Welcome back to Barf Bag.
It’s a tale not screamed nearly enough that the most successful anti-feminist women in history are successful because—while they built their fortunes and grew their influence by telling women that the most important thing they’ll ever do is stay home, watch the kids, and cheer on their husbands—they refused to follow their own advice. Erika Kirk is the lineage’s newest queen.
One month after the New York Times published Ross Douthat‘s conversation with conservative writers Helen Andrews and Leah Libresco Sargeant titled “Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?”, the newspaper of record hosted anti-feminist and newly crowned Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk at its annual Dealbook Summit. She spoke with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, who said that Charlie Kirk—whom he’d befriended about a year ago—was initially meant to be the speaker, but he decided to extend the spot to Erika after watching her speak at her husband’s televised (and sparkler-heavy) memorial. Erika used the opportunity to act confused by female Mamdani voters and dodge questions about her new CEO role, despite her proclamations that women should be mothers and stay at home.
Erika hasn’t lived in NYC for years (but when she did live here, she worked as a real estate agent with the Corcoran Group and appeared on Bravo’s Summer House). Still, Sorkin asked her about Mamdani’s recent victory because, he explained, similar to Charlie, Mamdani mobilized a lot of young people. “I’m going to come at this from a female voter,” she answered. “I think there’s a tendency, especially where you live in a city like Manhattan—where, again, you are so career-driven, and you almost look to the government as a form of replacement for certain things, relationship-wise, even, so you see things a little bit differently.” Apparently, being a career-driven female in Manhattan becomes spiritually corrupt only after you’ve successfully leveraged it.
She continued: “What I don’t want to have happen is, young women in the city, look to the government as a solution to put off having a family or a marriage because you’re relying on the government to support you instead of being united with the husband, where you can support yourself and your husband can support you, and you guys can all combine together.” Wut?
There’s a lot to unpack here, but the main headscratcher is how there are infinite tropes about single women: bar-hopping, bed-hopping, shopping, drinking wine, buying cats, etc., etc. They’re supposedly lonely and sad without a husband and children, but don’t know they’re lonely and sad because of all the wine and cat-buying. Yet, nowhere in the entire canon of misogynist tropes has anyone warned about the scourge of single city women putting off marriage because they believe Albany is going to tuck them in at night. What Sex and the City knock-off is the MAGA world watching?
“But I just find it so ironic and so interesting that a heavy percentage of the individuals who voted for him were female,” she concluded. Yes, it was very difficult to choose between a guy who’s been accused of sexually harassing his female staffers and a guy whose platform included a proposal for universal childcare.
Kirk’s word-salad response also stood in stark contradiction to something else she said. “It puts into perspective that this isn’t about me, this isn’t about my life, this is about the legacy my husband left behind,” she said about taking over the role of CEO of Turning Point USA. “But it’s also about how we’re fighting the good fight for our country.” Dare I say she…believes in the company’s mission because she trusts that a MAGA government will take care of her.
Erika has an undergraduate degree in political science and international relations from Arizona State University, as well as her master’s from Liberty University, where she’s also currently pursuing her PhD in biblical studies. She also hosts a podcast and is the founder of at least two companies, one of which is a Christian clothing line. She married a 27-year-old Charlie when she was 32, had her first child at 34, and her second child at 36. And good for her! She used her 20s to figure out what she wanted and seemingly didn’t settle for the first youth pastor looking for a wife.
So she can MAGA her life up all she wants, but it makes my blood boil that a woman of her position and influence is warning young women against being career-driven instead of asking her White House daddies, Donald Trump and JD Vance, what the fuck their administration is going to do to make it easier for women in America—of any age—to choose both a career and a family. (If that’s what they want.) If she doesn’t know where to start, might I suggest the fact that the U.S. is the only wealthy country in the world that doesn’t have federally mandated paid maternity leave?
- Olivia Nuzzi is OUT. [Wall Street Journal]
- Bari Weiss will be moderating an upcoming CBS News town hall with Kirk. [The Guardian]
- The Trump administration canceled naturalization ceremonies for anyone who’s from a country that’s now on the travel ban list. [ABC News]
- GOP Rep. Roger Williams (Texas) defends congressional stock trading because it’s not easy to be in Congress. [Aaron Rupar]
- Since Trump started pressuring Indiana lawmakers to gerrymander the state, at least 11 Republicans have been targeted with threats or swatting attacks. [NBC News]
- The latest in Whiny Little Bitch news. [Reuters]
- As a follow-up to their “I love Hitler” group chat, the New York Young Republican Club is planning to host a far-right German leader. [Politico]
-
Trump pardoned
Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar before his bribery trial even began. [
The Texas Tribune]
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Trump to help him get a pardon from Israel’s president. [Axios]
-
One of
Nancy Mace‘s top advisers quit “out of loyalty to the President” because he thinks she’s turned on him. [
NOTUS]
- 2025 had the most layoff announcements (1.1 million!) since the 2020 pandemic. [CNBC]
- The Department of Homeland Security sent out a press release that offered “self-deportation” as a “gift” to “illegal aliens” this holiday season. No hell hot enough. [Bluesky]
This has been your Friday Barf Bag on Saturday, thanks for reading!
