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Molly Olmstead

@mollyolmstead.bsky.social
1.7K followers 381 following 22 posts

Reporter at Slate, covering the right molly.olmstead@slate.com

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Reposted by Molly Olmstead
BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
a great exploration of one of the pervasive scams of the Trump era, and also of how online culture turns the quirky into the exploitative and vicious slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
It’s the Cruelest Conspiracy on the Internet. Donald Trump Has Taken It Up. After a Dark Year, I Found the Truth.
An internet conspiracy theory was killing people even before the president posted about it. I found the man who started it. He’s nothing like you’d expect.
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Molly Olmstead @mollyolmstead.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Almost exactly a year ago, Trump posted an AI-generated video of what I then considered to be one of the absolute weirdest and cruelest conspiracy theories out there: Medbeds. (Apologies for the thread, but this one was a real journey for me.)
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Molly Olmstead @mollyolmstead.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
This piece started out as an attempt to get to the bottom of a clash over free speech and Southern manners and ended up a kind ode to feisty Southern grandmothers slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
A Southern Grandma Wore a Shocking Outfit to a No Kings Protest—and Was Violently Arrested for It. I Went to Her Trial. It Was Even Worse Than I Expected.
Never has a “Dick Tator” pun caused so much trouble.
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Molly Olmstead @mollyolmstead.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
The Waffle House teleportation story from last was obviously...odd, but imo a lot of people are missing just how *conventional* the FEMA guy's type of supernatural thinking has become in American evangelicalism slate.com/life/2026/04...
slate.com
There’s a Reason MAGA Figures Can’t Seem to Stop Talking About Aliens. It’s Much Darker Than It Appears.
The scary part is where these beliefs are coming from.
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Reposted by Molly Olmstead
Chloe Hadavas @hadavas.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Very excited to share that we're launching a monthly newsletter @foreignpolicy.com to showcase our growing Books coverage, including criticism, excerpts, curated reading lists, and an international fiction column. Sign up for FP Bookshelf here:
foreignpolicy.com
Bookshelf Politics, Relations & Current Affairs – Foreign Policy
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Josh Levin @joshuablevin.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Scott Hanson just said on Gold Zone that Hunter Hess (the free skier Trump called a loser) is 6-foot-9, "one of the tallest Olympians." U.S. Ski & Snowboard told me+@mollyolmstead.bsky.social that Hess is actually 6-foot flat. 6-foot-9 is a typo in his Team USA bio!!! slate.com/culture/2026...
slate.com
Why a Floppy-Haired 27-Year-Old Olympic Skier Is Making Conservatives So Very, Very Angry
“It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think,” he said, fatefully.
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Molly Olmstead @mollyolmstead.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Even if you don't buy into reports of Nick Fuentes' influence, it's clear that his kind of white nationalist edgelord internet politics are taking over classrooms. The good news, experts say, is there are ways to help kids snap out of it—if you catch it early enough slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
You Love Him. He Just Fell for the Most Insidious Movement in America. Now What?
Too many young men are turning to Nick Fuentes’ neo-Nazi movement. Their loved ones are fighting to bring them back.
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Reposted by Molly Olmstead
Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Tucker Carlson just keeps getting worse. Now he's bought into the chemtrails conspiracy, which is (among every other problem with it) a climate-denial ploy slate.com/news-and-pol... by @mollyolmstead.bsky.social on @slate.com
slate.com
Tucker Carlson’s Latest Conspiracy Theory Takes Things to a Whole New Level
The former Fox News host’s chemtrails era is upon us.
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Molly Olmstead @mollyolmstead.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Before the U.S. started shipping immigrants off to the terrifying Salvadoran mega-prison CECOT, YouTubers were touring it, trying on shackles and marveling at the security. Millions of people were introduced to CECOT this way—as a cool innovation in crime-fighting. slate.com/life/2025/04...
slate.com
The Prison Where Trump Thinks He Can Send Anyone He Wants Became Famous for a Bizarre Reason
For people who make videos about extreme places, the CECOT pitch was irresistible.
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Reposted by Molly Olmstead
Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 21/04/2025
Religion aside: If Hegseth is pushed out, it'll be a blow to the growing power of conservative Calvinist "theobros." Hegseth attends a church in the small denomination co-founded by Doug Wilson, arguably the spiritual leader of theobros. religionnews.com/2024/05/31/t...
religionnews.com
The second coming of Doug Wilson
(RNS) — Conservatives are elevating long-controversial Idaho pastor Doug Wilson, framing him as a champion of a relatively moderate form of Christian nationalism — but critics say his ideas remain ext...
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Molly Olmstead @mollyolmstead.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
When writing this obit, I kept asking which parts of Pope Francis' legacy could be undone. Experts all said that policies could be rolled back but that Francis had changed things more fundamentally—the Latin American pope was the first to make the church truly global. slate.com/life/2025/04...
slate.com
Pope Francis Changed a Lot About the Church. One Thing Cannot Be Reversed.
The Vatican will never be the same.
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Reposted by Molly Olmstead
Will Sommer @willsommer.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
A bloody end for Pizzagate gunman Edgar Maddison Welch, who shot up Comet Ping Pong in 2016. Police say they shot him at a traffic stop over the weekend after he pulled a gun. www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/c...
charlotteobserver.com
‘Pizzagate’ gunman fatally shot by police outside Charlotte in traffic stop
Kannapolis police said Edgar Maddison Welch pointed a gun at officers on Saturday, two of whom then fired at him.
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Alex Kaplan @alkapdc.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Some in the far-right internet are cheering Meta rolling back its fact-checking program & its content moderation, claiming Mark Zuckerberg "kissed the ring & bowed to Donald Trump" & was "bending the knee in our direction," along with being amazed it was "this easy" to get these changes announced.
QAnon figure Pepe Lives Matter: "Mark Zuckerberg just admitted that Facebook was pressured by the Biden administration to censor Americans for political gain. He says he will stop the censorship only now that Trump has the power to go after him. He has officially kissed the ring and bowed to Donald Trump. They rigged the election and Trump wouldn't go away, they couldn't kill him because literally God was protecting him... So at this point, they comply because they are petrified of prison time.
God is undefeated.
They can't stop it.
The Zuck has been cucked."Gab CEO Andrew Torba: "I don’t buy it for a second, but the fact that he’s bending the knee in our direction is a massive win. No doubt in my mind that Gab changed the course of history."Anti-vax figure Sherri Tenpenny: "What's the catch? It cant be this easy!"
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Alex Kaplan @alkapdc.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
In a Twitter/X Space last week, Brian Gamble — a board member of Michael Flynn's organization America's Future & a former CIO of Flynn & Patrick Byrne's organization The America Project — said that "it is going to take blood in the streets" in order to stop the supposed "Islamification" of the UK.
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Mike Baker @mikebaker.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Let’s talk about a different aspect of Pete Hegseth: His views on religion and the military, and how the two intertwine. We have been reviewing his extensive writings and connections. Here is a closer look at some of what we’ve found. 1/11 www.nytimes.com/2024/12/05/u...
nytimes.com
Pete Hegseth and His ‘Battle Cry’ for a New Christian Crusade
The veteran picked to lead the Defense Department has praised the brutal religious military campaigns of the past and has called for a Christian approach to governing.
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Bob Smietana @bmietana.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Looking to talk to some folks about religion and seed oils for a story.
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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
I hate to crosspost, but masks are coming off and Fundamentalist Twitter is realizing that some folks who think America should be run as a Christian nation also have other thoughts that may or may not be almost verbatim Hitler quotes.
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Dr. Jon Sawyer @jonsawyer.org · 27/11/2024
People for the American Way has drawn connections between Trump's AG pick and the dominionist New Apostolic Reformation. Also note that Lance Wallnau, prominent NAR leader, boasted in October about his interview with Linda McMahon (education secretary pick). www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwat...
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Eviane Leidig @evianeleidig.com · 27/11/2024
The conservative women’s magazine Evie has released their new cover featuring Ballerina Farm. Evie has peddled health conspiracy theories & disinfo, patriarchal relationships, and anti-LGBTQ views under an aesthetic guise. It’s time to stop saying that tradwives aren’t political.
Magazine cover of Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm
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Molly Olmstead @mollyolmstead.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
As I wrote this, people kept asking if Bannon is actually still relevant, since the Trump fallout. I really think so—he has sway over the MAGA types in Congress, and his allies (the kind of people he says "I love you" to on the show) are staffing up the next administration slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
I Just Listened to Steve Bannon’s Show for a Week. What’s Coming Is Clear.
He's gloating. But he's also sounding a warning.
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