The Feminist Fashionistas Uncork Ugliness Against Usha

Tim Graham on Jun 26, 2026

One way our nation's most "prestigious" newspapers show they're Democrat Party propaganda sheets is when their fashion critics apply all of their tawdry partisan biases to their evaluations of the clothes of politicians (or their spouses).

Robin Givhan of The Washington Post was a transparent Democrat, and so is Vanessa Friedman of The New York Times. A white pantsuit worn by Hillary Clinton, as well as the feminist Democrats at the State of the Union, was very chic. But when Tulsi Gabbard wore one while she criticized Hillary at a Democrat debate in 2019, it suddenly carried "connotations of the fringe" and displayed "somewhat combative righteousness (also cult leaders)."

When Kamala Harris lost in 2024, Friedman invested great meaning in the cravat she wore to her concession speech, that it represented "the idea that some fights were long. That this one had been going on for decades (even centuries) and would continue afterward. It was, in that way, a symbol of both a promise and a lament." Feminism lost. Women were shortchanged again.

But women who are Republicans? They're a sorry breed -- or just breeders. Pregnancy chic is just so gross, Friedman is now arguing. Her latest target is Usha Vance, the wife of the vice president who's labored harder than Melania Trump to stay out of the limelight.

The headline was "The Politics and Power of the Pregnancy Image." Pregnancy was being weaponized. MAGA women "have created a notably consistent, and somewhat paradigm-shifting, picture of the White House's family and fertility platform."

Friedman complained: "If the bare-chested, muscled mixed martial arts fighters of the U.F.C. match that President Trump hosted on Flag Day were the poster guys for MAGA's image of masculinity, then the pregnant women of Trump world are one half of their feminine counterparts."

Like many on the left, she's alarmed by "pro-natalist" sentiments: "Along with the sheath-clad, lip-filled, pageant-haired Mar-a-Lago set, they offer an image of idealized womanhood that gives literal shape to the pronatalist movement."

Her supposed fashion experts were pro-abortion feminists -- Helen Lewis and Jill Filipovic. "It's really noticeable that the MAGA women are not hiding their pregnancy," Lewis said. "There is pride in being pregnant and being fertile." Aren't most Americans happy and proud during pregnancy? Why on Earth should pregnant women hide?

Friedman quickly took after Mrs. Vance: "She is wearing a stretchy coral dress that hugs her stomach, making what she is talking about very clear."

Usha Vance mocked the critique on X: "Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can't wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks!" She used a screenshot demonstrating she paid $8.75. The dress quickly sold out at Old Navy.

Friedman simply hates women who marry conservative men. It's much like Jen Psaki, joking in a 2025 podcast about Mrs. Vance: "I always wonder what's going on in the mind of his wife. Like, are you OK? Please blink four times. Come over here. We'll save you." Marry a conservative man, and you're clearly a self-loathing doormat, quietly dying inside.

Six days before the Usha attack, Friedman was touting the fashion sense of Rama Duwaji, the spouse of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, for an ugly New York Knicks getup after the NBA Finals. "She's got game," gushed Friedman. The headline said she "Won the Parade." She was presented as unifying: "Basketball and realized dreams don't just unite the city, but also designers and the political figures who wear them."

The political bias is forever obvious.

Tim Graham is director of media analysis at the Media Research Center and executive editor of the blog NewsBusters.org. To find out more about Tim Graham and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.