Left-wing outlet Salon is under fire after blaming the recent spate of sucker punch attacks in New York City on “the male rage fueling MAGA.” In the newly-released article, the author also pins responsibility on Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, and criticism of hormonal birth control, despite no evidence to suggest any links between conservative movements and the attacks.
In recent weeks, a number of young women have taken to social media to report their stories of being randomly punched while walking through the streets of New York City. The surge began after 23-year-old influencer Halley Kate uploaded a teary-eyed video to TikTok discussing her ordeal.
“I was literally just walking and a man came up and punched me in the face. Oh my God, it hurts so bad. I can’t even talk,” said Kate in the video posted on March 25, adding that she “literally fell to the ground” in the attack.
Shortly after, multiple other women, including 24-year-old model Karina Dunford, began sharing their stories of being similarly victimized. In Dunford’s account of the assault, she described how she was “hit in the head forcefully” with what “felt like a blunt object.”
After the wave of videos and reports hit social media, a number of men were arrested in connection with the attacks.
Among them were Skiboky Stora, 40, who was charged in the attack on Kate; Mallik Miah, who was charged with assaulting 27-year-old Mikayla Toninanto; and Franz Jeudy, who allegedly broke the jaw of 57-year-old Dulche Picardo.
Both Stora and Jeudy have extensive criminal records. A fourth man has yet to be identified in the attack on Stephanie Weng, 33.
But despite all of the known attackers being brown and black men, left-wing news outlet Salon is pinning the blame on Trump supporters.
In an article published today by senior writer Amanada Marcotte, the outlet asserted that the women were “being assaulted by men of different races and ages.” The real connection between the attacks, Marcotte argued, was that “the nation is having a moment of increasingly unhinged male fury at women for daring to have lives that are centered around something other than catering to a man’s every whim,” which was “unleashed by Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.”
Marcotte blamed the “male fans of Jordan Peterson,” women who live traditional lifestyles, Ben Shapiro, criticism of hormonal birth control, and other conservative talking points for inflaming the “loud male entitlement” that was supposedly behind the attacks.
“This rash of men punching women in New York City captures this moment in a dark way,” Marcotte wrote.
“We don’t even need to know their names or faces to know that men who do this are losers, lashing out because they’ve learned that actually, women don’t owe them anything just because they’re men… There’s something nakedly pathetic about punching women, as scary as it is for the victims. It’s not like the cat-calling or groping of old, which disguised male aggression as a mere over-exuberance of lust. This is a last gasp of men who, unable to justify their sexism in any way, must resort to brute force,” she concluded.
Salon‘s article has been met with mockery on social media from those perplexed at how Marcotte came to her conclusion.
“Black guys in the most liberal city in America but okay,” commented X user @Howlingmutant0.
Christina Pushaw, a senior political aide to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, commented that she “cannot wait for more journalism layoffs.”
“Just layoff the three remaining journalists on your payroll and shutter this internet rag,” user @Verbal_Chancla wrote.
As of the writing of this article, Salon‘s X post providing the link to Marcotte’s article has just 80 ‘likes,’ while racking up over 1,500 overwhelmingly negative comments.
