The legal experience so thin that the Wall Street Journal wrote that his law degree “might as well be a doctorate in outrage theater.” His blindingly white teeth and startling Botox. (Fine, those don't really matter, but they do look freaky.) The one saving grace here, small though it may be, is that even some Republicans say they cannot see a path to Senate confirmation for Gaetz.

THESE TEETH JUST DO NOT OCCUR IN NATURE. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

But! And this is an enormous, Godzilla-sized “but”: Anyone who lived through the Brett Kavanaugh hearings—in which Susan Collins and other Republicans wrung their hands over the accusations of sexual assault, but then voted to confirm him—is right to be cynical about these protestations. Besides, the outrageousness of nominating a potential sex offender to run the justice department means that Trump is doing something intentional here: This is an explicit test of which senators will be loyal to him.

But if it’s a test for them, it is also a test for us. Government officials do not work or exist in a vacuum. At least as of today, they are still civil servants, and if we want to stop them from becoming lords of a fiefdom then we must continue the work of demanding better. Organizer Sandra Avalos wrote in Truthout this week, “Our communities are not new to hardship — but we have survived even the harshest conditions, and in those moments, built even more power. We know how to organize, how to protect one another, how to support those facing the brunt of the threats.”

In this case, it’s worth remembering that the “what are you going to do? They’re all crooks” reaction to the nomination of Matt Gaetz may be legitimate—but it also lets the Senators whose job it is to do the right thing off the hook, and they don’t deserve that pass. If you live in a state with one of those Republicans expressing even tepid doubts, it’s worth calling them. Quote those doubts back to them. Demand thorough hearings. Pressure your House members to release the ethics report into Gaetz. Remind them in any way you can that they work for us.

AND:

• In just the last three months, 97 women have been murdered in Kenya. According to a new report from Nation Africa, the increase in violence against women has reached crisis levels, with one hospital treating 4,000 cases of gender-based violence per month. In response, the Kenyan government is launching a national campaign to raise awareness and “establish and improve support systems” for victims of violence. But some activists say it’s not enough: “The government, parliament, and all other relevant stakeholders do little to contain this menace,” one woman’s representative told Nation Africa. “We need to see action and perpetrators being brought to book…Justice delayed is justice denied.”

• The Iranian government has announced it will be launching a “hijab removal treatment clinic” to offer “scientific and psychological treatment” for women who have chosen to go against the state’s mandate on head coverings. “It won’t be a clinic, it will be a prison,” one woman in Iran told The Guardian. “We are struggling to make ends meet and have power outages, but a piece of cloth is what this state is worried about.”

• On this week’s episode of UNDISTRACTED, Brittany Packnett Cunningham is in conversation with abortion rights activist Cecile Richards and journalist Paola Ramos on  the “maddening and heartbreaking” results of the election. Richards, in particular, speaks to the importance of building up a coalition of women across racial divides, in spite of what we saw at the polls. “For too long, the fight for abortion rights was an exclusive club to some extent,” she tells Cunningham. “And we can't do that anymore.”

• Elder millennials, dust off your eyeliner pencil: We’re going out. The iconic band My Chemical Romance has announced a 2025 tour and there could not be a better time to be standing in an arena screaming, “I’m not okay.”

WEEKEND READING 📚

On men: Looking for a break from toxic masculinity? You may be surprised to find respite in The Golden Bachelorette. (Slate)

On the internet: The phrase “your body, my choice,” recently popularized by a Hitler-admiring self-described incel, didn’t come to life overnight—it has a dark and longstanding history, Jia Tolentino explains. (The New Yorker)

On the images we keep: One writer’s practice of collecting images from Gaza preserves both the unspeakably bad and the brief moments of good. (The Baffler)

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Greetings, Meteor readers,

If you haven’t already heard, wildfires are happening right now in parts of New York and New Jersey. For those of you in the area: The lack of rain and increased winds will likely make fires worse, so this is my friendly reminder to follow the rules of fire prevention if you’re in a dry zone.

In today’s newsletter, we get to know the newest soon-to-be members of the Cabinet. Plus an uptick in abortion pill purchases and an important update for anyone who still has Thunderstruck playing in their brain.

Waiting for rain,

Shannon Melero

WHAT'S GOING ON

Girlboss, gaslight, gatekeep the White House: Donald Trump has started announcing his picks for cabinet positions, and before you even have time to ask, yes, we should be concerned about his first-round draft picks. But today, we’re focusing on two of Trump’s high-profile ladies—which is confusing considering that we’re pretty sure J.D. Vance said that women shouldn’t even be working anymore.

First up is Susie Wiles, who’ll be the first woman to be the White House chief of staff if she’s confirmed. She was Trump’s campaign manager this year and is known for being incredibly effective, in the worst possible way. A self-described moderate Republican, long-time lobbyist, and political strategist, Wiles was a key figure in getting Ron DeSantis elected governor in 2018. Then, when the two parted ways, she was instrumental in destroying DeSantis’ 2024 presidential attempt in favor of helping Trump secure the nomination. In April, Politico called her the “most feared” political operative in America.

BEHIND EVERY VILE MAN IS A WOMAN WORKING TO UPHOLD POWER STRUCTURES THAT ULTIMATELY WILL NOT SERVE HER. (VIA GETTY)

Wiles has been credited with bringing a high level of organization to the 2024 Trump campaign, and with being “a brilliant tactician…who helps her boss to set and achieve their priorities.” And since her boss’s Day One priorities include mass deportations and dismantling environmental protections, Wiles’s apparent efficiency fills me with a soul-crushing fear.

Speaking of crushed souls, the next lady on the list is human Babadook Rep. Elise Stefanik, notorious for her congressional inquisitions of college presidents—several of whom lost their jobs—for allegations of antisemitism on campus. (Never mind that she herself has nodded to antisemitic “replacement theory” in her own Trumptastic campaign ads in the past.) Stefanik has now been chosen as the next ambassador to the United Nations, a crucially important post as the UN is dealing with a record number of wars and humanitarian crises across the globe. Her appointment is troubling, considering she has called for a “complete reassessment” of U.S. funding for UN initiatives that provide aid to groups in need, like the millions of women and children displaced by violence who rely on UN supplies and refugee programs.

ELISE STEFANIK GIVING OFF MAJOR BBE, BIG BABADOOK ENERGY. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

While Stefanik doesn’t have the decades-long resume of Susie Wiles (or much international experience, btw), she has something apparently even stronger: unyielding loyalty to Donald Trump. While Wiles may work to implement Trump’s will with as little public messiness as she can manage, Stefanik has already shown her willingness to fuel whatever fire will push forward the MAGA agenda, including stoking fears of anti-semitism at home to justify violence abroad. If you’re old enough to remember Samantha Power, who wrote a brilliant Pulitzer-winning book on genocide before becoming ambassador to the U.N., well—this ain’t that.

Looking at these women’s track records and the power positions they’ve been offered, I can safely say I have not been this scared for the future since…last Tuesday.

AND:

• Congress is looking to fast-track H.R. 9495, aka the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act. Sounds harmless, right—who wants to finance terrorism? The problem is that the act would also give the Treasury secretary—including whomever Trump appoints to that position—free rein to designate any non-profit group as a terror supporter and revoke its tax-exempt status. Pro-Palestinian groups and abortion-aid groups could all be in the line of fire. H.R. 9495 can’t pass without a ⅔ majority vote, but it does include a provision that would provide tax relief to American hostages, which some see as a ploy to help the bill move through more easily.

• Women have been stockpiling abortion pills in the days since Trump won the election, the Washington Post reports. Aid Access, a major supplier of abortion pills, received 10,000 requests for the pills in the 24 hours after the race was called, about 17 times more than in an average day. The “advance provisioning,” as it’s called, makes a lot of sense—especially given the GOP’s continued efforts to ban mifepristone.

• If you were a big fan of America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, then some good news for you! There will be a second season following the DCC class of 2024-2025 (although if you’ve been watching the Boys this season, you know there won’t be much to cheer about). See y’all on the kickline!

• The 19th has a new report on how more medical providers are asking pregnant people to pay for their prenatal care upfront. The practice is technically legal—while the ACA requires insurers to cover prenatal services, it doesn’t weigh in on payment timing—but some point out that the practice amounts to deeply unethical treatment of pregnant people: One expert says it’s akin to “holding their treatment hostage.”

• The Grammy nominations are in, and women are dominating the major categories: fully 6 out of 8 people nominated are women, including an eye-popping 11 noms for Beyoncé. (That good enough for you, Neil Portnow?)

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Dear Meteor readers,

I hope everyone has something—anything—fun planned for this weekend. (I’m taking my little one to her first gymnastics class and can already feel the gold medal.) In today’s newsletter, we’re parsing the aftermath of Tuesday’s election with Brittany Packnett Cunningham and the UNDISTRACTED group chat. Plus, some options if you’re looking for an election break.

Onward,

Shannon Melero

“WAS IT FOOLISH TO HOPE?” 

That’s the powerful, poignant question host Brittany Packnett Cunningham posed to group-chat regulars Dr. Brittney Cooper and Dr. David Johns this week on UNDISTRACTED. The morning after Vice President Kamala Harris conceded the election (but not, as she said, “the fight that fueled this campaign”), the three sat down for a raw, honest conversation about everything from “righteous rage” to “deep disappointment” at America’s rejection of a Black South Asian woman candidate in favor of an open white nationalist. We hope you’ll listen to the whole thing; here are some highlights:

Brittany Packnett Cunningham on her immediate feelings:

"There’s a rage that I have for the deep lack of solidarity, appreciation and fundamental respect for…the Black women who consistently do the custodial work of democracy and get left hanging out to dry every single time. And for me, it is punctuated by the fact that the night before we all gathered at Howard [for the election results], J.D. Vance stood up and said, “We’re going to take out the trash tomorrow…[and] the trash’s name is Kamala Harris.” He was talking about every single one of us in the moment that he did that. And…it barely made a blip. In fact, plenty of people said, That’s exactly what I wanna go vote for. Let me go take out the trash."

"We delayed this episode by a day because I didn’t want to come with this energy. [But] I’m still in grief. Not over just a candidate or an election. Not just because…the worst is yet to come. But because there seems to be little, if any, repentance toward the absolute disappointment everybody continues to be to Black women. And every Black woman I talk to is ready to go on strike….So that's where I am today."

“EVERY BLACK WOMAN I TALK TO IS READY TO GO ON STRIKE...” (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

Dr. David Johns on hope:

"I want us to feel all of our feelings. And…the corollary of that for me is that there’s never been a chapter in the history of our people where our ancestors began or ended with '...and then we conceded,' or '...and then we gave up.' That is not in us."

"Also, I am heartened by the reminder that Black people understood the assignment in spite of all the lies that the media tried to tell, blaming Black men. In spite of all of those lies, we, Black men and Black women [by voting overwhelmingly against Trump] demonstrated an understanding of the assignment to continue to care for one another while doing the work of creating the democracy that our ancestors fought and died for, and that we are fighting for today.”

HARRIS SUPPORTERS AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY ON THE DAY OF THE VICE PRESIDENT'S CONCESSION SPEECH (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

Dr. Brittney Cooper on how Harris was viewed: 

"I’m managing rage at the white supremacy and the patriarchy and sexism and misogyny of it all for sure. I’m also managing deep, deep disappointment and fury at some pockets of the left—because I think that I witnessed an abdication of a race/gender analysis that would prepare us for this moment."

"The left had this sort of narrative about how she was so much a representative of the Empire that they couldn’t trust her for progressive goals—but they didn’t realize that they were fighting against people who saw her as a Black girl [who] would never be worthy enough to actually run the country. There is no evidence that this country trusted a Black girl with an Asian mama to run it and do it with excellence. Most of the country looked at Kamala and didn’t see a representative of the Empire, but actually saw the opposite—saw a Black girl [who] could never be a sufficient representative of this empire. And that is how they voted."

Listen to the full episode of UNDISTRACTED. You won’t be sorry.

AND:

• Looking for ways to help your fellow humans as we head into a second Trump administration? Abortion, Every Day founder Jessica Valenti suggests five things you can do right now to protect abortion access (Item #1: Stock up on abortion medication). And Daniel Hunter at Waging Nonviolence explains how to take effective action after Trump’s win. (Don’t panic, and don’t try to do everything, he writes.)

• It’s now clear that millions of people, many of them white women, felt they could have it both ways by voting for both pro-abortion ballot initiatives, which won big Tuesday, and also, somehow, for the president who killed Roe. Writer Jill Filipovic has a theory about these voters’ logic: They’re “willing to check a box if they think that will help keep women safe,” she writes. “But that doesn’t mean these voters are enthusiastic about unfettered female freedom.”

• It’s also now clear that there were some wins in this week’s election. Besides those abortion victories, three red states voted yes on ballot measures guaranteeing paid sick leave for workers; two of those states also voted to increase the minimum wage; and shockingly, in Florida, voters shut down Amendment 1, which would have required school board candidates in future elections to list their political affiliation. There were also historic Congressional wins: Sarah McBride will become the first out transgender member of Congress, and Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester will become the first two Black women to serve in the Senate at the same time. (They become only the fourth and fifth Black women Senators in all U.S. history.)

• In less pleasant takeaways from Election Night: The majority of young men went for Trump—swinging nearly 30 points to the right since 2020—while far more young women broke for Harris. The results crystallize just how radicalized and disaffected young men have become (their viral phrase “Your body, my choice” kinda says it all). And it’s the latest data point in a Gen Z gender war that’s been brewing for years, the bitterness of which even has some women on TikTok contemplating an American version of South Korea’s 4B movement.

• Donald Trump may have forgotten that there are still outstanding federal cases against him, but the rest of us haven’t. But because he’s now president-elect 🤮, those cases may never see the light of day. Politico digs into the Biden administration’s many missteps in prosecuting Trump, calling them “the greatest failure of federal law enforcement in American history.”

• In an unfortunate turn of events, early results are showing that Jenniffer González-Colón of the New Progressive Party (PNP) will be the next governor of Puerto Rico. Despite its name, the PNP and González-Colón are anything but progressive; the party is pro-statehood and González-Colón herself is a vocal Trump supporter. In the tradition of her ally, González-Colón has already claimed victory, even though votes are still being counted.

JENNIFFER GONZÁLEZ-COLÓN IN 2023. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) 

• Turning very briefly to sports, because why not, Australian breakdancer (and we use the term loosely) Raygun, who stunned the world into silence and confusion at the Paris Olympics, is retiring from the sport due to the largely negative response to her performance. In an interview for an Australian morning show, Raygun said she will continue to break…just not where anyone can see her.

WEEKEND READING 📚

• In search of a few edifying words from other historical nadirs, many people are sharing a Toni Morrison quote about how times of crisis are “precisely the time when artists go to work.” It’s from a piece she wrote for The Nation in 2004 (a low point for Democrats that some are comparing to this moment), and well worth reading in its entirety.

• If, on the other hand, you’re trying to cleanse your brain, here are some suggestions: a list of songs that are helping the Hearing Things staff get through the week, these two very good documentaries about eccentric white women; and the latest episode of what Shannon believes is the best show not on television, Pop the Balloon or Find Love.

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Dear Meteor readers,

You’re getting this email approximately 12 hours after Donald Trump secured his second presidential victory, and only minutes after Vice President Kamala Harris conceded in front of a tearful crowd at Howard University. Trump’s decisive win is still a fresh wound: We’re only in the earliest minutes of figuring out what it means for not just our democracy but our actual, real lives: how we work, where we are safe, who we need to hold close.

As a media outlet, The Meteor tries to bring you reasonably thoughtful stories, analysis and videos. But as a group of real people negotiating emotions, The Meteor had a day like everyone else, and may or may not have typed this from a fetal position on the couch. Rage, disorientation, and heartache for the many people who put their lives on the line for change were all part of the mix.

So while there’ll be plenty of time for action steps in the weeks (and, realistically, years) to come, today is personal. In this newsletter, six of my colleagues tell you exactly what today felt like to them. (We did have a no-false-hope rule: “You know we’re not gonna kumbaya our way out of this,” Shannon said at our editorial meeting this morning.)

Here are their reflections. And we want to hear yours—find us at [email protected], or, as always, here.

Grateful for all of you,

Cindi Leive

“We have never been safe.”

A Trump win hits different as a tranny. In 2016, I was a 22-year-old gay boy living in Houston, and I was scared. The day after he won, some men in a pickup truck drove by me and yelled, “TRUMP WON, FAGGOT!” And, obviously, that felt bad. But now…?

I have an appointment to discuss getting back on estrogen (had to stop after a health scare) set for January 30—ten days after the inauguration. And no, I don’t think gender-affirming care will be outlawed in ten days. (Mind you, I also thought the sexual abuse court decision might make people give half a shit, so what do I know?) But it does have me acutely aware: How much longer do I have?

That seems to be the common question for the trans people I’ve been talking to today: How much time do I have to change my name? How soon can I scrape the money together for surgery? How much longer can I stay in the state where I’ve built my home? If this truly is the fabric of the country we live in, will the remainder of my life be measured in decades, years, or weeks?

A national monument of enduring historical significance. And a fort in the background. (Photo courtesy of Bailey Wayne Hundl)

I remember the first Trump presidency. I remember how new oppressions would burst from his administration like solar flares—fast, unpredictable, deadly—and burn whichever community happened to be standing in the danger zone. And if the focus of his most recent campaign is any tell, my community’s going to need some SPF 70,000.

I feel my cis friends’ knowing gloom. I get texts telling me they’re so sorry. My boyfriend holds me as he describes what he’ll do if anything happens to me. The danger is real, and I’m not the only one who knows it.

There are small bright spots, electorally speaking: Zooey Zephyr, an outspoken trans state senator in Montana, won her reelection with 83%. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) will be the first openly transgender congresswoman (although she does, I’m sorry to say, support Israel’s right to “defend itself”). And I am not so naive as to pretend that amassing electoral power is enough to save my community. But it is nice to know that the next time a legislator in a room full of people suggests “hey, let’s kill the transes,” someone will be in that room to say no.

But oddly enough, what brings me the most comfort is the knowledge that this country has never had my community’s interests at heart. At best, we have had the illusion of safety with some semi-significant improvements to our material realities. But I’ve always been one pickup truck of men away from becoming a headline. And before I was born, my community had it even worse.

And still we loved. And still we held each other close. And still we resisted, and made art, made protest signs, made love, cried, danced, survived another day. I’m reminded so often, but especially today, of these words from queer pastor Hannah Adair Bonner:

“We have never been safe, but we have always been brave. We have never been given a space; we have always had to take it.”

—Bailey Wayne Hundl, content editor

“I woke up worried for my daughter.”

Here are two of the things I kept in mind when I voted last week: my abortions, and my daughter.

Nona and her daughter Dorie at the Jersey Shore. (Photo courtesy of Nona Willis Aronowitz)

I’ve had two abortions—one at seven weeks because I didn’t want to have a baby, and one at 14 weeks because I very much wanted to have a baby but had gotten some horrible news from our genetic screening. Both took place in New York, where they were easy to schedule, covered by insurance, and within a few miles of my house. Both times, I envisioned myself living a parallel reality of a woman in an abortion-hostile state. In 2019, when I had my first abortion, I thought about the spate of “heartbeat bills” being proposed across the country, keenly aware that my procedure would have come too late if those bills had been law. In 2024, on the eve of my second, I thought about how my devastation would be compounded by planning an out-of-state abortion without medical guidance, amid work and childcare obligations and my own deep grief.

Today, 17 states would have prevented me from having my first abortion, and 19 would have blocked the second. In each case, my life would have been irreparably changed against my will. Yesterday, I hoped that the country would elect a person who believes in every pregnant person’s right to shape their fate.

That did not come to pass—even though voters approved seven more ballot initiatives codifying abortion rights, all meaningful victories that reflect abortion’s broad popularity.

As I cuddled my oblivious, wriggling toddler this morning, I worried for her future. But I took a teensy bit of solace in her declaration of bodily autonomy as I tried to persuade her to go potty before we left for daycare: “NO, I don’t have to go pee!!!” she screamed. It was her body; I couldn’t make her do anything she didn’t want to do. My job will be to help her keep that sense of agency, that sense of self-ownership, for as long as humanly possible.

—Nona Willis Aronowitz, contributing editor

“Sit in that discomfort.”

I wish I could tell you that I was shocked by the news that Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. But I don’t want to lie.

I have seen the deep ugliness, the racism, the violence of this country. I have felt the fear of living as a visibly Muslim woman, the dread of being visibly queer, and even changed the way I speak so as to make myself non-threatening to white people. I have lived my entire life under the heavy thumb of a white-nationalist America that, until 2016, went largely unnoticed by those who benefited from it.

But now you see it. You see him. You know now without any doubt what has always been waiting just beneath the surface for someone willing to say all of it out loud. Someone willing to say they will reshape this nation for the benefit of white, reactionary, Christian men. And perhaps seeing it in the harsh light of day grips you with fear.

For some of us, these sensations are not new. But for many of you reading this, it’s the first time you’ve seen white supremacy so naked, so unabashed. And if you are in the latter group I challenge you to sit with that fact all day today. Sit in that discomfort. Don’t look for something to point to to make all of this somehow feel okay. Spend time in the knowledge that when given the opportunity to say “no” to a fascist, a majority of Americans chose to embrace him. I’ve lived under a blanket of white supremacy for 30 years. You can endure that feeling for 24 hours.

And when we are ready to resume the fight—because we are going to fight—my guiding light will be the people of the Young Lords Party of the 1960s and ‘70s who, when everything was working against them, came together to care for their own. This group of young Latine and Black activists in New York and Chicago knew politicians would not save them and so they chose each other. They chose resistance. They chose to change lives.

There is nothing stopping each and every single one of us from making that same choice. This is the moment. "El machete no es solo pa' cortar caña."

—Shannon Melero, newsletter editor

“We are not the lost ones.”

Rebecca and her sister in community building, Caryn Rivers. (Photo courtesy of Rebecca Carroll) 

For those of us who voted for decency: Decency lost, but we didn’t. We are not the lost ones. We are the ones who fought and will continue to fight for each other with our whole entire selves. As a Black woman in America who is resolutely clear about the work we do and have done for this country, I’m angry AF that a white man protected by the primal callousness of America won. But I am also buoyed by the brilliant fighters who, over the last century, turned community organizing into a collective blueprint for how to be in this world.

Toni told us, Jimmie warned us, Octavia predicted this almost to the letter. Our work now is to evolve the language of telling, the tenor of warning, and the vision of predicting by tapping into the reserve of love and fight and compassion created by those of us who did vote for decency. We prioritized the future safety and wellness of each other over everything else. That priority hasn’t changed.

—Rebecca Carroll, editor-at-large and founding collective member

“I didn’t realize how hopeful I was.”

I know we’ll have endless discussions about what happened and who to blame—a lot of which will be misguided, some of it accurate but hard to hear. I see people on social media saying they knew this would happen. I respect that, but I’m shocked at how legitimately shocked I am. I didn’t realize how hopeful I was that people would not fall for Trump’s chaos again. And it’s hard for me right now to even begin to grapple with what’s to come.

But as a writer and a movement journalist, I’m clinging to one thing I know to be true: There is no greater power than of the collective and of standing with each other, and there’s never been a moment in history when that part was easy or handed to us. I’m deeply grateful for every organizer today—every person who protested, door-knocked, talked to people, made art, bore witness to atrocity, and made impossible compromises.

That said, I’m not creating today. Today, I’m listening and feeling, wrapping myself in a blanket even though it’s 75 degrees in November, and eating my favorite things while the wisdom comes and the ancestors show us the way. It’s coming. Some may say it’s already here.

—Samhita Mukhopadhyay, former editorial director and collective member

“It’s going to be up to them.”

Waiting for the girls to wake up was the hardest part. Hearing their footsteps on the stairs, eager for news. Knowing that I’ll have to find words, again, that instill hope and protect their young spirits, but also brace them for the realities of a country and a culture that thinks of them as less than the perfect, beautiful beings they are. Words they’ll remember and return to someday when they need to draw on reserves of strength to keep going in whatever fight they will inevitably be fighting. But this time they know more. They’ve seen more. As South Asian girls, they also see themselves in Kamala — and have now watched her come so close to realizing a dream that may not arrive anytime soon.

In 2016, I wrote that I found my hope in their smiles, in the light in their eyes. Today there were no smiles. Today there were tears.

The only thing I could do was to look at them and tell them that I still believe. That it’s going to be up to them. That they will be the ones to lead the next generation, with kindness, with integrity, and with love. And that I will be there for them, with them, always. I’ll be fighting too.

—Tara Abrahams, head of impact

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Happy Halloween, Meteor readers,

And a happy Diwali to those celebrating, as well. I wish I had something fun and spooky to offer on this eve when the veil between worlds is thinnest, but honestly, the regular news is scary enough. So, let’s get straight into it.

Maiden, mother, crone,

Shannon Melero 🔮

WHAT'S GOING ON

“Natural causes”: A new report from ProPublica released earlier this week investigated the preventable death of Josseli Barnica, a Texas mother who died from an infection in 2021 after doctors delayed treatment of her miscarriage. Despite the fact that doctors had confirmed that Barnica was miscarrying her 17-week-old fetus, they declined to intervene on Barnica’s behalf because it would be, as one doctor relayed to her, “a crime to give her an abortion.”

Barnica was forced to spend 40 hours waiting for the fetus’ heart to stop before she delivered it shortly after. She died three days later from “sepsis due to acute bacterial endometritis…following a spontaneous abortion of a 17-week stillbirth fetus,” her autopsy shows.

Underneath the cause of death, Barnica’s is listed as “natural.”

Her death may have been technically natural, but it was also very much man-made. She died from negligence, from fear, and because she lived in a state with the country’s oldest abortion ban on the books. Yes, Texas’ ban has provisions that allegedly allow for an abortion to preserve the life of the mother. And yet what we have here is one more dead mother. The pile of corpses is getting higher, and still, we have to listen to pundits and Donald Trump himself pretend that these tragic stories are mere fantasy or unrelated events.

Bluntly, the GOP—one of the two most powerful political parties in the country—simply does not care about preserving anyone’s life. Don’t give them the chance to do this to someone else.

AND:

• Over the last year, the Biden administration has chosen not to take action on nearly 500 reports claiming that Israel has used U.S.-supplied weapons in “attacks that caused unnecessary harm” to civilians, The Washington Post reports. Despite agreements between the U.S. and Israel that the arms would be used for self-defense and not to target civilians, one legal adviser told the Post that the U.S. is “ignoring evidence of widespread civilian harm and atrocities to maintain a policy of virtually unconditional weapons transfers to the Netanyahu government.”

• Missouri is on the brink of becoming the first state to overturn a total abortion ban and enshrine abortion rights in its constitution. But, as with all the important races this year, everything hinges on voter turnout. You know what to do.

• Of all the many stories surrounding Election Day, here’s a huge one that has gone largely unnoticed: Next Tuesday, residents of Puerto Rico will go to the polls to vote on the island’s longest-standing issue, its sovereignty status. (They are also electing a new governor.) The options are independence, statehood, or free association (similar to independence but still sharing ruling power with the colonizing nation). Because the vote is non-binding, it will not immediately alter Puerto Rico’s status. Instead, it will signal Puerto Ricans’ desires to Congress, which will then be responsible for setting the wheels in motion to either grant freedom or initiate statehood proceedings. While Puerto Rico has voted on its status before, this year has been very different, thanks to an active youth movement hoping to shape the gubernatorial election and the long-term future of the island.

WEEKEND READING 📚

On work: After years of dismissing the girlboss, have millennials overcorrected? Maybe, says our own Samhita Mukhopadhyay. (Bustle)

On divisions: Trump’s anti-immigrant messaging is expertly designed to sow even more division between Black and Latino voters. And it’s working. (The New York Times)

On deviants: “I am delighted to inform you that all monsters are gay.” (Slate)

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