Walsh, of course, is referring to actress Sydney Sweeney’s new ad for American Eagle, which hopped on the culture war frenzy over Sweeney’s seeming revitalization of traditional beauty standards. While the right initially derided the left’s response to Sweeney’s popularity as simple mass hysteria, the revelation that she is a registered Republican—and thus, presumably, a Trump backer—has conservatives hailing her as an icon of femininity: “Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there. It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’ Go get ’em Sydney!” Trump wrote recently on Truth Social.

Beauty standards aren’t the only thing Trump has turned back the clock on. As Chris Lehmann explains in a piece this week, his administration has tried to distract the media from his connection to Jeffrey Epstein by announcing that they will restore a statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike that was toppled and removed during the 2020 George Floyd protests. Meanwhile, ICE is still making mass arrests, and the Trump administration is threatening to punish “sanctuary jurisdictions.” We’re all having a little amnesia.

-Alana Pockros

Engagement Editor, The Nation

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