This week, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, declared war on the new “Barbie” movie, which he claims promotes “Chinese propaganda.” Cruz says a cartoonish world map advances China’s controversial and contested claim to the South China Sea. Barbie is the movie about a doll.
Ted says the Barbie movie is brainwashing young girls with Chinese propaganda. pic.twitter.com/81kR4CKKV2
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 16, 2023
Cruz has given right-wing media a story to engage with this weekend, a new bright shiny thing to chase. Pundits can discuss the merits of the movie and how it’s brainwashing Americans. Of course, none of that will be true. The map is as real as Barbie herself. It’s a film prop with lots of dotted lines and dashes.
Personally, I like pink and I’m super excited about the movie. I’m also not going to engage in Cruz’s nonsense. Because I know just what he’s up to. It’s all about the distraction.
Here’s what’s really going on in America right now.
I’m also not going to engage in Cruz’s nonsense. Because I know just what he’s up to. It’s all about the distraction.
In Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Legislature to draw new voting maps that reflect census data showing the state should have two majority Black electoral districts. But the Republican Legislature has refused to do that. Instead lawmakers submitted a new map that has just one majority Black district. In other words, a state Legislature refused to follow a decision by the Supreme Court. It’s a major breakdown in the rule of law.
Meanwhile, Florida is making some eye-popping changes to its curricular standards. It will now teach historical “facts” its governor, Ron DeSantis, seems to think are more fair and balanced. For instance, middle-schoolers will learn that during slavery, enslaved people learned skills that benefited them personally.
Women in Texas are taking the witness stand to tell horrifying stories about the physical and emotional costs of medically dangerous pregnancies their doctors were unable to end because of abortion restrictions. Some of those women have been irreparably scarred, making future pregnancies impossible or incredibly risky. Their testimony dramatically highlighted the way such bans make women unable to protect their health.
In sum, across the country women are losing their rights. Black people are watching their history get officially white-washed. And the LGBTQ community, especially transgender people, remain high-profile targets of the unwoke right. Oh, and Supreme Court justices are engaging in behavior that would get mere mortals fired from their government jobs, if not worse.
Come on Barbie, let’s go party.
Senator Cruz would love it if the media fixated on fake controversies instead of on the myriad ways Republicans are pushing to undermine and restrict rights and freedoms in America.
The leader of their party and front-runner for the 2024 nomination has been indicted twice, and received a target letter from federal prosecutors suggesting he will soon be indicted a third time, with a fourth (fourth!) indictment on the horizon in Georgia. A federal judge in New York confirms that it’s appropriate to call Trump a rapist, after a jury previously found he had defamed and sexually abused E. Jean Carroll.









