vox--2020-11-19--The 4 potential candidates to lead Biden’s Department of Homeland Security, briefly explained

Whoever President-elect Joe Biden nominates to become secretary of the Department of Homeland Security will take on the immense task of leading an agency badly in need of reform .
Created in the aftermath of 9/11 , DHS is a relatively new department that links together component agencies with separate missions related to national security and immigration .
While its immigration functions — carried out by US Customs and Border Protection ( CBP ) , US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) , and US Citizenship and Immigration Services ( USCIS ) — account for almost half of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ focuses on issues ranging from election security to counterterrorism .
Under the current administration , the agency and its political leadership have been at the forefront of President Donald Trump ’ s efforts to enact his nativist agenda on immigration , including authorizing unprecedented barriers to asylum , slashing legal immigration , vastly expanding immigration detention , and carrying out wide-scale raids on unauthorized immigrants living in the US .
In the absence of permanent , Senate-confirmed DHS leadership since April 2019 , Trump has unlawfully appointed loyalists — who have vigorously and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the years — as its top acting ( in other words , temporary ) officials .
In the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign , acting Secretary Chad Wolf and his deputy , Ken Cuccinelli , went so far as to amplify Trump ’ s messaging on immigration in battleground states , using his border wall as a political prop in apparent electioneering .
But the issues run much deeper than the agency ’ s leadership crisis : Reports of immigrant abuse at the hands of rank-and-file officers , emboldened by Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballooned , suggesting there is something inherently toxic about the culture at DHS .
Rather than dismantling the agency entirely , Biden has vowed to reform it from within , ending for-profit immigration detention , improving accountability for immigration agencies like CBP and ICE , and focusing on deporting only immigrants who pose a threat to national security and public safety .
That will be a difficult task , given just how fundamentally Trump has altered these agencies to do his bidding on immigration , pouring money into ICE and CBP in order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fear in both immigrants who seek to come to the US and those who already live in the country .
That makes picking the right person to lead the agency all the more critical .
“ One has to take really seriously what a significant portfolio this is and what a major management job it is to run an agency of that size and scope , ” said Doris Meissner , senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and former commissioner of what was then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service under the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ DHS really do have to come prepared and hit the ground running in terms of their knowledge of what ’ s going on in the agency and how you start to turn this ship.
” Here are the names that have been floated for the position by media reports and experts in immigration policy : Alejandro Mayorkas , former deputy secretary at the DHS Mayorkas is best known as the architect of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( DACA ) program , which has shielded from deportation roughly 700,000 unauthorized immigrants who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mayorkas , who emigrated from Cuba as a child , previously served seven years in the Obama administration : four years as the Senate-confirmed director of USCIS and another three as the deputy secretary of DHS .
As someone who already knows the department — which is the third-largest agency , after the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs — Mayorkas would be well-positioned to hit the ground running .
He ’ d also be the first Latino , as well as the first immigrant , to lead the agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that processes applications for immigration benefits , he earned adulation from immigrant rights groups for creating DACA .
Trump has sought to dismantle the program but has been unsuccessful .
“ During a time when critics of government are on the lookout for inefficiency and incompetence , Mayorkas made DACA a model of government efficiency and seamless execution , ” Don Lyster , the director of the National Immigration Law Center ’ s DC office at the time , said in 2013 .
“ He showed his keen understanding of complicated immigration law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , advocates , and immigrant community members as the program was being established , publicly answering stakeholder questions and addressing key concerns.
” Aside from DACA , Mayorkas ’ s tenure at USCIS was also characterized by his creation of an office designed to interact with and respond to the needs of the public .
Despite his efforts to make USCIS work better for immigrants , the agency under Trump has since changed its mission statement to make clear it no longer deigns to serve immigrants , but rather the American people .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mayorkas also played a central role in negotiating a 2014 agreement with Cuba to normalize relations , opening the door to increased trade , travel , and tourism between the two countries .
He ’ s since criticized Trump for bringing that process to a halt .
Mayorkas could face questions during a confirmation hearing about a 2015 DHS Office of Inspector General investigation that found he perpetuated an “ appearance of favoritism and special access ” with regard to how the agency administered a program that allows wealthy foreign investors to obtain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allegedly given special treatment to investors in a Las Vegas casino project pushed by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , as well as an electric car company led by former Virginia Gov .
Terry McAuliffe .
Currently a partner at the law firm WilmerHale , Mayorkas previously served as a US attorney in California .
But his experience inside DHS has reportedly made him a favorite among the potential candidates for the secretary position .
“ Because [ Biden ] has been in government and knows how difficult the DHS job is and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on DHS on issues that are very sensitive , I expect that he ’ ll look for a proven track record , ” Meissner said .
Becerra , the son of Mexican immigrants , has been a leading adversary of the Trump administration ’ s immigration policies as California ’ s attorney general .
He has spearheaded multistate lawsuits against the president ’ s efforts to terminate DACA and to exclude unauthorized immigrants from 2020 census counts that will be used to apportion seats in the US House of Representatives for the next @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 12 terms representing California in the House , where he eventually became chairman of the House Democratic Caucus .
That history suggests he could pursue an aggressive agenda for reform at DHS — where , like Mayorkas , he would be its first Latino secretary .
As California ’ s attorney general , Becerra has also challenged Trump policies that sought to create wealth tests for certain immigrants applying for green cards , kick out foreign students amid the coronavirus pandemic , detain immigrant children indefinitely , and divert $ 3.8 billion in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s border wall .
In doing so , he has provoked retaliation from the Trump administration , which unsuccessfully tried to invalidate several of California ’ s sanctuary laws and cut off its access to federal public safety grants .
But it ’ s not clear whether Becerra ’ s opposition to Trump could hurt him during confirmation hearings before a Republican-led Senate , which has largely embraced the president ’ s nativist policies .
Becerra has also been discussed as either a possible pick for US attorney general or a replacement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Senate for the remaining two years of her term .
He told the Washington Post in August that he plans to continue public service in whatever capacity in which he can “ make the biggest difference.
” Demings , who represents Florida ’ s 10th Congressional District , serves on the House Committee on Homeland Security and was one of seven House members handpicked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to oversee Trump ’ s impeachment trial earlier this year .
Compared with some of the other names that have been floated for the secretary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extensive resume when it comes to immigration issues , which make up a significant portion of DHS ’ s workload .
But she worked in law enforcement for three decades prior to assuming office in 2017 , including serving as Orlando ’ s first female chief of police for four years .
Given that DHS is , at its core , a law enforcement agency , she could command respect internally while also recognizing the need for an overhaul .
“ It ’ s very important that [ the people who ] do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they report to understand what they do , ” Meissner said .
“ That said , there ’ s a lot that has gone wrong .
There really needs to be leadership that recognizes the more unfortunate elements that sometimes exist in law enforcement cultures [ that ] need to be addressed.
” In the context of protests over police brutality earlier this year , Demings showed no tolerance for law enforcement officers who abuse their station .
“ As law enforcement officers , we took an oath to protect and serve , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the Washington Post in May .
“ And those who forgot — or who never understood that oath in the first place — must go .
That includes those who would stand by as they witness misconduct by a fellow officer.
” Monaco is another familiar face from the Obama administration , during which she served as the president ’ s homeland security and counterterrorism advisor and helped coordinate its response to the 2014 Ebola crisis .
She has also counseled Biden in recent months as a member of his Public Health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration ’ s response to the pandemic .
Currently a partner at the law firm O ’ Melveny , she has recently critiqued the Trump administration for ignoring a 69-page National Security Council “ pandemic playbook , ” which she helped develop during her tenure under Obama in order to pass on lessons learned from the Ebola and Zika crises .
Monaco has a long history with Biden , working for him as an aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 1990s and helping craft the Violence Against Women Act , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to domestic violence , sexual assault , dating violence , and stalking .
She was also one of the people Biden selected earlier this year to help vet potential vice presidential candidates .
In addition , Monaco served as chief of staff to former FBI director Robert Mueller , helping him shift the agency ’ s post-9/11 focus to preventing terrorist attacks against the US .
Prior to that , she worked at the Department of Justice for 15 years , spending the bulk of that time as a career federal prosecutor .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggest a refocusing on national security priorities at the DHS .

Whoever President-elect Joe Biden nominates to become secretary of the Department of Homeland Security will take on the immense task of leading an agency badly in need of reform.
Created in the aftermath of 9/11, DHS is a relatively new department that links together component agencies with separate missions related to national security and immigration. While its immigration functions — carried out by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — account for almost half of the department’s budget, DHS also focuses on issues ranging from election security to counterterrorism.
Under the current administration, the agency and its political leadership have been at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s efforts to enact his nativist agenda on immigration, including authorizing unprecedented barriers to asylum, slashing legal immigration, vastly expanding immigration detention, and carrying out wide-scale raids on unauthorized immigrants living in the US.
In the absence of permanent, Senate-confirmed DHS leadership since April 2019, Trump has unlawfully appointed loyalists — who have vigorously and uncritically defended him in the media over the years — as its top acting (in other words, temporary) officials. In the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign, acting Secretary Chad Wolf and his deputy, Ken Cuccinelli, went so far as to amplify Trump’s messaging on immigration in battleground states, using his border wall as a political prop in apparent electioneering.
But the issues run much deeper than the agency’s leadership crisis: Reports of immigrant abuse at the hands of rank-and-file officers, emboldened by Trump’s immigration rhetoric, have also ballooned, suggesting there is something inherently toxic about the culture at DHS.
Rather than dismantling the agency entirely, Biden has vowed to reform it from within, ending for-profit immigration detention, improving accountability for immigration agencies like CBP and ICE, and focusing on deporting only immigrants who pose a threat to national security and public safety.
That will be a difficult task, given just how fundamentally Trump has altered these agencies to do his bidding on immigration, pouring money into ICE and CBP in order to expand their reach nationally and inspire fear in both immigrants who seek to come to the US and those who already live in the country. That makes picking the right person to lead the agency all the more critical.
“One has to take really seriously what a significant portfolio this is and what a major management job it is to run an agency of that size and scope,” said Doris Meissner, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and former commissioner of what was then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service under the Clinton administration. “The people managing DHS really do have to come prepared and hit the ground running in terms of their knowledge of what’s going on in the agency and how you start to turn this ship.”
Here are the names that have been floated for the position by media reports and experts in immigration policy:
Alejandro Mayorkas, former deputy secretary at the DHS
Mayorkas is best known as the architect of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which has shielded from deportation roughly 700,000 unauthorized immigrants who came to the US as children.
Mayorkas, who emigrated from Cuba as a child, previously served seven years in the Obama administration: four years as the Senate-confirmed director of USCIS and another three as the deputy secretary of DHS. As someone who already knows the department — which is the third-largest agency, after the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs — Mayorkas would be well-positioned to hit the ground running. He’d also be the first Latino, as well as the first immigrant, to lead the agency.
While at USCIS, the agency that processes applications for immigration benefits, he earned adulation from immigrant rights groups for creating DACA. Trump has sought to dismantle the program but has been unsuccessful.
“During a time when critics of government are on the lookout for inefficiency and incompetence, Mayorkas made DACA a model of government efficiency and seamless execution,” Don Lyster, the director of the National Immigration Law Center’s DC office at the time, said in 2013. “He showed his keen understanding of complicated immigration law and significantly engaged with academics, attorneys, advocates, and immigrant community members as the program was being established, publicly answering stakeholder questions and addressing key concerns.”
Aside from DACA, Mayorkas’s tenure at USCIS was also characterized by his creation of an office designed to interact with and respond to the needs of the public. Despite his efforts to make USCIS work better for immigrants, the agency under Trump has since changed its mission statement to make clear it no longer deigns to serve immigrants, but rather the American people.
As the deputy secretary at DHS, Mayorkas also played a central role in negotiating a 2014 agreement with Cuba to normalize relations, opening the door to increased trade, travel, and tourism between the two countries. He’s since criticized Trump for bringing that process to a halt.
Mayorkas could face questions during a confirmation hearing about a 2015 DHS Office of Inspector General investigation that found he perpetuated an “appearance of favoritism and special access” with regard to how the agency administered a program that allows wealthy foreign investors to obtain visas and green cards. He had allegedly given special treatment to investors in a Las Vegas casino project pushed by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as well as an electric car company led by former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
Currently a partner at the law firm WilmerHale, Mayorkas previously served as a US attorney in California. But his experience inside DHS has reportedly made him a favorite among the potential candidates for the secretary position.
“Because [Biden] has been in government and knows how difficult the DHS job is and how much the administration has to rely on DHS on issues that are very sensitive, I expect that he’ll look for a proven track record,” Meissner said.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra
Becerra, the son of Mexican immigrants, has been a leading adversary of the Trump administration’s immigration policies as California’s attorney general.
He has spearheaded multistate lawsuits against the president’s efforts to terminate DACA and to exclude unauthorized immigrants from 2020 census counts that will be used to apportion seats in the US House of Representatives for the next 10 years. Becerra also previously served 12 terms representing California in the House, where he eventually became chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
That history suggests he could pursue an aggressive agenda for reform at DHS — where, like Mayorkas, he would be its first Latino secretary.
As California’s attorney general, Becerra has also challenged Trump policies that sought to create wealth tests for certain immigrants applying for green cards, kick out foreign students amid the coronavirus pandemic, detain immigrant children indefinitely, and divert $3.8 billion in Pentagon funds to pay for the president’s border wall. In doing so, he has provoked retaliation from the Trump administration, which unsuccessfully tried to invalidate several of California’s sanctuary laws and cut off its access to federal public safety grants.
But it’s not clear whether Becerra’s opposition to Trump could hurt him during confirmation hearings before a Republican-led Senate, which has largely embraced the president’s nativist policies.
Becerra has also been discussed as either a possible pick for US attorney general or a replacement for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the Senate for the remaining two years of her term. He told the Washington Post in August that he plans to continue public service in whatever capacity in which he can “make the biggest difference.”
Rep. Val Demings (D-FL)
Demings, who represents Florida’s 10th Congressional District, serves on the House Committee on Homeland Security and was one of seven House members handpicked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to oversee Trump’s impeachment trial earlier this year.
Compared with some of the other names that have been floated for the secretary position, Demings does not have an extensive resume when it comes to immigration issues, which make up a significant portion of DHS’s workload.
But she worked in law enforcement for three decades prior to assuming office in 2017, including serving as Orlando’s first female chief of police for four years. Given that DHS is, at its core, a law enforcement agency, she could command respect internally while also recognizing the need for an overhaul.
“It’s very important that [the people who] do those jobs feel that the people that they report to understand what they do,” Meissner said. “That said, there’s a lot that has gone wrong. There really needs to be leadership that recognizes the more unfortunate elements that sometimes exist in law enforcement cultures [that] need to be addressed.”
In the context of protests over police brutality earlier this year, Demings showed no tolerance for law enforcement officers who abuse their station.
“As law enforcement officers, we took an oath to protect and serve,” she wrote in an opinion piece for the Washington Post in May. “And those who forgot — or who never understood that oath in the first place — must go. That includes those who would stand by as they witness misconduct by a fellow officer.”
Lisa Monaco, former Homeland Security adviser
Monaco is another familiar face from the Obama administration, during which she served as the president’s homeland security and counterterrorism advisor and helped coordinate its response to the 2014 Ebola crisis. She has also counseled Biden in recent months as a member of his Public Health Advisory Committee working to shape the incoming administration’s response to the pandemic.
Currently a partner at the law firm O’Melveny, she has recently critiqued the Trump administration for ignoring a 69-page National Security Council “pandemic playbook,” which she helped develop during her tenure under Obama in order to pass on lessons learned from the Ebola and Zika crises.
“We absolutely did leave a plan,” she told CNN.
Monaco has a long history with Biden, working for him as an aide on the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 1990s and helping craft the Violence Against Women Act, which strengthened the federal government’s response to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. She was also one of the people Biden selected earlier this year to help vet potential vice presidential candidates.
In addition, Monaco served as chief of staff to former FBI director Robert Mueller, helping him shift the agency’s post-9/11 focus to preventing terrorist attacks against the US. Prior to that, she worked at the Department of Justice for 15 years, spending the bulk of that time as a career federal prosecutor.
Biden’s selection of Monaco could suggest a refocusing on national security priorities at the DHS.


vox--2020-11-20--Trump’s lawsuits challenging the election have turned into a clown show

On Tuesday , former New York Mayor and Trump consigliere Rudy Giuliani made his first appearance as a lawyer in federal court since 1992 .
It did not go well .
As election law professor Rick Hasen tweeted during the hearing , “ I ’ ve never seen worse lawyering in an election law case in my life.
” Giuliani , who served as the lead federal prosecutor in Manhattan for much of the 1980s , was once a very distinguished attorney .
But there are good reasons why a lawyer who hasn ’ t litigated a federal case in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trying to relive their glory days .
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are 140 pages long and full of traps for the unwary or the out-of-practice .
Giuliani appeared unaware of important provisions of these rules — such as a one detailing what lawyers must do if they raise an allegation of fraud .
Indeed , at several points in the hearing , Giuliani appeared unfamiliar with basic legal concepts that would be familiar to any undergraduate who has taken a semester of constitutional law .
“ Maybe I don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scrutiny , ’ ” Giuliani admitted to Judge Matthew Brann at one point in the hearing .
Giuliani was in Brann ’ s courtroom after several of the Trump campaign ’ s lawyers abruptly withdrew from the case , Donald J. Trump for President v. Boockvar , which seeks to prevent Pennsylvania from certifying President-elect Joe Biden ’ s victory in that state .
And , while Giuliani ’ s performance in the Boockvar case was unusually clownish , it was hardly out of line with the Trump campaign ’ s overall record @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Trump lost .
According to Marc Elias , the Democratic superlawyer who oversees much of his party ’ s litigation strategy , Trump and his allied litigants have won just one of the 31 post-election cases that have already been resolved .
( Their one victory was a minor court order holding that certain voters , whose ballots were rejected in Pennsylvania , have six days to cure the errors that led to the ballots ’ rejection instead of nine . )
Indeed , some reporting suggests that the purpose of these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in court .
It ’ s to create enough of an impression that there is legal uncertainty regarding the winner of the presidential election that Republican lawmakers will then feel pressured to steal the election for Trump .
A “ senior Trump campaign official ” told Reuters that the campaign hopes Republican lawmakers in states like Michigan , Pennsylvania , and Wisconsin “ will face a backlash from voters ” unless those lawmakers pass legislation tossing out the result of the election .
It ’ s unclear whether state lawmakers have the legal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the legislation were vetoed by a Democratic governor , and such a move to depose a lawfully elected president would undoubtedly spark a constitutional crisis — and potentially civil unrest .
Most of the GOP ’ s lawsuits involve marginal claims that wouldn ’ t really matter even if Trump won them Shortly after Election Day , Trump ’ s campaign and his allies filed a series of lawsuits that seemed to have more to do with creating the impression that there ’ s legal uncertainty about the election than with actually changing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ involved small-potatoes claims that , even if they were resolved in Trump ’ s favor , were unlikely to have more than a negligible impact on the election .
Many , though not all , of the GOP ’ s and the Trump campaign ’ s lawsuits fit into two categories .
In some cases , a poll watcher sent by the Trump campaign to observe ballots being counted claims to have witnessed suspicious activity .
In others , the Trump campaign complains that their poll watchers were not allowed to witness activity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an example of the first kind of case , a Georgia poll watcher claimed that he saw an election worker place a stack of 53 ballots on a table .
The poll worker then left the room , and when he came back , the stack of ballots was gone .
Biden leads Trump by more than 12,000 votes in Georgia .
So even if there weren ’ t any number of perfectly lawful explanations for why a short stack of ballots was moved , this Georgia lawsuit wouldn ’ t change the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had prevailed in court — and he did not .
Meanwhile , one of the Trump campaign ’ s most common complaints is that its poll watchers are not allowed to stand closer to the election workers who counted ballots .
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania , for example , recently rejected a Trump campaign lawsuit alleging that the state violated the law by requiring poll watchers to remain at least 15 feet away from ballot counters .
But even if Trump had prevailed in this Pennsylvania case , it ’ s unclear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ victory .
The proper remedy , if Trump ’ s poll watchers aren ’ t being allowed to stand close enough to election workers , is to let them stand closer to election workers .
At most , Trump might have secured a court order requiring some ballots to be recounted with poll watchers in close proximity .
Such an order would do nothing to change the fact that , according to current tallies , Biden won 80,000 more votes than Trump in the state of Pennsylvania .
Many of Trump ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and demands for outlandish relief to cure minor violations Shortly after the election , a conspiracy theory emerged in some of the Trumpiest corners of Facebook and Twitter alleging that a company that supplies voting machines to 28 states is somehow in league with the Democratic Party .
The conspiracy theory emerged after a clerical error briefly assigned some votes in a conservative Michigan county to Biden that were actually cast for Trump .
The error was swiftly caught , and the votes were properly tallied .
Though election officials say the real @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , tens of thousands of social media users amplified an unsubstantiated theory attributing the error to Dominion Voting Systems , a company that supplies voting machines to Michigan .
Many of these conspiracy theorists pointed to Dominion ’ s loose ties with prominent Democratic politicians .
Dominion , for example , employs a lobbyist who used to work for Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi .
( It should be noted that Dominion also employs Republican lobbyists , including one who worked for Republican former Speaker John Boehner . )
The company also donated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Clinton Global Initiative in 2014 as part of a project to shore up emerging democracies .
Dominion-ghazi is the kind of speculative nonsense that frequently bubbles up in paranoid corners of sites like Twitter and that is rarely noticed by many people outside of that bubble .
And yet , this particular unsubstantiated conspiracy theory plays a major role in Donald J. Trump for President v. Benson , a case that tried to prevent Michigan from certifying its election results .
Here is an actual paragraph from the complaint in Benson : The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prohibit the state from counting “ ballots tabulated using the Dominion tabulating equipment or software without the accuracy of individual tabulators having first been determined.
” In Benson , the Trump campaign also claimed that election workers manipulated the ballot-counting process , based on barely relevant accusations from poll watchers .
One Trump poll watcher , for example , said , “ I witnessed election workers open ballots with Donald Trump votes and respond by rolling their eyes and showing it to other poll workers .
I believe some of these ballots may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any event , the Trump campaign abruptly filed to dismiss the Benson case on Thursday .
Amusingly , the document dismissing the case claims that “ the Wayne County board of county canvassers met and declined to certify the results of the presidential election.
” In reality , Republicans on the Wayne County board did briefly vote on Tuesday to block certification of votes in that county , which includes the Democratic stronghold of Detroit , but they swiftly backed down due to public outcry and voted to certify .
Meanwhile , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but that case largely turns on unsubstantiated allegations and absurd demands .
In a document filed Wednesday evening , for example , the Trump campaign claims that Pennsylvania election officials “ deliberately excluded Republican/Trump observers from the canvassing in order to facilitate counting mail ballots which did not comport with the signature , date , and other requirements of Pennsylvania law , ” and that these officials did so to “ favor Biden over Trump.
” The campaign demands that Pennsylvania turn over the envelopes used to submit about 1.5 million ballots in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sample from each county.
” The Trump campaign then claims that it will use these envelopes to “ determine the percentage of mail ballots which were illegally counted.
” And if the Trump campaign determines that Trump should have won the election , then the court “ should set aside these votes and declare Trump the winner.
” I can ’ t believe that I even have to write this next sentence .
But courts typically do not resolve election disputes by allowing one of the campaigns to determine who won the election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Giuliani is speaking at a press conference at the Republican National Committee ’ s headquarters , where he claims — again , without evidence — that officials in 10 “ crooked cities ” are engaged in a “ national conspiracy ” to rig the election for Joe Biden .
“ You would have to be a fool not to realize that !
” an angry Giuliani told reporters , before claiming that he divined this conspiracy by “ just using logic.
” The mere idea that Trump appears to have assembled his legal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Show should not detract the public from what Trump is trying to accomplish .
As my colleague Ezra Klein has written , Trump “ is attempting a coup in plain sight.
” He lost an election , and now he ’ s filling the courts with meritless lawsuits in the hope that he ’ ll find a sufficiently partisan judge who is willing to steal the presidency from President-elect Biden .
And if that doesn ’ t work , maybe he can create an alternative reality in the minds of state lawmakers that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Trump .
But that doesn ’ t change the fact that Trump ’ s entire litigation strategy is likely to collapse under the weight of its utter incompetence .

On Tuesday, former New York mayor and Trump consigliere Rudy Giuliani made his first appearance as a lawyer in federal court since 1992. It did not go well. As election law professor Rick Hasen tweeted during the hearing, “I’ve never seen worse lawyering in an election law case in my life.”
Giuliani, who served as the lead federal prosecutor in Manhattan for much of the 1980s, was once a very distinguished attorney. But there are good reasons why a lawyer who hasn’t litigated a federal case in nearly three decades should be cautious about trying to relive their glory days. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are 140 pages long and full of traps for the unwary or out-of-practice. Giuliani appeared unaware of important provisions of these rules — such as one detailing what lawyers must do if they raise an allegation of fraud.
Indeed, at several points in the hearing, Giuliani appeared unfamiliar with basic legal concepts that would be familiar to any undergraduate who has taken a semester of constitutional law. “Maybe I don’t understand what you mean by ‘strict scrutiny,’” Giuliani admitted to Judge Matthew Brann at one point in the hearing.
(“Strict scrutiny” is the highly skeptical test courts apply to many government actions that are disfavored by the Constitution, such as actions that discriminate on the basis of race. It’s one of the foundational concepts taught to every law student in their introduction to constitutional law.)
Giuliani was in Brann’s courtroom after several of the Trump campaign’s lawyers abruptly withdrew from the case, Donald J. Trump for President v. Boockvar, which seeks to prevent Pennsylvania from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in that state. And, while Giuliani’s performance in the Boockvar case was unusually clownish, it was hardly out of line with the Trump campaign’s overall record in its many lawsuits attacking an election that Trump lost.
According to Marc Elias, the Democratic lawyer who oversees much of his party’s litigation strategy, Trump and his allied litigants have won just one of the 31 post-election cases that have already been resolved. (Their one victory was a minor court order holding that certain voters, whose ballots were rejected in Pennsylvania, have six days to cure the errors that led to the ballots’ rejection instead of nine days.)
Indeed, some reporting suggests that the purpose of these lawsuits isn’t actually to win in court. It’s to create enough of an impression that there is legal uncertainty regarding the winner of the presidential election that Republican lawmakers will then feel pressured to steal the election for Trump.
A “senior Trump campaign official” told Reuters that the campaign hopes Republican lawmakers in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin “will face a backlash from voters” unless those lawmakers pass legislation tossing out the result of the election. It’s unclear whether state lawmakers have the legal authority to do so, especially if the legislation were vetoed by a Democratic governor, and such a move to depose a lawfully elected president would undoubtedly spark a constitutional crisis — and potentially civil unrest.
Most of the GOP’s lawsuits involve marginal claims that wouldn’t really matter even if Trump won them
Shortly after Election Day, Trump’s campaign and his allies filed a series of lawsuits that seemed to have more to do with creating that impression of legal uncertainty about the election than with actually changing the result. Most of these suits involved small-potatoes claims that, even if they were resolved in Trump’s favor, were unlikely to have more than a negligible impact on the election.
Many, though not all, of the GOP’s and the Trump campaign’s lawsuits fit into two categories.
In some cases, a poll watcher sent by the Trump campaign to observe ballots being counted claims to have witnessed suspicious activity. In others, the Trump campaign complains that their poll watchers were not allowed to witness activity that might have been suspicious.
As an example of the first kind of case, a Georgia poll watcher claimed that he saw an election worker place a stack of 53 ballots on a table. The poll worker then left the room, and when he came back, the stack of ballots was gone.
Biden leads Trump by more than 12,000 votes in Georgia. So even if there weren’t any number of perfectly lawful explanations for why a short stack of ballots was moved, this Georgia lawsuit wouldn’t change the outcome of the election even if Trump had prevailed in court — and he did not.
Meanwhile, one of the Trump campaign’s most common complaints is that its poll watchers are not allowed to stand closer to the election workers who counted ballots. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, for example, recently rejected a Trump campaign lawsuit alleging that the state violated the law by requiring poll watchers to remain at least 15 feet away from ballot counters.
But even if Trump had prevailed in this Pennsylvania case, it’s unclear what he could have done with that victory. The proper remedy, if Trump’s poll watchers aren’t being allowed to stand close enough to election workers, is to let them stand closer to election workers. At most, Trump might have secured a court order requiring some ballots to be recounted with poll watchers in close proximity.
Such an order would do nothing to change the fact that, according to current tallies, Biden won 80,000 more votes than Trump in the state of Pennsylvania.
Many of Trump’s lawsuits are a mix of conspiracy theories and demands for outlandish relief to cure minor violations
Shortly after the election, a conspiracy theory emerged in some of the Trumpiest corners of Facebook and Twitter alleging that a company that supplies voting machines to 28 states is somehow in league with the Democratic Party.
The conspiracy theory emerged after a clerical error briefly assigned some votes in a conservative Michigan county to Biden that were actually cast for Trump. The error was swiftly caught, and the votes were properly tallied.
Though election officials say the real cause of this mistake was human error, tens of thousands of social media users amplified an unsubstantiated theory attributing the error to Dominion Voting Systems, a company that supplies voting machines to Michigan. Many of these conspiracy theorists pointed to Dominion’s loose ties with prominent Democratic politicians. Dominion, for example, employs a lobbyist who used to work for Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (It should be noted that Dominion also employs Republican lobbyists, including one who worked for Republican former Speaker John Boehner.) The company also donated some of its election machines to the Clinton Global Initiative in 2014 as part of a project to shore up emerging democracies.
Dominion-ghazi is the kind of speculative nonsense that frequently bubbles up in paranoid corners of sites like Twitter, and that is rarely noticed by many people outside of that bubble. And yet this particular unsubstantiated conspiracy theory plays a major role in Donald J. Trump for President v. Benson, a case that tried to prevent Michigan from certifying its election results. Here is an actual paragraph from the complaint in Benson:
On the morning of November 4, unofficial results posted by the Antrim County Clerk showed that Joe Biden had over 7,700 votes — 3,000 more than Donald Trump. Antrim County voted 62% in favor of President Trump in 2016. The Dominion Voting Systems election management system and voting machines (tabulators), which were used in Antrim County, are also used in many other Michigan counties, including Wayne County, were at fault.
The Trump campaign asked a federal court to prohibit the state from counting “ballots tabulated using the Dominion tabulating equipment or software without the accuracy of individual tabulators having first been determined.”
In Benson, the Trump campaign also claimed that election workers manipulated the ballot-counting process, based on barely relevant accusations from poll watchers. One Trump poll watcher, for example, said, “I witnessed election workers open ballots with Donald Trump votes and respond by rolling their eyes and showing it to other poll workers. I believe some of these ballots may not have been properly counted.”
In any event, the Trump campaign abruptly filed to dismiss the Benson case on Thursday. Amusingly, the document dismissing the case claims that “the Wayne County board of county canvassers met and declined to certify the results of the presidential election.” In reality, Republicans on the Wayne County board did briefly vote on Tuesday to block certification of votes in that county, which includes the Democratic stronghold of Detroit, but they swiftly backed down due to public outcry and voted to certify.
(Thursday brought a new twist: The two Republicans on this board tried to rescind their votes certifying Wayne County’s results after at least one board member received a call from President Trump. According to the state Bureau of Elections, there is no legal mechanism for a county board member to reverse their vote at this late stage.)
Meanwhile, the Boockvar case in Pennsylvania remains ongoing, but that case largely turns on unsubstantiated allegations and absurd demands. In a document filed Wednesday evening, for example, the Trump campaign claims that Pennsylvania election officials “deliberately excluded Republican/Trump observers from the canvassing in order to facilitate counting mail ballots which did not comport with the signature, date, and other requirements of Pennsylvania law,” and that these officials did so to “favor Biden over Trump.”
The campaign demands that Pennsylvania turn over the envelopes used to submit about 1.5 million ballots in that state or “a significant random sample from each county.” The Trump campaign then claims that it will use these envelopes to “determine the percentage of mail ballots which were illegally counted.” And if the Trump campaign determines that Trump should have won the election, then the court “should set aside these votes and declare Trump the winner.”
I can’t believe that I even have to write this next sentence. But courts typically do not resolve election disputes by allowing one of the campaigns to determine who won the election.
As I write these words, Giuliani is speaking at a press conference at the Republican National Committee’s headquarters, where he claims — again, without evidence — that officials in 10 “crooked cities” are engaged in a “national conspiracy” to rig the election for Joe Biden. “You would have to be a fool not to realize that!” an angry Giuliani told reporters, before claiming that he divined this conspiracy by “just using logic.”
The mere idea that Trump appears to have assembled his legal team from characters on The Benny Hill Show should not detract the public from what Trump is trying to accomplish. As my colleague Ezra Klein has written, Trump “is attempting a coup in plain sight.” He lost an election, and now he’s filling the courts with meritless lawsuits in the hope that he’ll find a sufficiently partisan judge who is willing to steal the presidency from President-elect Biden. And if that doesn’t work, maybe he can create an alternative reality in the minds of state lawmakers that will convince them to steal the election for Trump.
But that doesn’t change the fact that Trump’s entire litigation strategy is likely to collapse under the weight of its utter incompetence.


vox--2020-11-20--When ordinary people go viral, where’s the line between comedy and cruelty?

Louisa Melcher had just graduated with a theater degree from Columbia University when she wrote the song that would get her mercilessly roasted on the internet .
It wasn ’ t because of the lyrics — “ New York Summer ” tells a thoughtful story of a young romance that ’ s doomed once September rolls around — and it wasn ’ t exactly because of her singing voice , either .
It was because she recorded a song that had fallen into the loosely defined and ever-expanding category of digital artifacts that make us feel slightly embarrassed for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to use internet speak , she posted cringe .
“ Once I came up with the chorus , I was like , ‘ Oh , this is so catchy , ’ ” she tells me over the phone .
“ I played it for my parents and they were like , ‘ You have to record this .
It ’ s so good.
’ ” So she did , and uploaded it to Spotify .
Within minutes , Louisa decided to make a self-deprecating TikTok video that followed a popular trend at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hurt my feelings ?
I released this song and it got 9 streams , ” she wrote , without noting that it had only been listened to nine times because it had just debuted .
Her fellow TikTokers were not so forgiving .
A sampling of the most-liked comments : “ Well this song is definitely a song !
” “ At least you got the 9 , ” and “ There ’ s a reason lmfao.
” And yet from the dogpile , she ended up getting exactly what she wanted , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meant to : views , millions of them , all within the span of just a few days .
Louisa is one of the hundreds , if not thousands , of people to go viral on TikTok not because people enjoyed their videos but because they were embarrassed by them .
They ’ re a part of the internet largely grouped as “ cringe , ” used as both adjective and noun : content deemed humiliating on account of the poster ’ s looks , behavior , or talent , and the lack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The top tier of digital cringe is created by people who not only lack self-awareness but lack it enough to share themselves in the hope that other people will be impressed , then fail to realize when the general response is laughter .
Yes , people get bullied online for posting cringe .
They can become memes whose virality spirals out of their control and end up as the face of something they never intended to promote .
They can also become viral superstars who build huge networks of supportive fans and translate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Little of that matters to the people who watch them .
On TikTok , the line between privately grimacing at a cringeworthy post and contributing to a cruel barrage of comments twisting the knife can be all too tempting to cross .
In 2011 , a 13-year-old girl named Rebecca Black was among the first generation of people to unintentionally submit themselves to social media ridicule .
With her $ 2,000 vanity song and accompanying music video , “ Friday , ” she became an easy target because of the song ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lines like “ Fun , fun , fun , fun / Looking forward to the weekend.
” Though her experience was marked by years of ridicule , bullying , and lost friendships , the line of overnight viral celebrities that would follow in the years to come was long : Ken Bone for asking a simple question during the 2016 presidential debate , Danielle Bregoli for cursing out her mother on an episode of Dr. Phil ( current stage name : Bhad Bhabie ) .
Cringe could come in many flavors , all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
By the 2010s , Americans were primed to appreciate scripted comedy designed to elicit the same feeling .
The US remake of The Office , which premiered in 2005 and centered on a socially awkward boss whose desperation for approval made him almost as endearing as he was pathetic , had become a hit .
As the show wrapped its final episodes , Office director Ken Kwapis said , “ You didn ’ t hear words like cringe-worthy or cringe-inducing in a complimentary way before [ the show ] .
Now I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ‘ I want that cringe-worthy comedy.
’ ” 2009 saw the birth of Cringeworthy.net , which was devoted to cringe-inducing “ fails , ” the same year Reddit debuted its first cringe discussion board .
It ’ s why in 2018 , when word spread of a new social media platform where gamers , furries , and middle-aged men were sharing thirst traps and easily mockable memes , many people , myself included , delighted in watching YouTube cringe compilations that featured the worst offenders .
Even though TikTok had already begun @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most unique voices on the internet , the backbone of TikTok was , from the beginning , cringe .
This wasn ’ t necessarily bad for business .
As Taylor Lorenz explained at the Atlantic in 2018 , “ For a social platform to successfully grow , it must reach the confused parents , the people who don ’ t quite know when the camera is recording , the ones who get a little too personal , or who aren ’ t Instagram-influencer attractive but have the gall to put themselves out there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when it broadcasts one regular person ’ s video to millions of people based on what others like , but the problem is that sometimes people like videos because they also sort of hate them .
As TikTok has crystallized into a powerful talent discovery app over the past two years , where average teenagers can post a video one day and become a household name the next , it ’ s easy to forget about its former reputation as a museum of schadenfreude .
But many users are noticing an odd return @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Lucas McCutchen , a 24-year-old Austin-based comedian and actor , in October .
On his For You page , the home feed that ’ s personalized to each user , he stumbled across a duet ( a function wherein someone replies to another in video form , so that the two become a single side-by-side video ) .
On the right side was a bearded man in a hoodie lip-syncing to audio that said “ Diamonds are a girl ’ s best friend.
” To the left was a middle-aged woman with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : “ And beards … are a woman ’ s. ” It ’ s an uncomfortably intimate look at how average people might flirt with each other through a screen , like everyone ’ s worst nightmare about what their quirky aunt is getting up to online .
“ Somehow my For You page is just filled with this kind of content , ” he captioned his repost of the video .
“ I think I may have stayed on those [ kinds of videos ] too long , ” he tells me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more interesting than the dancing or the cliché of what you might think is popular on TikTok.
” As a certain segment of the app continues to dominate the mainstream consciousness — beautiful young people dancing and lip-syncing together , sometimes in the form of content houses in Los Angeles , also known as “ straight TikTok ” — many of its users long for what they consider more authentic or “ rare ” forms of content .
It also can be a point of pride : Brags that “ I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made it to masonry TikTok ” are common , as the For You page is thought to be a referendum on an individual ’ s taste .
Cringe TikTok , then , is its own subcategory , and it ’ s suddenly everywhere .
Some examples : kink play POVs to overdramatized music videos .
“ Acting challenges ” from people who are not particularly talented actors .
A MAGA teen pretends to weep in his bedroom covered by a Trump 2020 flag after the election .
A man sits in his car @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s never seen two pretty best friends .
A girl films herself posing sexily in an unflattering outfit .
Then come the commenters .
On TikTok , the comment section is half the fun ; because the most-liked comments automatically populate at the top of the screen , the best ( or most brutal ) joke wins .
On cringey videos , it ’ s a race to see who can get the top spot .
Louisa remembers how among the thousands of comments on the two “ New York Summer ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ majority were rehashes of the same easy joke .
But they didn ’ t really hurt her feelings , she says , because in reality , everything was going to plan .
She maintains that “ New York Summer ” was written in earnest .
But Louisa , who commenters quickly discovered had studied comedy and accused her of creating the whole song as a stunt , used the familiar cycle of cringey video plus eager rude commenters to her advantage .
“ I was kind of like , ‘ If this gets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then I think we have something that is super useful for me there , ” she says .
“ I was like , ‘ How can I make this blow up even bigger , even if it requires getting more hate ?
How can I get it out to 300,000 people so that even if 200,000 hate it , I ’ ll have 100,000 fans ?
’ It was so devious .
No one thought I could possibly be doing it on purpose because there was so much hate directly at me.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a natural successor : Parody Cringe TikTok .
Nate Varrone , a 31-year-old comedian in Los Angeles , joined the platform to watch embarrassing videos from ordinary people , but now he ’ s one of the genre ’ s biggest stars .
Varrone , who goes by “ Mr .
Simp Sexual ” on TikTok , has created an elaborate backstory for his character , defined by his drawn-on chinstrap , chest hair , creepily soft voice , and frequent lip-biting .
“ He ’ s from Michigan and he had a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back so fucking badly , ” Varrone explains .
“ He ’ s just not in a good place right now , emotionally .
I think he uses TikTok to fill the hole in his heart and find a new lover .
The horniness this guy has , no human has ever felt that amount of horny in their entire life .
It ’ s like he has a curse .
He thinks he has to hook up immediately or else he ’ ll die.
” It ’ s the kind of content @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experience ( and , fair warning , most are deeply uncomfortable ) , but a sample video is Varrone attempting to sexily eject an egg from his mouth with the caption “ C ’ mere baby : ) .
” “ If I met this guy in real life , I would love it because I ’ m a comedian and I love meeting weird people .
But if I wasn ’ t a comedian , I would be scared of this guy , ” Varrone says , laughing .
Inspiration , of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ posting on the app .
“ Nothing that any comedian can write or perform will be as funny as some weirdo on the internet just popping off , ” he says .
“ The best accounts are the ones that only have , like , one or two thousand followers that only you and a couple of your friends know about.
” On its face , laughing at Cringe TikTok sounds extremely cruel .
But there is something fundamentally human about our desire to watch other people humiliate themselves .
Laura Müller-Pinzler , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lübeck in Germany , told Popular Science that vicarious embarrassment can also include the embarrassment we feel when someone is oblivious to their awkwardness , and psychology professor Rowland Miller suggested that our ability to feel vicarious embarrassment is influenced by our ability to empathize with others .
But Melissa Dahl , a senior editor at The Cut and author of Cringeworthy : A Theory of Awkwardness , warns that having empathy does not make you especially good .
“ Empathy is often an automatic human process , ” she told me .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ is probably also a highly empathetic person , but I don ’ t necessarily mean a really kind person.
” Instead , she posits that watching cringe content for fun actually functions similarly to how nightmares do .
“ It ’ s our brains giving us a dose of exposure therapy .
Maybe the same thing is happening for people who are drawn to cringey content , [ maybe they ’ re ] people whose deepest fear is being ostracized or made to look like a fool.
” ( This might also explain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bear watching these sorts of videos — as popular as horror movies and true crime podcasts are , plenty of folks can ’ t stand them . )
Perhaps that ’ s also why cringe content is so popular among young people .
Dahl recalls being in her early 20s and watching cringey YouTube content that was mostly consumed by fellow 20-somethings and teenagers , a time in life devoted to figuring out one ’ s place in the world .
“ I think [ cringe content ] is a controlled way of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she says .
“ It ’ s funny to talk about being embarrassed during the year 2020 when there ’ s such scary things going on .
But , like , there ’ s nothing scarier than being cast out on your own and laughed out of the group !
” However relatable these feelings may be , when we talk about Cringe TikTok we ’ re not talking about awkward scripted sitcoms or prank calls , content that uses cringe humor for the sake of comedy .
We ’ re talking about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meant for thousands of people to view and comment on their videos in this manner .
Whose videos are considered cringe , and whose aren ’ t , says far more about the viewers than it does about the creators .
It is not an accident that the majority of viral cringey TikToks are posted by people without the privilege of beauty , wealth , or in-depth knowledge of internet norms .
They possess qualities we ’ ve been taught to deride : the wrong sort of body type , a lack of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rundown house .
The top comments are usually fairly predictable in their cruelty .
People on the app have spoken about the harm that TikTok comments and duet features have caused them .
In 2018 , a 21-year-old named Natalia shared a Twitter thread about how bullying on TikTok was “ making her lose faith in humanity.
” “ Being gay and a furry , I ’ m used to this type of stuff and just let it roll off my shoulder , ” she told BuzzFeed .
“ I try not to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but when I have literally hundreds of videos of children pretending to drink bleach , hang themselves , shoot themselves , and telling me to commit suicide , it starts to get very disturbing.
” Not even its most popular creators are immune : “ I have never felt more unhappy and self-hatred than after I downloaded TikTok , ” tweeted social media star and actress Sissy Sheridan in October .
“ I think for the most part when people think of the word ‘ cringey , ’ they think of some nerdy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That ’ s not cringey to me .
That ’ s someone having a great time .
If someone ’ s making fun of that , then they ’ re just jealous , ” says Kurtis Conner , a popular YouTuber who makes videos about Cringe TikTok .
“ When I think of ‘ cringey , ’ it ’ s something like a cop making a thirst trap TikTok being like , ‘ Yeah , I just wrongfully imprisoned someone for possession of a small amount of marijuana .
That ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
’ ” Worst are the TikToks made by people with mental illness or disabilities that commenters label “ cringe.
” Often , commenters don ’ t assume that a video might be the result of a physical or mental difference and are quick to fire off the most hurtful joke in the hope that their comment will rise to the top .
This can also have the reverse effect , in which a “ cringey ” creator ultimately becomes an endearing icon of “ alternative ” TikTok .
Australian creator @ superchloeone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which she urges people not to hate on Justin Bieber , and has made dozens of similar ones singing to the camera about topics like what it ’ s like to have bipolar disorder and why you should treat people with disabilities with respect .
The vast majority of the most popular comments on her videos are people giving her compliments and genuine words of encouragement .
The opposite trajectory is often typical for creators who amass audiences for being beautiful or talented , like Charli D ’ Amelio or Bella Poarch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her childlike face to hypnotizing music : The first wave of comments will be positive , but as their fame grows , so does the number of people who want to see them fail .
That ’ s the insidious power of the algorithm , and also why it makes the already extremely volatile concept of fame even more so .
No one , not established stars and certainly not ordinary people , knows where their video is going to end up , and who will get to decide whether it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Fear of posting cringe has created a kind of ouroboros on TikTok .
Now the most popular memes are parodies of what a cringey person might do : post videos set to the extremely embarrassing but also sort of catchy 2014 pop-rock song “ Geronimo , ” or pretend to be humans living as wolf packs .
These sorts of videos are invitations to laugh at an imagined person together , a sort of group therapy for everyone to recontextualize their younger selves or most shameful impulses — hopefully , without anyone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has given the concept of cringe plenty of thought after “ New York Summer ” went viral .
“ TikTok gives us kind of unprecedented access to other people that we would never meet before , ” she says .
“ It plays on the same thing that Borat or Nathan For You play on .
It ’ s just people marveling at all the different types of humans that exist.
” As she scrolls through the app , she says she ’ s often struck by the diversity of the human experience @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like , ‘ Wow , I can ’ t believe people are actually like that .
Have I met this person on the street that behaves like this ?
’ Or , ‘ Oh , my god , I can ’ t believe people are so brash and hurtful in the comments.
’ ” Or , she adds , “ Is it all a joke ?
” It ’ s never been more difficult to tell .
But perhaps that ’ s the fun of it .

Louisa Melcher had just graduated with a theater degree from Columbia University when she wrote the song that would get her mercilessly roasted on the internet. It wasn’t because of the lyrics — “New York Summer” tells a thoughtful story of a young romance that’s doomed once September rolls around — and it wasn’t exactly because of her singing voice, either. It was because she recorded a song that had fallen into the loosely defined and ever-expanding category of digital artifacts that make us feel slightly embarrassed for the person who created them. Or, to use internet speak, she posted cringe.
“Once I came up with the chorus, I was like, ‘Oh, this is so catchy,’” she tells me over the phone. “I played it for my parents and they were like, ‘You have to record this. It’s so good.’” So she did, and uploaded it to Spotify.
Within minutes, Louisa decided to make a self-deprecating TikTok video that followed a popular trend at the time. “You think you can hurt my feelings? I released this song and it got 9 streams,” she wrote, without noting that it had only been listened to nine times because it had just debuted.
Her fellow TikTokers were not so forgiving. A sampling of the most-liked comments: “Well this song is definitely a song!” “At least you got the 9,” and “There’s a reason lmfao.” And yet from the dogpile, she ended up getting exactly what she wanted, though perhaps not in the way she meant to: views, millions of them, all within the span of just a few days.
Louisa is one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of people to go viral on TikTok not because people enjoyed their videos but because they were embarrassed by them. They’re a part of the internet largely grouped as “cringe,” used as both adjective and noun: content deemed humiliating on account of the poster’s looks, behavior, or talent, and the lack of apparent self-awareness about those things. The top tier of digital cringe is created by people who not only lack self-awareness but lack it enough to share themselves in the hope that other people will be impressed, then fail to realize when the general response is laughter.
Yes, people get bullied online for posting cringe. They can become memes whose virality spirals out of their control and end up as the face of something they never intended to promote. They can also become viral superstars who build huge networks of supportive fans and translate it into a successful entertainment career. Little of that matters to the people who watch them. On TikTok, the line between privately grimacing at a cringeworthy post and contributing to a cruel barrage of comments twisting the knife can be all too tempting to cross.
In 2011, a 13-year-old girl named Rebecca Black was among the first generation of people to unintentionally submit themselves to social media ridicule. With her $2,000 vanity song and accompanying music video, “Friday,” she became an easy target because of the song’s cheap production values and autotuned lyrics with lines like “Fun, fun, fun, fun / Looking forward to the weekend.” Though her experience was marked by years of ridicule, bullying, and lost friendships, the line of overnight viral celebrities that would follow in the years to come was long: Ken Bone for asking a simple question during the 2016 presidential debate, Danielle Bregoli for cursing out her mother on an episode of Dr. Phil (current stage name: Bhad Bhabie). Cringe could come in many flavors, all of it gleefully consumed by the public.
By the 2010s, Americans were primed to appreciate scripted comedy designed to elicit the same feeling. The US remake of The Office, which premiered in 2005 and centered on a socially awkward boss whose desperation for approval made him almost as endearing as he was pathetic, had become a hit. As the show wrapped its final episodes, Office director Ken Kwapis said, “You didn’t hear words like cringe-worthy or cringe-inducing in a complimentary way before [the show]. Now I go to pitch meetings where executives say, ‘I want that cringe-worthy comedy.’” 2009 saw the birth of Cringeworthy.net, which was devoted to cringe-inducing “fails,” the same year Reddit debuted its first cringe discussion board.
It’s why in 2018, when word spread of a new social media platform where gamers, furries, and middle-aged men were sharing thirst traps and easily mockable memes, many people, myself included, delighted in watching YouTube cringe compilations that featured the worst offenders. Even though TikTok had already begun hosting some of the cleverest comedy and most unique voices on the internet, the backbone of TikTok was, from the beginning, cringe.
This wasn’t necessarily bad for business. As Taylor Lorenz explained at the Atlantic in 2018, “For a social platform to successfully grow, it must reach the confused parents, the people who don’t quite know when the camera is recording, the ones who get a little too personal, or who aren’t Instagram-influencer attractive but have the gall to put themselves out there anyway.”
The TikTok algorithm works best when it broadcasts one regular person’s video to millions of people based on what others like, but the problem is that sometimes people like videos because they also sort of hate them. As TikTok has crystallized into a powerful talent discovery app over the past two years, where average teenagers can post a video one day and become a household name the next, it’s easy to forget about its former reputation as a museum of schadenfreude. But many users are noticing an odd return to the olden days.
It happened to Lucas McCutchen, a 24-year-old Austin-based comedian and actor, in October. On his For You page, the home feed that’s personalized to each user, he stumbled across a duet (a function wherein someone replies to another in video form, so that the two become a single side-by-side video). On the right side was a bearded man in a hoodie lip-syncing to audio that said “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” To the left was a middle-aged woman with a margarita glass who lip-synced the reply: “And beards … are a woman’s.” It’s an uncomfortably intimate look at how average people might flirt with each other through a screen, like everyone’s worst nightmare about what their quirky aunt is getting up to online.
“Somehow my For You page is just filled with this kind of content,” he captioned his repost of the video. “I think I may have stayed on those [kinds of videos] too long,” he tells me, “because I thought that was more interesting than the dancing or the cliché of what you might think is popular on TikTok.”
As a certain segment of the app continues to dominate the mainstream consciousness — beautiful young people dancing and lip-syncing together, sometimes in the form of content houses in Los Angeles, also known as “straight TikTok” — many of its users long for what they consider more authentic or “rare” forms of content. It also can be a point of pride: Brags that “I’m on alt TikTok” or “I made it to masonry TikTok” are common, as the For You page is thought to be a referendum on an individual’s taste.
Cringe TikTok, then, is its own subcategory, and it’s suddenly everywhere. Some examples: kink play POVs to overdramatized music videos. “Acting challenges” from people who are not particularly talented actors. A MAGA teen pretends to weep in his bedroom covered by a Trump 2020 flag after the election. A man sits in his car with unsettlingly bright eyes and claims he’s never seen two pretty best friends. A girl films herself posing sexily in an unflattering outfit.
@jayrscottyy why y’all never choose another equal to be y’all best friend?? I hate when the ugly one call the pretty 1 “twin” if ur best friend bad as u tag her rn ♬ original sound - Jordan Scott
Then come the commenters. On TikTok, the comment section is half the fun; because the most-liked comments automatically populate at the top of the screen, the best (or most brutal) joke wins. On cringey videos, it’s a race to see who can get the top spot.
Louisa remembers how among the thousands of comments on the two “New York Summer” videos that went viral, the vast majority were rehashes of the same easy joke. But they didn’t really hurt her feelings, she says, because in reality, everything was going to plan.
She maintains that “New York Summer” was written in earnest. But Louisa, who commenters quickly discovered had studied comedy and accused her of creating the whole song as a stunt, used the familiar cycle of cringey video plus eager rude commenters to her advantage. “I was kind of like, ‘If this gets to the right side of TikTok, then I think we have something that is super useful for me there,” she says. “I was like, ‘How can I make this blow up even bigger, even if it requires getting more hate? How can I get it out to 300,000 people so that even if 200,000 hate it, I’ll have 100,000 fans?’ It was so devious. No one thought I could possibly be doing it on purpose because there was so much hate directly at me.”
The popularity of Cringe TikTok has created a natural successor: Parody Cringe TikTok. Nate Varrone, a 31-year-old comedian in Los Angeles, joined the platform to watch embarrassing videos from ordinary people, but now he’s one of the genre’s biggest stars. Varrone, who goes by “Mr. Simp Sexual” on TikTok, has created an elaborate backstory for his character, defined by his drawn-on chinstrap, chest hair, creepily soft voice, and frequent lip-biting.
“He’s from Michigan and he had a girlfriend named Melissa that he just wants back so fucking badly,” Varrone explains. “He’s just not in a good place right now, emotionally. I think he uses TikTok to fill the hole in his heart and find a new lover. The horniness this guy has, no human has ever felt that amount of horny in their entire life. It’s like he has a curse. He thinks he has to hook up immediately or else he’ll die.”
It’s the kind of content that needs to be watched to fully experience (and, fair warning, most are deeply uncomfortable), but a sample video is Varrone attempting to sexily eject an egg from his mouth with the caption “C’mere baby : ).” “If I met this guy in real life, I would love it because I’m a comedian and I love meeting weird people. But if I wasn’t a comedian, I would be scared of this guy,” Varrone says, laughing.
Inspiration, of course, comes from the people earnestly posting on the app. “Nothing that any comedian can write or perform will be as funny as some weirdo on the internet just popping off,” he says. “The best accounts are the ones that only have, like, one or two thousand followers that only you and a couple of your friends know about.”
On its face, laughing at Cringe TikTok sounds extremely cruel. But there is something fundamentally human about our desire to watch other people humiliate themselves. Laura Müller-Pinzler, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lübeck in Germany, told Popular Science that vicarious embarrassment can also include the embarrassment we feel when someone is oblivious to their awkwardness, and psychology professor Rowland Miller suggested that our ability to feel vicarious embarrassment is influenced by our ability to empathize with others.
But Melissa Dahl, a senior editor at The Cut and author of Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness, warns that having empathy does not make you especially good. “Empathy is often an automatic human process,” she told me. “Someone who really enjoys cringe content is probably also a highly empathetic person, but I don’t necessarily mean a really kind person.”
Instead, she posits that watching cringe content for fun actually functions similarly to how nightmares do. “It’s our brains giving us a dose of exposure therapy. Maybe the same thing is happening for people who are drawn to cringey content, [maybe they’re] people whose deepest fear is being ostracized or made to look like a fool.” (This might also explain why so many people can’t bear watching these sorts of videos — as popular as horror movies and true crime podcasts are, plenty of folks can’t stand them.)
Perhaps that’s also why cringe content is so popular among young people. Dahl recalls being in her early 20s and watching cringey YouTube content that was mostly consumed by fellow 20-somethings and teenagers, a time in life devoted to figuring out one’s place in the world. “I think [cringe content] is a controlled way of facing this really deep fear,” she says. “It’s funny to talk about being embarrassed during the year 2020 when there’s such scary things going on. But, like, there’s nothing scarier than being cast out on your own and laughed out of the group!”
However relatable these feelings may be, when we talk about Cringe TikTok we’re not talking about awkward scripted sitcoms or prank calls, content that uses cringe humor for the sake of comedy. We’re talking about real, ordinary people who likely never meant for thousands of people to view and comment on their videos in this manner. Whose videos are considered cringe, and whose aren’t, says far more about the viewers than it does about the creators.
It is not an accident that the majority of viral cringey TikToks are posted by people without the privilege of beauty, wealth, or in-depth knowledge of internet norms. They possess qualities we’ve been taught to deride: the wrong sort of body type, a lack of talent, an unusual hobby, a rundown house. The top comments are usually fairly predictable in their cruelty.
People on the app have spoken about the harm that TikTok comments and duet features have caused them. In 2018, a 21-year-old named Natalia shared a Twitter thread about how bullying on TikTok was “making her lose faith in humanity.” “Being gay and a furry, I’m used to this type of stuff and just let it roll off my shoulder,” she told BuzzFeed. “I try not to let the videos affect me personally, but when I have literally hundreds of videos of children pretending to drink bleach, hang themselves, shoot themselves, and telling me to commit suicide, it starts to get very disturbing.” Not even its most popular creators are immune: “I have never felt more unhappy and self-hatred than after I downloaded TikTok,” tweeted social media star and actress Sissy Sheridan in October.
“I think for the most part when people think of the word ‘cringey,’ they think of some nerdy kid dressing up and LARPing or something. That’s not cringey to me. That’s someone having a great time. If someone’s making fun of that, then they’re just jealous,” says Kurtis Conner, a popular YouTuber who makes videos about Cringe TikTok. “When I think of ‘cringey,’ it’s something like a cop making a thirst trap TikTok being like, ‘Yeah, I just wrongfully imprisoned someone for possession of a small amount of marijuana. That’s so hot, isn’t it?’”
Worst are the TikToks made by people with mental illness or disabilities that commenters label “cringe.” Often, commenters don’t assume that a video might be the result of a physical or mental difference and are quick to fire off the most hurtful joke in the hope that their comment will rise to the top.
This can also have the reverse effect, in which a “cringey” creator ultimately becomes an endearing icon of “alternative” TikTok. Australian creator @superchloeone went viral in November for one video in which she urges people not to hate on Justin Bieber, and has made dozens of similar ones singing to the camera about topics like what it’s like to have bipolar disorder and why you should treat people with disabilities with respect. The vast majority of the most popular comments on her videos are people giving her compliments and genuine words of encouragement.
The opposite trajectory is often typical for creators who amass audiences for being beautiful or talented, like Charli D’Amelio or Bella Poarch, who went massively viral for bobbing her childlike face to hypnotizing music: The first wave of comments will be positive, but as their fame grows, so does the number of people who want to see them fail. That’s the insidious power of the algorithm, and also why it makes the already extremely volatile concept of fame even more so. No one, not established stars and certainly not ordinary people, knows where their video is going to end up, and who will get to decide whether it’s good or, god forbid, cringe.
Fear of posting cringe has created a kind of ouroboros on TikTok. Now the most popular memes are parodies of what a cringey person might do: post videos set to the extremely embarrassing but also sort of catchy 2014 pop-rock song “Geronimo,” or pretend to be humans living as wolf packs. These sorts of videos are invitations to laugh at an imagined person together, a sort of group therapy for everyone to recontextualize their younger selves or most shameful impulses — hopefully, without anyone’s feelings getting hurt.
Louisa has given the concept of cringe plenty of thought after “New York Summer” went viral. “TikTok gives us kind of unprecedented access to other people that we would never meet before,” she says. “It plays on the same thing that Borat or Nathan For You play on. It’s just people marveling at all the different types of humans that exist.”
As she scrolls through the app, she says she’s often struck by the diversity of the human experience. “I’m wondering, like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe people are actually like that. Have I met this person on the street that behaves like this?’ Or, ‘Oh, my god, I can’t believe people are so brash and hurtful in the comments.’” Or, she adds, “Is it all a joke?” It’s never been more difficult to tell. But perhaps that’s the fun of it.