Pro Trump lawmakers and administration officials have learned that screaming and shouting on camera is what their supporters want to see — and so they are doing it more and more often, Amanda Marcotte wrote in a scathing analysis for Salon published on Monday.
The poster child for this, she wrote, is Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who has become known for her tirades against transgender people — despite for most of her time in elected office having claimed to support transgender rights.
She made the rounds again this month after a tirade aimed at a man in the makeup aisle of an Ulta Beauty store: "The camera focuses entirely on the story's hero, a man in a polo and shorts holding a bottle of what appears to be face cleanser, as he holds his own against his congressional representative getting increasingly shrill as she yells invective at him. Even though he said nothing about gay marriage, she demands his gratitude for voting 'for gay marriage twice,'" then when he demands to know why that's relevant, she begins screaming f-bombs at him.
"Most adults who act like Mace in public immediately wish to disappear off the face of the earth in shame. But not our Nancy! No, she's the one who posted this video online, proud of her emotional incontinence," wrote Marcotte. "Mace is serving pure toddler here. She likely wished to throw herself to the floor and start pounding it, but doing so would have meant dropping her iPhone."
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But Mace is by no means alone. On Fox News last week, Stephen Miller put on a similar performance in response to federal judges putting the breaks on extrajudicial mass arrests and deportations of migrants. Miller's "usual register on TV is 'verge of a nervous breakdown,'" but per Marcotte, he "got so shrill on Fox News Tuesday that Lauren Tousignant at Jezebel worried she'd soon have to 'look at Stephen Miller’s face as he pops a dozen blood vessels as his brain explodes.'"
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also lost it on camera during a CNN segment discussing the "Signalgate" scandal surrounding his uses of unsecured group chats to share highly sensitive military attack plans. "While carping about 'the fake news media' during the White House Easter egg roll, Hegseth's whining got so pitched his voice started to crack, while his children stood behind him, embarrassed at the spectacle," Marcotte wrote.
There is a method to the madness, she continued. "The goal of the bombastic MAGA aesthetic is to flood the brain with emotions, so that no rational thought can penetrate. This strategy dates back to Roger Ailes founding Fox News in the 90s. The network dispensed with the staid conservative aesthetic for the 2x4-to-the-face vibe. The loud graphics, busy screens, and sexed-up appearances of the hosts have become ubiquitous on cable television. At the time, it stood out, setting the foundation for how the entire Republican world would look under Trump's leadership."
"The way the right does excess is never about waking you up, but pounding you into submission," she concluded. "The MAGA temper tantrum is the iconic example of shouting so loudly that you can't hear yourself think."