These days, it feels like the news changes every hour. Well, NPR has a podcast that does that too. NPR News Now brings you a fresh five-minute episode every hour of the day with the latest most important headlines in episodes that are clear, fact-based, and easy to digest. Listen to NPR News Now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, you're listening to Code Switch. I'm B.A. Parker. And I'm Jean Demby. So, Jean, you've probably noticed that a lot of people in Trump world, particularly the women, but not just the women, have a certain look. Dramatic sort of makeup, heavy on the eyeliner. Almost all of them have this like long flowing hair. The outfits tend to be very close to the body. I know sheath dresses are very big within that circle. And ultimately pushing a very sort of like hyper feminine look and in traditional conservative senses. That like Fox News anchor blonde aesthetic, you know, the TV hair and like the pastel outfits. Yeah, there are some brunettes too, but... Right, right, right. It's really, I mean, it's a very hyper feminine look. I spoke to the journalist, Ina O, from Mother Jones, and she wrote an article called, In Your Face, the brutal aesthetics of MAGA. And the internet has described this aesthetic as Mar-a-Lago face. The opposite of Mar-a-Lago would be a sort of more angogenous look. And there's no confusion. There is no ambiguity. Like this is a quote unquote, this is a woman. Yeah, it's kind of given like pageant queen. The taut skin, it's the conspicuous cosmetic surgery. For legal reasons Parker, you should say presumably. Very presumably, presumably. Yeah, yeah. And you can find makeup tutorials, many tongue-in-cheek, all over TikTok that show you how you too might achieve this particular look. Hey, I noticed that all of the Republican girlies in my comments do their makeup the exact same gorgeous way. Okay Parker, but to be clear, there's always been a lot of scrutiny for the way that women in public life present themselves, you know what I'm saying? What is in politics or elsewhere? Like the way they dress and their bodies obviously. That's true. And I know that talking about these things is really touchy for a lot of people. But the reason I want to get into this is that appearances also use as a very specific way that people in power get to signal some important ideas about what they care about. You know, these are the most powerful people in the United States, arguably the world. What they're doing to gain purchase and how they do that is definitely worth interrogation. It's not about, you know, like, oh my goodness, like, look at how perhaps ridiculous some of these people look. But it's more about how aesthetics are used to, yeah, to gain power and to gain favor with the President of the United States. So in today's episode, we talked to Anay about the evolving appearance of those within MAGA and what that suggests to Americans about how people, specifically women, are supposed to look in this country and what that tells us about which performances of race and gender are encouraged. I think it's all been, I think it's all been intentional. Not to keep repeating that word, but I think, I think, yeah, and again, it's really worth the interrogation because like what is that performance, essentially, what is that doing for the President's agenda? All right, Parker, it's all you. Take it away. Ena O is Senior News and Engagement Editor at Mother Jones. She writes a lot about the intersection between the MAGA movement and pop culture, including a piece called, In Your Face, The Brutal Aesthetics of MAGA. In that piece, she talked to academics, a plastic surgeon, and others to unpack what the particular MAGA look that's currently in vogue can teach us about power, influence, and race and gender roles. Okay, okay, so let's get into it a little bit then. Then so what? Yeah, I see the more prominent images of Erica Kirk. Yes. And she's got that heavy eye makeup, that dark smoky eye with the long blonde hair. Exactly. And remember, as she was crying with her very blue eyes, and she's wiping her tears away and so much jewelry on the hand as she was wiping her tears. And I was like, oh, this is a lot happening in this image. Right. And this seems to be prevalent throughout Trump supporters. Yeah, absolutely. Or supporters or spokespeople. Yeah. You know what comes to mind? I don't know if you saw the Washington Post story about the IA generated ideal, like MAGA woman. But she looks like essentially a photocopy, in my opinion, of Erica Kirk. It's the blonde hair, heavy makeup, this AI character. She's in kind of, I think, military gear or military gear adjacent. Yet she's also wearing heels. I think it's very much like, I am a woman, but also I can sort of do it all, but up to a point. I still know my place. I'm still wearing my heels. I'm still, there's no confusion. Don't worry. I'm not here trying to take away a man's job. I think there's a lot of that, honestly. And I think things like with Erica Kirk's jewelry and heavy eyeliner, there's no mistaking that this is the right idea of what a woman should look like. And I don't think, and it's very intentional that it's also white woman. And I think all of these characters, if I'm not mistaken, they're pretty much all white. And that's very much intentional. Kristi No, prior to being DHS secretary, I don't think she had any credentials in law enforcement, no past experience in DHS. And yes. Just governor of South Dakota. And that's extraordinary that she became the secretary of Homeland Security. So then let's look at it. Like what did she have for the role that made Trump think that she would be perfect? And I think having a woman really enact a very cruel, what came to be a very cruel agenda. I think that was intentional to put this soft feminine quote unquote look, and to juxtapose that with a very aggressive policy, which ultimately became the mass deportation campaign. I think immediately, I think one of the most notorious images of this administration, definitely of Noam's tenure, was her at an ICE detention center. And she's in front of cages, essentially. And El Salvador, yeah. Right. Yes, yes. I think she's wearing a Rolex, right? She's wearing jewelry, heavy makeup. And so there's that feminine, so the juxtaposition that I think is very much intentional. And a lot of people made fun of it as made fun of subsequent outfits of hers as cosplay, you know, her and these like, you know, like the cowboy hats and whatnot. But I think it's all been intentional. Yeah. Gotta stop using that word. Okay, but like what does this look signal to the public, but also what does this look signal to folks within the Trump administration? I think to the public, at least what I think is attempted with this look, what they want to signal to the public, is like, look, this is an administration that cares about women. This is an administration that supports women, that empowers women, that wants to see women in, you know, embracing sort of these high positions of power. And no one can deny that. And I think that that's also a function of the fact that this is a president who has been accused of misogyny. Well, yeah, if I can say so, it has misogynistic tendencies and is sexist and has also been accused credibly of sexual assaults and definitely harassment. And I think for him, it can only serve him to put, you know, to sort of like decorate his administration with these women in power to sort of rebut that those accusations of sexism while also at the same time enacting laws and policies that are just so anti-women at the same time. So there's like an inherent contradiction, at least in my eyes, I'm sure they don't see it that way. But I think to the public, it's a lot about look at this president who supports women and wants to see women in, you know, enjoying success. Behind the scenes though, in actual policy, is that really happening, you know? Yeah. And I mean, a lot of people have described this particular MAGO look as being notably not subtle. What is the appeal of having such conspicuous work done? I think it's a very obvious signal to your boss that you have done the work, that you are willing to conform yourself, change yourself, however fit, what appeals to this man's ideals of what a woman should look like, and specifically what a woman in power should look like. You know, again, he's not going to be installing a woman in power that has a more adrogynous look. He's very upfront. He's very in your face. There's no nuance with this man. This is a look that matches that, and it shows your potential employer, your boss, the most powerful man in the United States that you are willing to conform and to appeal to his taste. It's almost like a line in your resume. Okay. This is me while reading your article trying to figure this out for myself. One thing it made me think of is how in some fraternities, there's like a branding to show that I am a member. Yes, membership is such a huge part of that. And in talking to the Yale professor that I talked to, plastic surgery and aesthetics in general have always worked that way. It's not just Republican women who subscribe to a certain look to gain membership or signal membership within a certain demographic. But this, to me, it's unusual in the sense that you're gaining membership within the federal government. The federal government has many things, but it is also a workplace. You wouldn't think that a workplace like that would be sort of valuing or even caring about that sort of membership. But no, this is a very obvious way of doing that. And in the same way, I don't know if you've seen the show, Members Only. What is a reality or is it a reality show? It's actually, it's fascinating. It's women, some of them belong to Mar-a-Lago and others are like trying to actually literally gain membership to Mar-a-Lago. Until I got to Florida, I had no idea what a country club was. And that's my life now. Your teeth are amazing. Not everyone can just get it. Florida is status. If you aren't part of the in-crowd, then you're not in at all. It's fascinating because they'll refer to the president. All the guys saw, you know, I saw the president at dinner, all you had Elon was there. It's a weird show. I mean, I know Donald, but I would never ask him to ask Elon to give a drink. How long have you been 30 years? I've been against Donald for Mar-a-Lago. We didn't pay much for it. All of them also have this look. You know, it's very overdone. It's dramatic. They're all kinds of procedures or what look like procedures. But someone say from within the administration can parachute into that environment, that sort of, and just immediately kind of know like, oh, you are my people. That's not just a Republican thing. Like we all do that to a certain extent. Coming up, I do wonder like decades from now, centuries from now, how will that look be remembered? Will they have regret for the choices that they made to their literal body, their flesh? Stay with us. Parker. Jean. Code switch. And we're back talking to journalist Ena O about the heavily made up, ultra feminine look that so many powerful women in the Trump administration have embraced. What do you see as the shelf life for this particular aesthetic? Like on a physical level? On a physical level. Like all beauty and fashion trends fade. That's a great question. Eventually change. So on a physical level, on a medical level, I have heard that you need to, in order to keep up with that look, you do need to go back to a plastic surgeon every 10 years. So I don't know what that kind of upkeep, like, yeah, the shelf life really is of that. But I would say, I agree with you. And I note that in the piece about, especially like in our age, when social media and, you know, internet trends are constantly dictating new aesthetics to, this is the aesthetics of the day. And they shift a lot. And oftentimes, they contradict each other. I think I, and I actually don't know how to pronounce this, but the example that I use in the piece is that trend to remove the area. I think it's called bukel. Bockelfat? Bockelfat, yeah, right. So to remove that and to hollow it out, to hollow your cheeks out, when I think about it, I think maybe in a matter of eight months, people were noting like that was not, that was no longer the look to go for. People were now trying to go for a more, you know, trying to put fat back in there. You know, but it's like, wait, but for all the people that went out there thinking that that was the look of, that was the favorite look, you know, not all of us can go back eight months later and find some fat somewhere else in my body and just go like stick it back in. Not, not, not just because it's so expensive to do these procedures, but you know, it's like, what are we, you know, these are such shifting, fast moving ideas of beauty. And in some ways, the shelf life from our logo face has already expired because, or has always, it's just strange, like within that echo chamber, it might still be the look to go for, but what happens then when, when MAGA is not in power? What, I don't know. I, I, I don't think this is like unique to MAGA. I think this look has sort of been an ongoing thing for a while, but I think it became super popularized and visible because of this administration. Yeah. Did it always feel, did it always feel dated even when you started seeing it? You know, in thinking about this, I'm even thinking, you know, who is the heir apparent to Trump, right? People say, and Erica Kirk has sort of given her blessing to JD Vance. And JD Vance is, I don't think it's, I don't think it's like definite yet, but it's, he could be the heir apparent, right? So let's look at his, let's look at his wife, Usha Vance. There, she's a very good example of kind of the opposite of Mar-a-Lago face, right? So I don't know, will that, will that, will the Vance era, if, you know, that happens, you know, will that sort of usher in a new look? Or is it, or is it, is the fact that this is a woman of color who had, who had a very prominent law career before this one to Yale law, was a working woman, which really kind of contradicts with like the sort of like the more extreme conservative push to really keep women at home, like, which is to say that Usha Vance is a more complex character here, right? And what she, how she fits into this conservative agenda. But I wonder if having a first lady like her and an administration not as, maybe that doesn't prize that look as much, will, will looks change? I'm not sure, because also in policy, you know, JD Vance is right there in lockstep with, with Donald Trump and, you know, a man is a man and a woman is a woman and they hate trans people. You know? No, it's, this is also the thing, I think particularly I think about with like the Mar-a-Lago aesthetic, I think particularly about like women of color and that kind of sometimes contradiction and like what those expectations of appearance can be, like we talked about Usha Vance, like the prominent women of color that we think about in these spaces, like those aesthetics aren't going to be plopped on to like Candace Owens. Or I, like I was talking to my editor about Lauren Bezos. Oh yeah. Who's women of color? And I was telling her, I remember her before she got all this work done, because she used to be in all these movies as like a news correspondent, plopped in and she was always like this like beautiful, always like a beautiful woman who, as she gained more access, her face began to alter. Yeah. Which I think is like an interesting form of assimilation. Oh, absolutely. And I've heard, I've always heard that she had this really bubbly and in a genuine way like afflable personality. And I think it says something that she is pretty overtly trying to also gain access like within elite sort of fashion circles, right? I know that they're paying for the Met. They were, I think they were at Fashion Week, I want to say Paris, trying to really buy their way into membership with the highest levels of taste, right? But I think it's interesting that even though she has this sort of, she has a literal front row seat to fashion genius, right? To Christian Dior, to, you know, and Jonathan Anderson's there now, to the new Chanel collection. And yet, people have said that no matter what, no matter all the expensive clothes she's wearing and being at all these shows, she still manages to look really cheap. And on one hand, I kind of like that sucks, like as I'm sorry for you, but also what has, what are, what have you done with the power that you hold and your husband? What has your husband done? Like what your, the priorities that you have though are just so whack and I don't know, I don't think like, I think, is it, is it just the plastic, well, apparent, I'll say apparent plastic surgery that she's done that just makes her look cheap? I don't think so. I think it's something about her though. And I don't think that would have been the case 20 years ago, if she, she wouldn't be looking as, she wouldn't be as worthy of ridicule. It's interesting. Okay, so the one kind of like factoid in your article that I kept texting to all of my family and friends, I'm just going to read it out because you, you wrote it great. It was just like, strange and self abasing tactics to signal affinity with the ruling class have always existed during Queen Elizabeth the first reign, artificially blackened teeth were considered fashionable among those who wanted to mimic the genuinely decaying teeth of a monarch who consumed too much sugar. Yeah. And I'm curious, like, so what does that story have in common with what we're seeing today? I have to shout out my husband, because he, he actually told me that anecdote and obviously I researched it and it was true. Yeah. The reason why I included that is because there, there are examples that centuries, you know, centuries later just feel so ridiculous, right, that feel that are just so, they are objectively just wild to think about, right? But are, you know, those sort of same, at least strategies, I feel like are completely being echoed right now in what, what we are seeing with Mar-a-Lago face, where we are willing to not just go under the knife, but you know, and this is, this is subjective, but it is a look that I personally would not want on myself, right? I personally do not want to look that over the top and obvious. If I did choose to have plastic surgery, I wouldn't want it to look super obvious, right? You went that quiet luxury life. Maybe, yeah, sure. Definitely. I mean, and again, and also, I will say it, I do say this in my piece, like, I think about how I'm getting older and how I have wrinkles and I'm not a stranger to the feeling that, you know, not that, you know, that some, some sort of work on some level maybe should be done or I should start thinking about it. But it is like, is that a look that I would want to go for personally? No. And that, that is why it has become something of a punchline, at least to people not within that group. But it is very, it feels like it mirrors something as ridiculous as like, like purposely rotting your own teeth, you know? And I, I, I do wonder, like decades from now, how will that look be remembered? Will they have regret for the choices that they made to their literal body, their flesh, you know? No one, I don't think anyone, I don't think plastic surgery is something to be ashamed of at all or any of this stuff. But first, I would hope that they would feel ashamed for a lot of the policies. But then, you know, when you're looking in the mirror 20, 30 years later, and thinking about what you did to yourself, I wonder, it's, it's a, and I also, I feel I would like to, to be noted that I extend empathy for that. But yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a strange thing to think about. And honestly, like, I kind of get emotional even thinking about it. Yeah. Why, why do you feel a bit emotional talking about some of this? I think because when I, I think I have a lot of complicated feelings too with myself and like aging, right? And I mentioned that some in the piece and what it, what it means when your face is sort of considered in the context of a shelf life, right? And I, I can't help but even for someone like a christening gnome who I disagree with in policy just so vehemently, right? You know, decades from now, if she were to look in the mirror and just be like, you know, like, what have I done to myself? I, I could, I, as a, I am, I just wouldn't, I would feel very sympathetic towards that feeling. And I think women in particular, yes, they are, they are so judged for how they present themselves. You know, like, I, like I've mentioned, men are too in this administration, but the way women specifically have sort of been made to alter themselves to, to get the job is, is a different story. And I can't help but feel a little bit of a, just like sorry for her and, but also in a very small way just relate to, you know, like, yeah, I'm 38, I'm no longer like the youngest person in a Zoom call. And like, you know, well, I've long not been the youngest person in a Zoom call, but you know, like just going through the motions of like what that means for myself, how I relate to the world and move through the world. I think I, I, I've, I've, yeah, it makes me emotional. Thank you so much. This was great. Thank you. And that's our show. You can follow us on Instagram at NPR code switch. If email is more your thing, ours is code switch at NPR.org and subscribe to the podcast on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also subscribe to the code switch newsletter by going to NPR.org slash code switch newsletter. And just a reminder that signing up for code switch plus is a great way to support our show and to support public media. Public media really needs your support right now. And you can listen to every episode of our show and a bunch of other NPR faves sponsor free. So please go find out more at plus.npr.org slash code switch. This episode was produced by Christina Kala. It was edited by Leah Denala. Our engineer was Quacy Lee and we'll be remiss if we did not shout out the rest of the codes, which massive. That's Xavier Lopez. That's just Kong. That's Dalia Mortada and that's Yolanda Sanguini. As for me, I'm Jean Demby. I'm BA Parker. Be easy. Hydrate.
