The Dictatorship
Why ‘The Boys’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ became must-watch series for our political time
During Donald Trump’s first presidential term, Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” or rather the Hulu series based on Atwood’s original novel, which just teased its sixth season for early 2025, became a shorthand symbol in the battle for reproductive rights. With its dehumanizing vision of a world that reduces women to breeding vessels held captive, abused and forced to bear childrenfor the wealthy and privileged in a repressive state,the show felt ominously, if not fantastically, aligned with where this country appeared to be heading. But as Trump prepares to re-enter the White House, I see a different streaming show that speaks more directly to this unsettling political moment: Amazon’s dystopian superhero satire “The Boys.”
Since its premiere on Amazon Prime in 2019, the series has often felt like a cautionary tale, a not-so-thinly veiled rumination on the political and media climate that laid the groundwork for Trump.
It might be easily missed behind the colorful spin on comic-book tropes and its abundant helpings of gore and kinky sex, but the series removed its mask long ago when it comes to its warnings about how a toxic stew of celebrity, hero worship and disinformation can lead to autocracy, enabled and fueled by corporate greed, corruption and lust for power.
Adapted from the comics, “The Boys” concluded its fourth season with a chilling resolution setting up its final arc, which isn’t expected to arrive until 2026. In it (and spoiler alert for those yet to take the plunge), a psychologically broken man-child, the Superman-esque Homelander (played by Antony Starr), gained control of the government and claimed sweeping powers under the guise of security and restoring order.
Since its premiere on Amazon Prime in 2019, the series has often felt like a cautionary tale, a not-so-thinly veiled rumination on the political and media climate that laid the groundwork for Trump. After the 2024 election, the similarities, even if cartoonish, feel harder to ignore.
Showrunner Eric Kripke acknowledged as much in a 2022 interview with Rolling Stone, saying that Homelander, with his volatile mix of emotional insecurity and power, had “always been a Trump analogue for me,” adding that the character reflected a “bigger issue” — namely, “the more awful public figures act, the more fans they seem to be getting.”
Leaning even more heavily into politics in its most recent season, the series added a new superhero character, Firecracker, who parrots the conservative views espoused by avery Fox News-like TV network, owned by the shadowy corporation behind the superheroes, Vought International. Kripke told Entertainment Weekly that Firecracker represents “the super extreme right-wing news media.”
Like Trump, who leveraged his carefully sculpted and edited image on “The Apprentice” as he segued into politics, “The Boys” resides in a world where Vought uses TV, movies and other media to market the “supes,” so they’re called, to the unsuspecting public.
As depicted in the series, little about the show’s underlying political message is subtle, including a conspiracy-minded group within the show that evokes QAnon. Vought meticulously exploits the gullibility of those true believers, working to blur the lines between entertainment and news under its vast corporate umbrella while wrapping Homelander and his brethren in the American flag and faux patriotism.
Indeed, the cynicism at the heart of “The Boys” is that if you can play the hero convincingly enough, it’s possible to get away with all sorts of terrible behavior.
In an ironic twist, “The Boys” has pursued this unflinching vision of autocracy and unbridled capitalism while arguably becoming Amazon Prime Video’s signature franchise, spawning spinoffs (including “Gen V”) and plans for a prequel to carry on once it’s gone. At a time when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has drawn criticism for his decision not to endorse a presidential candidate in another asset, The Washington Post, a fanciful superhero series has forged ahead, hiding its politics in plain sight.
The cynicism at the heart of “The Boys” is that if you can play the hero convincingly enough, it’s possible to get away with all sorts of terrible behavior.
Reality intruded on “The Boys” in another way when an assassination sequence in the season finale, which premiered close to the attempt on Trump’s life in July, prompted Prime Video to change the title and add a disclaimer to the episode, which was actually filmed last year.
With “Handmaid’s Tale” due to end next year and “The Boys’” climax to follow, neither of these programs will continue long into a Trump second term. But each in their own way has spoken through fiction with anger and urgency, warning that the threat of fascism isn’t necessarily the stuff of old black-and-white images. They have also shown the ability to tackle issues in a thoughtful and provocative way, setting forth a challenge for future shows wrapped in a cloak of entertainment to pick up that colorful gauntlet.
Brian Lowry is a media columnist and critic, most recently at BLN, and before that Variety and the Los Angeles Times.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Tuesday ahead of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeralwith the two leaders discussing ways for Ukraine to produce its own powerful weapons and “other ideas that could help” in its ongoing war against Russia.
The sit-down in the Oval Office, which was closed to the media, followed a consequential meeting at the NATO summit earlier this month in Ankara, Turkey, where Trump announced that the U.S. will give Ukraine a license to make Patriot defense systems — a long-running request from Kyiv to counter Russian missile attacks.
Taken together, those meetings underscore how much the U.S. president, once a major skeptic of continued assistance to Kyiv, has warmed to Zelenskyy as Ukraine continues to withstand the Russian barrage more than four years after Moscow’s invasion in 2022. The Ukrainian leader, whose relationship with Trump in his second term was marked by a raucous White House visit in which he was denigrated for being ungracious, has worked to court the Republican administration while relying on both likely and unlikely allies in Trump’s orbit to exert their influence with the president.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has consumed much of the Trump administration’s focus this year, has also become gradually entwined with Ukraine, with Ukraine firing on at least one Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea over the weekend while Zelenskyy asserts that Russia has been offering satellite imagery of U.S. bases in the Persian Gulf to Iran.
AP AUDIO: Zelenskyy has a ‘good meeting’ with Trump at the White House as he seeks more cooperation with US
AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports Ukraine’s leader says his latest White House visit with President Trump was a ‘good’ one.
In a post on social media after the meeting, Zelenskyy thanked Trump for the “good meeting” and the Republican administration’s efforts to aid Kyiv in the long-running war. Officials also agreed that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s main envoys, would make a trip to Kyiv sometime in the future, according to a person familiar with the talks who was granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting.
“The President and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help,” said Zelenskyy, who also noted that he offered condolences to Trump for the death of Grahama close ally. “We also spoke about diplomacy — it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated.”
Trump on Tuesday night weighed in on his meeting with Zelenskyy, calling it a “Great Honor” to meet with him. “Many things were discussed. The meeting went very well!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Zelenskyy wants to bolster Ukraine’s defense production
Later during his whirlwind, one-day visit to Washington, Zelenskyy posted that he met with officials from Lockheed Martin for further cooperation in both defense production and exchanging of technologies, saying, “Ukraine has a lot to share with those who help us protect lives.”
Later, in a meeting with senators at the Capitol, Zelensky again made his case for why Ukraine needs Patriot interceptors, as well as a sweeping sanctions bill to impact morale and increase pressure on Russia, according to two people with direct knowledge of the private discussion. They were granted anonymity to disclose details of a closed-door meeting.
While Ukraine remains grateful to Trump for agreeing to issue a license to manufacture the Patriots, Zelenskyy emphasized to senators that that is a longer-term solution. This year, Zelenskyy said, Ukraine will need the U.S. to provide missiles that Kyiv would pay for with European funds, said one of the people with knowledge of the meeting.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who like Zelenskyy was in Washington for Graham’s funeral, also spoke to senators, saying Ukraine retains strong support from NATO and the European Union in terms of providing and paying for weaponry, as well as imposing sanctions on Russia.
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Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning Hudson Institute, said expanding production capacity for Patriot interceptors is not only vital for Ukraine, but also for the U.S. and its Gulf allies, particularly as supply runs low during the war in Iran.
“Ukraine has shown that its defense industry is capable, innovative and creative,” Coffey said. “I have no doubt that when they’re granted the license, they will be able to produce these missiles which will hopefully mean there will be more available for the U.S.”
Trump welcomed Zelenskyy to the White House as the Ukrainian leader traveled to Washington to honor Graham, whose final act as a public official was visiting Kyiv and securing an agreement on a package of sanctions that seek to punish countries that purchase Russian oil, gas and other exports.
In a Fox News interview Tuesday, Trump recalled Graham’s hawkishness and said the South Carolina senator’s support for Ukraine never wavered. Trump said Graham had suggested it was time to make a deal with Iran but had no similar suggestion for the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Ukraine, he’s very militant about,” Trump said on “Fox & Friends.” “I mean, Lindsey liked war, to be honest with you.”
The Trump administration’s embrace of Zelenskyy also comes as Laura Loomer, a far-right activist with the U.S. president’s ear had a recent, widely publicized change of heart on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Ukraine highlights ties between Iran and Russia
Ahead of the meeting, Zelenskyy also warned that Russia has been aiding Iran as the war persists by capturing satellite imagery of U.S. bases in the Gulf region that later appear in Iran. The Ukrainian president also asserted that there was a “clear correlation” between Russia’s images and subsequent Iranian strikes.
Iran is a key ally of Russia in its war against Ukraine and has helped Moscow build up its drone expertise.
But on Monday, Trump downplayed any impact of potential Russian assistance for Iran.
“I don’t think they’ve been doing it, certainly not at a high level,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to Michigan. “And if they have, it has been very un-impactful.”
On the Caspian Sea attack, the foreign ministers of Iran and Ukraine spoke about the matter, according to statements posted on social media Tuesday. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the conversation “frank” and said Ukraine’s focus is “solely at defending our country from Russian aggression” and not on targeting civilians.
Iran has said at least one sailor was killed in the attack. For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is also not seeking escalation but “made clear any attack on our citizens or interests is unacceptable.”
Pro-Ukraine backers pushing to advance sanctions bill
Zelenskyy had a busy itinerary during his latest visit to Washington. During his meeting at the Capitol, which was held just before a key vote on the Russia sanctions bill and after Graham’s funeral, the Ukrainian leader argued that they have a window to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, according to one of the people with direct knowledge of the meeting.
In a bipartisan 86-12 vote, the Senate took the first steps toward passage of legislation to penalize countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas and other exports after more than a year of negotiations.
The bill has dozens of backers from both major political parties and is seen as the main policy tribute to Graham, who died unexpectedly this month from a tear in his aorta. It imposes tariffs on goods from the world’s top five purchasers of Russia oil or natural gas, including China and India.
The legislation also includes sanctions against Putin; senior Russian political and military leaders; and Russian financial institutions and energy projects.
The Senate voted Tuesday to install Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, as director of national intelligence despite a tense confirmation hearing that eroded the once broad bipartisan support for his nomination.
Clayton was confirmed 51-47 along party lines, with all of the chamber’s Republicans and none of its Democrats voting to hand him the reins of the nation’s sprawling intelligence apparatus.
The final vote came after a combative July 16 confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, during which Clayton said under oath that he is not an “election denier” but refused to directly state that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to former President Joe Biden.
That unnerved Democratic lawmakers on the panel, some of whom had expressed support for Clayton’s nomination amid their enthusiasm to replace acting Director Bill Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency head and a Trump loyalist. Since taking over for former National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned from her Cabinet-level position after a tumultuous tenure in May, Pulte has overseen multiple rounds of layoffs across the agency.
In Clayton, who served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term, some Senate Democrats had seen an experienced public servant who could be entrusted to lead the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies after more than a year of clashes with Gabbard, who they accused of making false election fraud claims and furthering Trump’s political agenda.
But his refusal to answer questions about who won the 2020 election and his stumble during a series of questions about Trump instructing Gabbard to attend an FBI raid of the election office in Fulton CountyGeorgia, earlier this year swiftly shattered that support.
During a heated exchange with Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., Clayton said he had only been made aware of Gabbard’s presence at the raid during a private conversation with the Georgia senator the day before the hearing.
“The first time you learned that Director Gabbard was present at that raid was in my office yesterday?” Ossoff asked, visibly stunned.
“It was the first time that, in my recollection, I’ve thought about it recently,” Clayton answered.
Democrats and election experts have repeatedly warned that Trump is launching an unprecedented effortto discredit and potentially steal the midterm elections. They have expressed fears that Trump will ask Clayton to attend another FBI raid in November involving the seizure of ballots and election records, as Gabbard did. Clayton’s performance in the confirmation hearing, which took place hours before Trump delivered a primetime address to the nation in which he said with no evidence that the country’s elections are being “rigged and stolen,” did not assuage those fears.
“I’m bitterly disappointed,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the intelligence committee, told Clayton of his refusal to say who won the 2020 election and his answer regarding Gabbard’s role in the Fulton County raid as the hearing wrapped. The committee narrowly referred Clayton’s nomination to the full Senate in a 9-8 vote the following week.
“You’re going to be in a room with [the president] many times, and at times you should have a difference of opinion. And if you can’t disagree with him when he’s not in the room, are you going to be able to disagree with him when you’re sitting across from him in the Oval Office or Situation Room?” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., asked Clayton at one point, reflecting the growing tension in the hearing room.
After Clayton’s confirmation, Warner called on the new director of intelligence to resist pressure from Trump to manipulate intelligence for political gain or use it to cast doubt about U.S. election results or interfere in U.S. elections.
“Having known and worked with Jay for years,” Warner said. “I came away from his confirmation process with serious reservations about whether he would be willing to stand up to political pressure when it matters most. Now that he has been confirmed, I sincerely hope he proves those concerns unfounded.”
“Clayton now has an opportunity – and the responsibility – to demonstrate that intelligence will never be shaped to fit a political narrative, that analysts will be free to deliver their best independent judgments, and that the extraordinary authorities entrusted to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will never be used to manufacture doubt about the integrity of our elections or justify interference in their administration.”
David Rohde contributed to this report.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, some of the past week’s top stories from the intersection of politics and technology.
Texas’ censorship law still partially blocked
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld an injunction partially blocking a Texas law aimed at preventing minors from being exposed to harmful content. The portion of the SCOPE Act that requires some digital service providers to adopt monitor-and-filter strategies had already been hit with an injunction, which the 5th Circuit upheld after Texas appealed.
Read more at Bloomberg Law.
House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed ignorance when questioned about plans by President Donald Trump’s social media company to sell premium access to market-moving posts. On Monday, the Louisiana Republican told BLN’s Manu Raju that it was the first time he had heard the news, which was reported last week.
Watch Johnson’s response below.
GOP lawmakers largely silent amid Trump making $2B in his first year of second term — and of potential conflicts.
“First I’ve heard of it,” Johnson said of Truth Social selling quicker access to market-moving posts.
Others won’t comment, some shrug it off.
$2B raise any red… pic.twitter.com/I6ph3RgDy5
— Manu Raju (@mkraju)”https://x.com/mkraju/status/2081708925758382111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 27, 2026
Administration sued over alleged database
Privacy and civil liberties advocates have sued the Trump administration, accusing it of adopting “a secret policy of collecting, maintaining, and using personally identifying information of protestors and observers.” The lawsuit centers on claims — some of which have been made by federal immigration agents — that the government is maintaining a database to spy on critics of the president’s racist anti-immigrant crackdown.
Read more at Common Dreams.
SpaceX’s stock collapse
SpaceX’s stock price fell again Monday amid ongoing concerns in the market about spending on artificial intelligence. The stock’s overall collapse since its peak after its initial public offering in June has reportedly played a role in erasing owner Elon Musk’s trillionaire status.
Watch Bloomberg Tech’s report below.
Trump administration exempts SpaceX
Speaking of SpaceX, the Trump administration — perhaps, in keeping with the president’s campaign vow to “make life good” for people like Musk — agreed to exempt the company’s Starlink routers from the Federal Communications Commission’s ban on foreign-made routers. Starlink makes some of its routers in Vietnam.
Read more at Ars Technica.
High-tech voter suppression
AlterNet published a report on the high-tech tools enabling conservatives to challenge voters’ eligibility en masse, posing potential threats to voter participation in the upcoming midterms.
Read more at AlterNet.
Senate crypto bill in danger
A Senate bill regulating cryptocurrencies — and banning federal officials, including presidents, from issuing digital assets like Trump’s crypto coins — is at risk of languishing as Democrats raise concerns that the bill’s ethics provisions aren’t strong enough.
Read more at CNBC.
The Justice Department is prosecuting a critic of Atlanta’s massive “Cop City” compound over an allegation that the activist gave authorities planning to looking through his phone a so-called duress password that triggered the deletion of his data.
Read more at Tech Crunch.
Kalshi’s midterm moves
Kalshi, the glorified betting platform that has financial ties to Donald Trump Jr. and which has been used to promote baseless election conspiracy theories, unveiled its “midterms hub” ahead of this fall’s elections. What could go wrong? Plenty, it seems. A Kalshi board member joined MS NOW’s “The Weekend” to discuss the scrutiny the company is facing.
Watch the interview here.
MAHA misinformation
“Make America Healthy Again” influencers are spreading misinformation about women’s menstrual cycles, and The Guardian spotlighted how the influencers are spreading falsehoods about women’s luteal phases — claims that seem designed to malign birth control and fuel pronatalist talking points that have gained steam in the MAGA movement.
Read more at The Guardian.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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