Most days under Donald Trump’s president are rough for those who still care about human rights and decency, but Monday was particularly disturbing. Even as they repeatedly acknowledged that Trump was treating a Supreme Court appointment like a reality show, the ratings-hungry cable news networks played along, profiling the final contestants with the same hype-the-suspense tone that networks use to advertise shows like “The Bachelorette.” (Or, to be sure, “The Apprentice.”)
Because of this, not enough attention was paid to the fact that it hardly mattered which one of his much-hyped contestants got the rose on Monday evening — during prime time, of course — because all of them were equally committed to the belief that wealthy white men are the only real citizens and the rest of the country’s human rights are up for grabs.
American politics has often felt like a psychedelic satire of itself, but no more so than the night when women lost their human rights in a game-show format.