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Netflix's The Politician Review: It's a Hilarious Mix of Glee, Scream Queens, and, The Act


“I love to take bites out of the very confrontational nature of Payton and the over-confidence and the sort of lack of empathy and lack of regard for anyone else’s motives and feelings, because I’m very much not like that,” Platt tells Glamour about his character, who, at one point in the pilot, literally ponders whether or not he’s a sociopath. “It was delicious to play someone who is so headstrong and walks into a room and believes he’s the best person in the room.”

Boynton has similar feelings about playing the antagonistic Astrid. “She can be such a powerhouse and power presence, and I love those moments,” she says. “That happens mostly at her worst, and I love that part of her. I love playing Astrid at her most aggressive. She has such a presence and is not in the slightest afraid to take up space in the room.”

That aspect of The Politician is definitely refreshing. The female characters on the show—whether that’s Astrid, Dusty, or Georgina—aren’t concerned with being “likable.” They have elections to win, scams to execute, or mansions to iconically glide around. These women aren’t necessarily realistic, but they’re not idealized, either. They’re self-indulgent, over-the-top, occasionally villainous, and always entertaining. Think Chanel Oberlin from Scream Queens after 15 espresso shots.

Which, again, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The Politician paints its characters boldly and with broad strokes. It’s satirical and cynical and, at times, a bit dark. That aforementioned tragic event is truly devastating—and while it’s given the reverence it deserves, the pilot moves quickly back to Payton and Astrid’s win-at-all-costs antics. There’s not a ton of emotional nuance and sensitivity in The Politician. Know that before going in.

Ben Platt as Payton in The Politician.

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There are, however, several parallels to another Murphy classic: Glee. Payton could easily be the younger brother of Rachel Berry, McKinley High School’s show-choir all-star who was determined to make it on Broadway. “Payton definitely has that blind Rachel Berry, I will get it by all means necessary [motto],” Platt says.

That being said, Glee was a polarizing show, and The Politician will undoubtedly be too. It currently has a 55 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so critics are pretty much down the middle. What ultimately will determine your taste for The Politician is your opinion on Ryan Murphy content. This isn’t one of his made-for-the-masses productions, like American Crime Story. His humor and brand are written all over this, in its most extreme forms. Personally, I loved it. Some will hate it. Regardless, I think you should give at least the pilot a whirl—if anything to see Gwyneth Paltrow prune flowers in full glam. I could watch nine hours of that alone.



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The Cast of 'Younger' Wants You to Stand Up for the Violence Against Women Act


The protection of survivors of gender-based violence is under threat. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which provides aid for those who have experienced sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, and more, has yet to be reauthorized by Congress—which could be dangerous for survivors everywhere. A bit of background: The VAWA was enacted in 1994, with the provision that it be renewed by Congress every few years. This April the House of Representatives approved H.R.1585 (a bill that would reauthorize the act for five more years). But the bill still has to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate, and many are concerned about the bill’s fate there.

Among those worried about the future of the VAWA is the cast of TV Land’s hit series Younger. The show’s stars—Sutton Foster, Hilary Duff, Debi Mazar, Miriam Shor, Nico Tortorella, Peter Hermann, Molly Bernard, and Charles Michael Davis—have teamed up with the United State of Women to issue a public service announcement in support of the bill.

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The cast of Younger‘s public service announcement urging the Senate to renew the Violence Against Women Act

“Sutton, Hilary, Miriam, Debi, Molly, Nico, Charles, and I are honored to partner with the United State of Women and add our voices to the urgent call for the renewal of VAWA,” Peter Hermann tells Glamour. “The issues that VAWA addresses—domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking—affect every community in America regardless of race, ethnicity, economic status, or gender identity. To withhold support, or to politicize what is really an issue of human rights, is reprehensible and primitive. We cannot urge you strongly enough to make your voices heard with ours.”

In the PSA the cast highlights that women, transgender, and nonbinary people are disproportionately affected by violence. The stars also urge fans to learn more and take action to keep the VAWA in place.

While Younger chronicles the lives and careers of those in the publishing industry and isn’t an expressly political show, it’s never shied from getting real about the issues facing women. The series has covered the Me Too movement, spotlighted the “glass cliff” for female CEOs, and pulled back the curtain on how intensely women are discriminated against for their age. As Erika Soto Lamb, vice president of social impact strategy for Comedy Central, Paramount Network, and TV Land, put it, “We are proud to partner with The United State of Women to help our audience take action to support the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act—and we have no doubt that Liza, Kelsey, Maggie, Diana, Josh, Charles, Lauren, and Zane would do the same.”



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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Is Causing Single Mothers to Face Unforeseen Tax Hikes


“Hello, single mother of two kids, here. My taxes went up significantly, meaning that I will not be able to do many of the things that matter to me and my family. But Happy Gaslighting Day to you, too, @GOP,” tweeted Asha Rangappa, a senior lecturer at Yale. The tweet was a reference to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the sweeping Republican-backed tax plan Trump signed into law in December 2017. With her declaration came a chorus of single mothers who had also experienced an unexpected increase in their annual taxes. One woman responded with “Exactly the same. Single mom of two, huge surge in taxes—like up $10k from what I paid last year. Hello, more consumer debt 2019. Owning the libs by hobbling the middle class. Good times, @GOP.” Another shared, “Single mom of 3 kids making under $60k & I owe for first time ever! #goptaxscam.”

For some mothers, and single mothers in particular, it seems, the increase came as a huge shock. Not just because most hadn’t expected it, but because Donald Trump—with the Republican Party behind him—has promised for months that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would provide massive tax cuts to Americans nationwide. So much so that Trump tweeted, “The Tax Cuts are so large and so meaningful, and yet the Fake News is working overtime to follow the lead of their friends, the defeated Dems, and only demean. This is truly a case where the results will speak for themselves, starting very soon. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!”

When Tax Day rolled around, the results did speak for themselves. But not as Trump expected. “Tax time is usually a time of relief for me,” says Elizabeth, a chemist and single mom in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who asked that Glamour not use her last name. “I have always gotten a much-needed refund of $2,000 to $3,000. This has allowed me to pay unpaid medical bills and get my daughter necessary items like new clothes, since she still grows out of everything each season.” But this week Elizabeth discovered she owed money to the government. She had to fork over $168 in federal taxes. She’s quick to point out that $168 is not a lot, in the grand scheme, but given that she expected to get a refund during tax season, it’s a major hit.

Kat Stratford, a structural engineer and mother of one in Richmond, Virginia, had a similar experience. Stratford typically pays approximately $20,000 in taxes each year, but says this year she was required to pay an additional $8,000. Since she’d been budgeting only for her usual $20,000 amount, Stratford was completely blindsided by the increase. To pay the difference she had to dig into funds set aside to take her child on a vacation. While she says she feels fortunate she had to sacrifice only a discretionary trip, many of her other single mom friends paid a greater cost: “One mom was putting repairs off on her car and hoping to use her federal tax refund to assist in the costly repairs. Another routinely used her refund to pay off credit card debt accumulated over the previous holiday season buying gifts for her kids. This friend now not only owes money to the IRS; she will now go into this coming holiday season in residual credit card debt. Without some relief, it will be devastating and crippling to their families.”

So what exactly happened? According to Kelly Phillips Erb, a tax lawyer and founder of Tax Girl, the problem is twofold. First, the TCJA issued changes that directly impact all parents, single or otherwise. One of them is that the TCJA eliminated personal exemptions—the amount of money you’re allowed to deduct for yourself and dependents (which include your children) on your taxes. “Last year the personal exemption amount was $4,050 per dependent,” Erb says. “So, for example, in my family of five, I had $20,000 in personal exemptions last year, and this year I had none.” Instead of personal exemptions, the TCJA offers increased “standard deductions.” “The updated standard deduction rates are $12,000 for individuals, $18,000 for heads of household, and $24,000. While this sounds like you’re getting an even greater deal, in some cases this amounts to less than when you could file with dependents,” she says.

The other issue impacts Americans across the board. “When the TCJA was passed, they issued a number of changes to the tax code, especially in regard to withholding,” Erb explains. “The withholding tables were wrong for the first quarter of 2018, and even when they were fixed, people didn’t know to account for the new withholding amounts. So ultimately, people weren’t putting enough away to pay their taxes.” A new report predicts that more than 30 million Americans will ultimately owe tax money this year, a huge increase from previous years.





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Hulu's *The Act* Review: It's Horrifying, Human, and So Hard to Stop Watching


Hulu‘s new true-crime series The Act, now streaming, delivers its first big shock in episode two, when all of Gypsy Rose Blanchard (Joey King)’s teeth are pulled out at the request of her own mother. Dee Dee (Patricia Arquette) puts her daughter through such a heinous procedure to help her, presumably, but the entire thing feels sinister. Does Gypsy really need this done? The fact you have to ask is disturbing in itself.

The aftermath is just as hard to watch. Gypsy’s miserable. She cries in the bathtub while her mother assures her fake veneers are on the way. One day, two days, three days go by—but still, Gypsy has no teeth. She’s so upset about it that she tells Dee Dee she no longer wants to attend an upcoming charity event, where she’s supposed to collect a monstrous check.

It’s only in the midnight hour—right as Gypsy’s about to go on stage—that Dee Dee gives her the veneers. “Thank you, mommy, but why didn’t you give these to me before?” Gypsy asks. To which Dee Dee says, “They just came this morning, fresh from the dentist. It’s like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight. Does the glass slipper fit?”

The timing is strange, to say the least. At best, it’s a coincidence. At worst, Dee Dee purposefully kept the veneers from Gypsy and sprung them on her to look like a hero. This type of psychological manipulation is rampant in The Act, which is based on the Munchausen by proxy horror story that rocked the world in 2016. You remember it: Dee Dee Blanchard intentionally made her teenage daughter, Gypsy, sick for most of her life. In June 2015, Gypsy retaliated by conspiring with her online boyfriend, Nick Godejohn, to murder her mother. HBO highlighted the case in the documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest. It’s a grisly, unfathomable story. And now, the brains behind The Act want to humanize it.

“Over the years people have asked me, ‘Is this or that person in the story a psychopath?’ or, ‘What’s wrong with these people?’ Ultimately, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them,” Michelle Dean, who wrote the BuzzFeed article that inspired The Act, tells Glamour. (She’s also credited as a co-showrunner and screenwriter on the series.) “I think we all have our pathologies. Dee Dee’s was deeper than most, and Gypsy’s was deeper than most because of what her mother did to her. It was a lot more human than the crazy tabloid profile of the story.”



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CNN Commentator Angela Rye’s On-Air Hair Is an Act of Resistance


When I was growing up, I would always go to my cousin Mia’s beauty salon, A New You, in Seattle. For me it was more than a place to get your hair done; it felt like going to church. You could get your head right and your heart right all at once.

I used no-lye relaxers until I was 19. I remember my mom putting the solution on my bangs, which made them stand straight up. Then my cousin told me that my new hair growth at the roots flatironed better, so I stopped using the relaxer and grew it all out. I’ve been natural ever since. Now there are very few days that I’m not in the public eye, either on CNN or at events. When someone recently suggested that I shouldn’t wear my hair curly on TV, my response was, “For little black girls everywhere, I’m going to wear it curly!”

Here’s what I think people misunderstand about women of color and our hair: It has range—just like us. We don’t have to commit to only one style. Yet we’re typically portrayed a certain way in the media. There are people of color losing their lives in this country because people don’t get us, and you might say, “What does that have to do with hair?” I say: Everything.

Hair is another form of cultural misunderstanding. I thought wearing my hair on CNN in cornrows wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t think twice about it. But a number of black women responded, saying, “Oh my God, thank you so much for doing this. Now I know I can do this in a professional setting.”

A lot of people are just starting to accept that how black women wear their hair is a form of self-expression. I’m not going to do mine the same way every day—that would take away all the creativity and fun. After so much heat styling, though, my curls look more like loose waves. Because of that, I’ve been making an effort to protect them by using a no-suds shampoo by Hair Rules and working with my hairstylist, Johnny Wright (he used to do Michelle Obama’s hair), to occasionally incorporate extensions or wigs so there’s no need for heat-styling or tugging. Johnny is the genius behind the range of looks you see me rock on TV and on Instagram, everything from braids to straight hair to ringlets.

When people ask my advice about wearing their natural hair, my response is always the same: Do you. If someone is not allowing you the space or respect to simply do what you want with your hair, you’re going to be restricted in so many other ways. Don’t be afraid to stick up for yourself. And you know I’ll be doing my part to continue to empower my sisters so that they can wear their hair exactly how they want to.

This story originally ran in the October 2018 issue of Glamour.

Related Stories:
–This Meteorologist Had a Powerful Response to a Complaint That Her Hair Wasn’t ‘Normal’
–Sanaa Lathan: ‘Natural Hair Is Beautiful, but It Should Be a Choice’
–Lupita Nyong’o Says Women Are Still ‘Shunned’ for Their Natural Hair





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Celebrities Are Posting About Ivanka Trump to Urge Support for a Clean DREAM Act


There’s already been one viral moment for Ivanka Trump this Thanksgiving season—an admittedly ignoble one as Twitter users trolled her brand’s centerpiece idea for the festive holiday meal (the phrase “trash clam” was employed as a descriptor). Today, though, there’s another movement trending—and it has nothing to do with table decorations. Instead, celebrities are taking to Instagram to tag her in a post about the need to pass a clean DREAM Act for immigrant youth.

The DREAM Act is a bill designed to protect undocumented minors who receive legal status through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). The iteration re-introduced this year and up for a vote (it’s been around for years but hasn’t been passed) would give a conditional green card to those who currently receive protection under DACA—unless they don’t pass a background
check or maintain a clean record—and create a mechanism for undocumented children to get green cards, too. In the future, it would form a pathway for them to apply for permanent residency and citizenship, with a set of strict criteria for them to do so.

The “clean” part of passing the DREAM Act involves keeping its passage separate from other bills regarding immigration enforcement or border funding. However—because there is usually a “however” in these situations—the House has to pass a spending bill to fund the government by December 8, and Republican members don’t want a vote about Dreamers wrapped up in it. Instead, they’d like to keep it out of voting until the new year, when they have leverage: DACA as it stands will expire in March, thanks to President Donald Trump. Democrats, though, have said that they’ll keep their votes from a spending bill if DREAM-related legislation isn’t in there.

And that brings us back to these posts. Celebrities whom Ivanka follows are taking to Instagram to ask her to use her influence in the White House to change hearts and minds—presumably including those of her father, who has earned a reputation for switching positions on issues and over whom Ivanka is rumored to have some sway.

“Dear Ivanka,” the post begins. “I see you’re following me on Instagram. This Thanksgiving I would be grateful if you use the influence you have to advocate for a CLEAN Dream Act by December. Every day that passes without a clean Dream Act means anxiety and deportation for immigrant youth. 7,901 youth have already lost DACA and 122 more will use it each day. Thank you and Happy Holidays.”

Related Stories:
–Three Dreamers Explain the Stakes of Losing DACA
–Cher Proves She’s a National Treasure With Epic DACA Repeal Clapback
–‘OITNB’ Star Diane Guerrero Calls Trump’s DACA Decision ‘Disgusting’



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