Historian and scholar of American religion Kristin Du Mez discusses why she has just subscribed to Vanity Fair after it published Chris Whipple's interview with Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and photos of Trump's staff by award-winning photographer Christopher Anderson.
She notes that the photos immediately became controversial, though Anderson is known for close-up photos of politicians.
#Trump #SusieWiles #VanityFair #ChristopherAnderson #authoritarianism
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Du Mez says,
"Were the photographs posed and shot to be unflattering or were they just revealing kind of the souls of the people who were the subjects?"
Then:
"One of the photographs that got some of the most attention was Karoline Leavitt, right? And it's close-up of her and of course she's the press secretary and so ... is called the mouthpiece."
(I've lightly edited as I transcribe the audio.)
#Trump #SusieWiles #VanityFair #ChristopherAnderson #KarolineLeavitt #authoritarianism
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"And so it's a it's a just zoomed-in shot of her face and her mouth. And you can see all the little injections where she gets her lip filler, right? …
And she's actually quite young, right? She's late 20s, I think. So anyway, that became the topic of conversation…."
Du Mez notes that Anderson was interviewed and asked why he didn't touch up the photos.
#Trump #SusieWiles #VanityFair #ChristopherAnderson #KarolineLeavitt #authoritarianism
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He was accused of deliberately publishing candid photos of political celebrities to make them look bad.
He replied that of course he didn't airbrush these photos because he doesn't do that, has never done that. This is journalism. He's doing what photojournalists do.
Du Mez links the hostility of the Trump regime and its supporters to the photos to authoritarianism:
#Trump #SusieWiles #VanityFair #ChristopherAnderson #KarolineLeavitt #authoritarianism
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"I think that those pictures just grabbed people's attention because they revealed something as good art and [what] good journalism does, right? They revealed that behind the facade there is an ugliness, right? And and that this is who these people are and we ought to literally look that in the face."
#Trump #SusieWiles #VanityFair #ChristopherAnderson #KarolineLeavitt #authoritarianism
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"You know, it's reminded me that one of the things that authoritarian[ism] scholars always note is how much imagery is important for the projection of power and dominance. And so anything that rips that mask off, right, is is going to be, you know, threatening to the regime."
The mouthpiece with the artificial touched-up lips: a powerful symbol.
#Trump #SusieWiles #VanityFair #ChristopherAnderson #KarolineLeavitt #authoritarianism
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William Lindsey 
Phil Stevens 