When a man walked into a Colorado police station last week to report a dead body in his home, the officers dispatched to the scene were likely not expecting to discover a mummified corpse, wrapped in Christmas lights, with glitter around empty eye sockets. The body was ensconced in a sleeping bag, lying on a bed, surrounded by “some kind of shrine,” according to the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office.

Although both the coroner’s office and law enforcement have not been able to identify the body through fingerprints, it allegedly belongs to Lia “Amy” Carlson, the leader of the Love Has Won cult, who often goes by the name “Mother God.”

The man who alerted authorities of Carlson’s body, Miguel Lamboy, claimed to be a member of Love Has Won, and said he found the body after returning home, where several other members of the group were staying in his absence. Seven adults were found and arrested in conjunction with Carlson’s death; however, there were also two children — aged two and 13 — in the home at the time officers arrived. They appear to be in good health, but all seven adults will face child abuse charges.

According to investigators, affidavits, and media shared by Love Has Won, the group’s members (with, perhaps, the exception of Lamboy) don’t see this as a crime: This is their leader’s “ascension.” Now, a larger public investigation seeks to identify who Amy Carlson was, what she was teaching this group, and why her body was mummified in a bizarre shrine by members of her own cult.

According to The New York Times, Love Has Won kept a Facebook page (which has since been deleted) detailing some of their activities. On Sunday, May 1, a man who appeared to be a member of the group posted a video, during which he said “Mom has ascended” and “completed her contract,” presumably referring to Carlson. He then says: “Is the mission over? No.”

So, what exactly is the mission of Love Has Won? The early history of the cult is not entirely documented, but according to Amy Carlson’s children, who have since spoken out, the cult started about 15 years ago. That’s when they said Carlson abandoned her family to teach “spiritual intuitive ascension sessions.”

“Everything in my life is very average except my mom is a cult leader, or was a cult leader, I should say,” Cole Carlson, Amy Carson’s estranged son, told KDVR News.

Carlson also claimed on the group’s now-defunct website that she was on her “534th reincarnation in my quest to recover my beloved Planet,” and that her past lives included Jesus Christ and Marilyn Monroe.

Although the cult appeared to be a local organization, with a few members living with Carlson, one former follower — Andrew Profaci — said that Love Has Won reached thousands of people, often recruiting people through social media and YouTube videos. A Vice News documentary from March 2021 detailed how Carlson would promise her followers “a superior alternative reality” if they provided the organization with financial compensation.

This is where Love Has Won was able to support itself and grow — and also where local people in Crestone, CO, the town where Carlson and her group lived, began to accuse them of brainwashing people into handing over control of all their personal finances for fraudulent purposes.

A Crestone town clerk told The New York Times that, over the course of the last four years, she often received calls from family members of those who had joined the cult trying to locate or contact them. But she always relayed the same thing: that the town of Crestone had no affiliation with Love Has Won, and the missing persons should be reported to the Sheriff’s office.

The cult never made more than local headlines until the past few months, when Carlson and 14 of her followers were supposedly forced to evacuate and fled to Hawaii. In September, Maui law enforcement intervened after protestors condemned the group’s presence on the island. One of the members then told police officers, who intercepted their travel plans, that the reason they traveled to the island was because of Carlson, who they alleged had cancer and was in poor health.

Profaci told CBS Denver that he “was not surprised” to hear of Carlson’s death. “She was not in very good health and getting worse,” he said. But others did not seem to mourn her — instead, Love Has Won followers continue to celebrate Carlson’s “ascension” as part of her work, teachings, and the group’s overall goals.

An investigation into Carlson’s death is ongoing, with all seven people likely to be charged, as officers begin to piece together other damages that Love Has Won caused. But for now, members continue not to mourn, but to celebrate.

“Her essence left the body of Amy Carlson at 12:22,” one follower posted on Facebook. “She is indeed happy now.”

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Trump Is A Cult Leader. Can His Followers Be Saved

Rae Dunn Didn’t Mean To Start A Cult

Keith Raniere Gets Life Sentence For NXIVM Cult

On Friday, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband to Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 99. According to Buckingham Palace, who announced his death, Prince Philip “passed away peacefully” at Windsor Castle in England.

The news of his death comes at a contentious time for the Royal Family, who have been accused of racist treatment of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and wife to Prince Harry. In a March 8 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Markle described how members of the Royal Family were concerned with her son Archie’s skin color. She also revealed struggling with mental health issues — including suicidal ideation — and receiving no support from the family. Though Prince Philip was never named as a perpetrator, the patriarch of Buckingham Palace was known to have his qualms about Markle, reportedly calling her a “destructive” presence within the Royal Family.

Now, as Philip’s legacy is being recounted, many are remembering his comments differently. In a New York Times obituary, Philip is referred to as making “occasional frank comments” that may have “hurt his image.” In reality, the late Duke is guilty of much more than an occasional “frank” comment, and has a storied history of perpetuating harmful, racist ideas from his platform in the Royal Family.

Long before Prince Philip allegedly voiced “concerns” about Markle, he was known to make sexist comments like, “I don’t think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing.” In 2001, he told 13-year-old Andrew Adams, who aspired to become an astronaut, that he should “lose weight.” The following year, he allegedly told a 14-year-old at a Bangladeshi youth club that he looked like he was “on drugs,” after asking who else there was on drugs. He told the president of Nigeria, who was dressed in a traditional robe, that the president looked he was “ready for bed.” Philip was once also accused of comparing Ethiopian art to “the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from school art lessons.”

The list goes on. In fact, many such lists of Philip’s most controversial remarks have been compiled on the internet, but what’s most notable about them isn’t only how offensive many of his off-the-cuff remarks are, but also how they are grouped in with comments about his low opinion of British cooking, or other such innocuous things, demonstrating just how seriously casual bigotry is taken by many in the media when spoken by a powerful man — i.e. not very.

Of course, countless more people long spoke publicly about the detrimental effect of Philip’s “occasional frank comments” — and also took him to task for representing a strain of colonialist thinking that is not a relic of the past, but very much a pervasive influence to this day.

Acknowledging the true nature of Philip’s many offensive comments doesn’t negate the rest of his character or, for example, his charitable actions; instead, it gives a fuller portrait of a man who was born into almost inconceivable privilege and only saw his wealth and influence grow when he married into one of Europe’s last remaining monarchies. Failing to interrogate the character of these people — who have their positions granted to them by accident of birth — would be an abdication of the responsibility we all have to question the systems of power that are in place because of centuries of colonialism, white supremacy, and the myth that anyone has the divine right to rule — and so can just say whatever they want, consequences be damned.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Prince Philip, Duke Of Edinburgh, Dead At Age 99

The Royal Family Is Hiring A Diversity Tsar

The Royal Family Doesn't Have Too Much To Say Now

‘Tis the season of colorful marshmallow bunnies and chocolate eggs, as spring is in the air and Easter candy in its various forms prepare their take over of grocery store shelves. This year, in a collaboration that literally no one asked for, marshmallow Peeps and Pepsi are putting out a strange new beverage that you won’t actually be able to buy in stores. To make matters worse for anyone curious to try the new “Pepsi x Peeps” flavor, the two companies absolutely blew an opportunity to market their strange creation as “Peepsi.” I mean, Pepsi meets Peeps — it’s a no-brainer. 

The Pepsi x Peeps cola will mix the flavor of Pepsi cola with “the pillowy-soft and sweet” Peeps marshmallow flavor, making it the “ideal accessory and thirst quencher for springtime,” the companies said.  

While many people online first took an opportunity to express their disgust at the marshmallow-flavored pop, many more couldn’t believe that Pepsi x Peeps blew it on the branding. To be fair, mixing marshmallow and cola isn’t the weirdest flavor combo for a carbonated sugary drink, and it’s close enough to a cream soda. The biggest issue here really is that the companies didn’t brand their beverage as “Peepsi.”

“CALL IT PEEPSI YOU COWARDS,” one Twitter user wrote. Another called it a “missed opportunity.”

CALL IT PEEPSI YOU COWARDS. https://t.co/p9rMymsuRd

— Fahey (@UncleFahey) March 25, 2021

A seasonal marshmallow treat and the second best soda brand combine and they don’t call the flavour Peepsi?
Y’all messed up. pic.twitter.com/TNx2BXiq22

— Brittney ✨💖 (@britl) March 25, 2021

It’s not even called “Peepsi,” so you’ve already lost. https://t.co/jv9Lp1znav

— Patrick Lucas Austin (@patbits) March 25, 2021

1. Gross
2. How do you not call it Peepsi? https://t.co/T3hClmcVxd

— Karen Howell (@karenehowell) March 25, 2021

It turns out the companies did consider calling the drink Peepsi. Pepsi’s Twitter account recalled a time about a month ago when Pepsi apparently brought David from Legal a “great name for the Peeps collab” that David from Legal promptly turned down.

Us a month ago: David from Legal, we have a great name for this Peeps collab. It’s…
David from Legal a month ago: I know what you’re gonna say. No.
Us today: David, check Twitter. 🤦‍♂️ #PepsiXPeeps

— Pepsi (@pepsi) March 25, 2021

Unfortunately, Pepsi x Peeps will not be available on store shelves and is only available to people who enter their online sweepstakes. The only way to get your hands on the beverage that should be called “Peepsi” is by posting a photo of yourself enjoying the springtime with friends on Twitter or Instagram and using the hashtag #HangingWithMyPEEPS. 

But even if you happen to win a package of the three colorful mini-cans of Peeps-flavored Pepsi, which come in bright yellow, pink, and blue, you will never know the joy of drinking Peepsi. It’s one drink we didn’t know we needed in this year 2021. Pour one out for Peepsi.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

So, How Is It Really? Mike's Hard Lemonade Seltzer

Starbucks Secret Menu Drinks To Order Now

Is Feta Cheese Really Sold Out Thanks To TikTok?

On Monday afternoon, Sarah Moonshadow was shopping for groceries with her son when a gunman opened fire. Ten people were shot and killed in Boulder, CO, while she was inside King Soopers grocery store. One of them was police officer Eric Talley, who arrived at the scene first. Moonshadow said she timed the shots in order to determine when to flee for safety.

In an interview with Good Morning America on Tuesday, Moonshadow described the events leading up to the deadly mass shooting. She recalled that she had only been planning a quick grocery trip, but ended up perusing around a bit. “At first I was kind of kicking myself, like, if we had left a little bit sooner maybe we could have avoided things,” she said. “But then I realized that we probably could’ve been in a lot bigger trouble had we left any time sooner, because when we had gotten out of the store, there were people lying in the street.”

As soon as she heard gunfire, she shifted her focus to protecting her son, trying to conceal him and stop him from moving around too much, and paying attention to where the sound of gunfire was coming from. “I just looked at my son and I told him — by the fourth shot I started counting — and I told him, ‘We have three seconds. Stay low and don’t look. And just move fast,'” she said.

Moonshadow was only one of dozens of shoppers who were at the scene when an unidentified gunman opened fire on Monday afternoon. At 2:49 p.m., the Boulder police department put out a Twitter warning about an active shooter at King Soopers, telling all residents to avoid the area. For at least 30 minutes after, officers reported a shooting stand-off with the gunman before they were able to take the suspect into custody.

“I promise … we will secure justice and do everything we must do to get justice in this case,” Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in response to the violence.

In the hours after the shooting, several survivors recounted the terror that occurred inside King Soopers. Anna Haynes, the editor-in-chief of the University of Colorado’s CU Independent, said she witnessed the shooter enter the grocery store from her apartment window. “I saw the gunman himself holding a semiautomatic rifle. On his way to the entrance, [he] had turned around and was shooting rapid-fire at one particular target. … And then he turned around, he entered the building through the handicap entrance,” Haynes told CNN. “A few seconds later, I saw people running out of the building, I heard screaming, I heard people leaving in their cars, and it just evolved into chaos within just a couple of minutes.”

Ryan Borowski, who was inside the store during the shooting, described hearing three gun shots and running with another terrified shopper to the back of the store. “The employees in the back of the house didn’t know what was going on, so we told them that there was a shooter, and they told us where the exit was,” he said.

The shooting occurred less than a week after a white man killed eight people at three Atlanta massage parlors, and just a day after another gunman opened fire at a Philadelphia “pop-up” event. Police say they are continuing to investigate the deadly attack and have released information that the shooter is a 21-year-old man from Denver. They have not yet disclosed the gunman’s identity or motive.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

10 People Shot & Killed In Boulder, CO Shooting

What To Know About The Atlanta Parlor Shootings

What To Know About The Arkansas Jr High Shooting

It appears gun rights advocate and newly elected Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert is living up to her (terrifying) reputation as a far-right wing fanatic whose passions include the Second Amendment and QAnon. After facing scrutiny for apparently revealing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s location via Twitter during the Capitol attack, Boebert is now resisting new Capitol safety protocols by refusing to walk through metal detectors that have been placed on the House floor.

In a series of tweets addressing a confrontation she had with Capitol police, who attempted to search her bags after she set off metal detectors, Boebert blamed the left — and Pelosi, specifically — for the use of metal detectors as a “political stunt.”

“I am legally permitted to carry my firearm in Washington, D.C. and within the Capitol complex,” she wrote on Twitter. “Metal detectors outside of the House would not have stopped the violence we saw last week — it’s just another political stunt by Speaker Pelosi.”

This message came shortly after Boebert tweeted a video of herself carrying a loaded gun around Washington, D.C. in an effort to promote Second Amendment rights. But according to the city’s police chief, the new congresswoman will be investigated for carrying a concealed weapon registered in another state, which is not legally permitted in D.C. And although Boebert suggested that she was legally allowed to carry a firearm around the Capitol complex, acting House Sergeant at Arms Timothy Blodgett explained that congresspeople were only technically allowed to have guns in their personal offices.

Boebert’s refusal to comply with metal detectors opened the floodgates for already-building calls for her resignation. For over a week now, many pundits and other members of Congress have called for her removal from office for her actions before, during, and after the Capitol siege. On January 6, Boebert tweeted: “Today is 1776.” Later in the day, after sharing Pelosi’s whereabouts, she blamed “the far-left” for the riots.

“I denounced the violence over the summer just as I did the recent events at the Capitol. I defended our Constitution and I always will. America will persevere because freedom always prevails. But let’s get real—the far-left and their policies are causing harm to our country. I refuse to let their political machine write a narrative that millions of Americans know is false,” Boebert said.

It’s unclear what consequences Boebert may face for her refusal to comply with the House floor’s metal detectors. Though there is certainly a case to be made that it’s actually the least of her worries, since publicly sharing the location of a politician during a violent attempted coup could be considered aiding and abetting. Now, it remains in the government’s hands to fairly assess how dangerous this new congresswoman really is, and what the consequences are for stoking violence.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Melania Trump Speaks Out On Capitol Attack

The FBI Knew About The Capitol Riot Beforehand

Congresspeople Are Testing Positive For COVID-19

As America continues to watch MAGA rioters violently attacking the Capitol Building and terrorizing Washington, D.C., outgoing First Daughter Ivanka Trump came under fire for a tweet that grossly mischaracterized the situation. Though it’s been deleted, Trump’s tweet didn’t condemn the chaos, but rather called her father’s violent supporters “American Patriots.”

“American Patriots — any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable,” she tweeted on Wednesday afternoon. “The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.”

Shortly after she posted this, Twitter users reviled Trump for her empty message, which read more like a suggestion that children “play nice!” rather than a real wish for an end to the domestic terrorism that just so happened to have been incited by her father. It should come as no surprise, though, considering that President Trump’s own comments on these attacks have been comparably docile; not only did he release a video in which he declined to ask protestors to stand down and stop breaking Capitol building windows and shooting at members of Congress, but he also told them: “We love you.”

The president also tweeted: “I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace.”

None of this is unexpected, as both the president and his adult children have fanned the flames of his base, lying about the election being “stolen.” Leading up to the Electoral College vote that would confirm President-elect Joe Biden, Trump’s second-oldest son, Eric, threatened to “personally defeat” any Republicans who did not support Trump’s efforts to discredit the election results. “I will personally work to defeat every single Republican Senator/Congressman who doesn’t stand up against this fraud – they will be primaried in their next election and they will lose,” he tweeted on Tuesday evening.

Today, Eric’s birthday, he attended the protests, even tweeting about how the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to him, before releasing a toothless tweet saying that Republicans are the “party of Law & Order” but refusing to ask for the violence to stop. Meanwhile, Don Jr.’s softball approach involved calling his father’s most faithful followers “wrong” and “not who we are.” Sure. But perhaps the best tweet came from Tiffany Trump, who, at 5:48 p.m., just as a woman was pronounced dead at the hands of protestors shooting inside the Capitol Building, wished her brother a happy birthday. “I love you and I’m so grateful to always have you by my side!” she wrote, apparently not reading the room in any capacity.

As for Ivanka, though, after she deleted her original tweet calling the domestic terrorists “American patriots,” she posted another, ostensibly clarifying her first tweet, and writing: “Peaceful protest is patriotic. Violence is unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest terms.”

All it really clarified though is that Donald Trump isn’t the only problem here, it’s his whole family — and all their cultish followers.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Here's Where The Proud Boys Are In Today's Riot

Eric Trump Takes Being A Sore Loser To New Heights

What We Know About The Capitol Attack So Far

Four years ago, the country experienced what had once been unthinkable: Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States. Those of us who had believed we were on the verge of electing our first-ever woman president — rather than a billionaire, former-reality TV show star — were devastated. The fact that Hillary Clinton had received millions of more votes than Trump made it even harder to bear.

When the reality of Trump’s election struck, it was gut-wrenching: Thousands gathered in the streets of New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and other cities, big and small, not only in protest of this undemocratically elected president, but also in an act of collective grief. This wasn’t the sorrow of sore losers — this was the despair of people who were afraid of what a Trump presidency would mean for marginalized communities, for the health and safety of millions around the world, and for the future of our country. Republicans greeted this response with a collective demand for Democrats to just suck it up.

For all those reasons, the 2020 election came with a much greater weight — the weight that, if Trump defeated Biden, we could see another four years of galvanized white supremacists, children separated from their parents at border camps, and the deranged tweets of a pathological liar. There was also the knowledge that Republicans didn’t care about the outrage their policies have incited among liberals and progressives. As newly elected far-right Republican Representative Madison Cawthorn tweeted on Tuesday in celebration of his own victory: Cry more, lib. And Trump, too, has frequently revealed, with the names he calls his opponents and his constant calls for them to be imprisoned, that he cares nothing for the feelings of anyone but himself.

But, almost immediately after Biden’s victory on Saturday morning, as a mass celebration broke out across the country, Republicans and conservatives began to peddle the message that Democrats should show empathy, and give the president time to “absorb the emotional aspect of his loss before demanding a concession.”

And I’m not sure who needs to hear this but: There’s no reason to feel any empathy for Donald J. Trump.

We’ve spent four years living in a reality where our president has attempted to build a wall around the U.S.-Mexico border, deport children, attack Roe v. Wade, approved oil pipelines that run through Native lands, used his presidential power to investigate his political opponents, withheld funds to citizens amid a devastating pandemic, tried to impose a “Muslim ban,” and, of course, accepted endorsements from neo-Nazi groups. 

There is no need to feel sorry for a man who has let almost 275,000 Americans die from a virus that he refused to treat seriously, even though he knew of its gravity long before it came to this country. There’s no need to feel sorry for a man who once said that it was okay to grab women “by the pussy.” But perhaps what is more necessary to state right now is that there is also no reason to feel empathy toward the millions of Americans who voted for Donald Trump — in 2016 or in 2020 — either.

Even in 2016, Trump ran on a campaign of toxicity and vitriol. Apart from period-shaming Megyn Kelly during a debate, Trump called Iraq “Harvard for terrorism,” Obama the “founder of ISIS,” and Clinton a “bigot.” But millions of people still voted him into office, despite those inflammatory statements, and then attempted to vote him in again four years later, even as our country is roiled by joblessness, economic crisis, and the ongoing pandemic. 

Trump’s presidency will be forever marked by the harm he has done to marginalized communities, to women, and to those who care more about capitalism than human rights. There is no reason to empathize with him for losing a presidency that he never should have had to begin with. Instead, the American people should continue to rejoice, celebrating the moment that we defeated one of the most dangerous men in the history of American politics, and reduced him to exactly what he is: a FOX News-watching grandpa who spends way too much time on Twitter. Sad!

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Meanwhile, Where In The World Is Mike Pence?

Trump's Unsurprising Reaction To Biden's Victory

Kamala Harris Did That!

The air across the U.S. (or at least in the majority-Democratic parts of it) is full of excitement over President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. And while outgoing-President Donald Trump is busy stewing in his own grandiose plans to discount millions of votes against him and going on all-caps Twitter rants, Vice President Mike Pence has been remarkably silent. In fact, he hasn’t been seen in public since at least Tuesday. 

According to NBC News, Pence — who heads the U.S.’s COVID-19 task force — has not been spotted since Election Day and was not with Trump during his Thursday evening address. Although sources say that he has been “active” at the White House this week, Pence’s official schedule is empty through this weekend — a rarity during normal times, and these are not normal times.

It should be noted that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, along with four other staffers, have all tested positive for COVID-19 this week — a striking coincidence. While there’s no way to know right now whether or not Pence has contracted the virus, it would potentially explain his general silence during this critical period. But this administration has never been very forthcoming when it comes to the truth.

Pence has often served as Trump’s more articulate mouthpiece for the duration of their term together, making it all the more strange that he isn’t in public, rallying support from their base. Instead, after Trump’s Thursday speech claiming victory in states that have now been declared for Biden, Pence simply sent an email asking everyone to “remain vigilant.”

“As the President said, the right to vote has been at the center of our Democracy since the founding of this great Nation,” the email said. That same day, Pence also tweeted, “I Stand With President @realDonaldTrump. We must count every LEGAL vote.”

While Pence’s use of language like “LEGAL vote” is a thinly coded reference to voter fraud, it is telling that he hasn’t done what the president or the president’s large adult sons did, and blatantly claimed that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election. For a man whose political career has been marked by calmly lying about Indiana’s HIV outbreak, and now downplaying the thousands of deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S., it’s unusual that Pence wouldn’t use this opportunity — and his platform-at-large — to galvanize his camp with the same lies that Trump is currently spewing.

Perhaps Mike Pence is turning a new leaf, and resigning himself to the fact that he and Trump have been defeated. Perhaps he is trying to distance himself from the sinking ship that is Team Trump, and thinking about how best to position himself for his own presidential run in 2024. Or perhaps — and most likely of all — Pence, the head of the administration’s coronavirus response team, just has COVID, and is in hiding. We hope any flies who come in contact with him quarantine themselves for 14 days after they leave him.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Trump's Unsurprising Reaction To Biden's Victory

Patience Is A Virtue: Joe Biden Won!

Kamala Harris Did That!

Moments before cities across the U.S. erupted in celebration to the news of President-elect Joe Biden defeating Donald Trump, the sitting president tweeted: “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!”

It’s no surprise that Trump — a president who has spent four years running on fumes of white supremacist propaganda and outright lies — refuses to accept the fact that Biden ultimately out-edged him with several much-anticipated and finally declared electoral victories in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Nevada on Saturday morning. 

Trump has spent the duration of his reelection campaign making vague threats about what will happen if he were declared the loser — and now he’s following through by suggesting that he will not concede, falsely claiming that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election, and even saying that the race is “far from over.”

In a statement released shortly after the Associated Press and CNN declared Biden the president-elect, Trump threatened legal challenges ahead. “We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed,” it reads. “The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.”

Trump was reportedly on a golf course in Virginia when the news broke around the world that Joe Biden was elected the next President of the United States. And although some speculate that, as a stereotypical sore loser, he will likely refuse to concede, it should be mentioned that his concession is unnecessary for Biden to hold office: Regardless of what Trump says or does now — even if he threatens to stay in the White House — Joe Biden is going to be the 46th President of the United States. Trump is now just…a Twitter joke.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Patience Is A Virtue: Joe Biden Won!

Trump's Joining A Very Short List Of 1-Term Losers

So, *Nervous Laughter* Is Trump Going To Concede?

On hour ??? of Election “Day,” I fell asleep watching workers sort ballots in rural Nevada and Pennsylvania. I’ve started to think that CNN’s bright red and MSNBC’s more burnt orangey-red deserve further analysis. (Pantone, can you weigh in?) Also, I am pretty sure Jake Tapper is flirting with me through the TV. Oh, wait: KEY RACE ALERT. Oh, never mind: These are just more projections. Is this what purgatory feels like?

This purgatory was probably inevitable. How else could the 2020 election end? Or, not end? And yet the sense of impending doom we’ve had for four years didn’t leave us any more prepared for the endless parade of Trumpers rejecting democracy and pundits arguing over whether or not the country “deserves” this level of uncertainty. But perhaps the silver lining to our absolute dumpster fire of a Democratic process as that we might not spend another four years subjected to the insane tweets of a man who once had a cameo in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

As I idly watched numbers inch forward — with surprising heroes like Michigan and Wisconsin pulling through for Biden — not all hope seemed lost. My hourly mantra for the past 48 hours has been: If he loses Pennsylvania, this is all going to be over soon. And now it looks like Pennsylvania is going blue. And like there’s an end in sight to our purgatorial existence. Is it heaven up ahead? Hardly. But at least it’s not the hell we’ve been in for almost four years.

As a very wise colleague (and then later Reductress’s Instagram) told me, “I look forward to having a president that I can hate a normal amount.”

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Trump's Adult Sons Are Already Shaming Republicans

Thank Stacey Abrams For Biden’s Georgia Win

The Unexpected Winner Of The Election? Gritty!

On Monday night in Grand Rapids, Michigan, President Donald Trump made his final appearance ahead of Election Day. During his speech — which reportedly lasted over one hour while the temperature dipped into the low-40s — Trump declared that he is “perhaps the most innocent man anywhere in the history of the United States.”

The statement was in response to the 2017-2019 Special Council investigation — which Trump referred to as the Mueller investigation, and mispronounced — where the president was probed for alleged links to Russian officials who contributed to election interference in 2016, as well as obstruction of justice. According to Trump, the Mueller report was able to find “nothing” incriminating on him, making him completely “innocent” of all allegations, despite being one of only three presidents to be formally impeached by Congress in U.S. history.

Given Trump’s claims to be “perhaps the most innocent man anywhere in the history of the United States,” we’ve taken the time to investigate whether or not this is true.

According to our findings, the short answer to this is: No.

But if you need more proof, all available evidence shows that Trump is not “perhaps the most innocent man anywhere in the history of the United States.” This is due to the fact that he has been accused of sexual assault by over 20 women, has implemented policies that directly harm LGBTQ+ communities, tacitly accepted endorsements from Nazi and white supremacist groups during his 2020 campaign, and straight up told the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys to “stand by,” among other things.

So, the long answer to the question of whether or not Trump is the most innocent man in the history of the U.S. is also: No.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Trump Lies About The Election. Constantly.

On Election Day, Trump Throws Insults At Kamala

Why Businesses Are Boarding Up Before The Election

After months of dismissing the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic and almost always refusing to wear a mask or follow basic safety protocols, President Donald Trump reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 early Friday morning. First Lady Melania Trump tested positive as well.

The couple’s test results followed Thursday evening’s late-breaking news that Trump’s advisor and senior counselor, Hope Hicks, had tested positive and entered quarantine. Last night, Trump tweeted, “Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19. Terrible! The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!”

Only two hours later, the president followed up, confirming that he and First Lady Melania Trump had both tested positive and planned to get through this “TOGETHER!”

For months now, Trump has severely downplayed the novel coronavirus, with members of his cabinet (and family) calling it a “hoax.” In February, the president even said, “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”

Trump has also made false statements about potential “cures” for COVID-19 including the injection of disinfectants into human bodies, later saying he was being “sarcastic,” since sarcasm is a typical tone for a president to take during an official press briefing during a pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Beyond the fact that any 74-year-old should have been taking every possible precaution to prevent exposure to the coronavirus, perhaps the most concerning element of Trump’s diagnosis is that he’s been traveling around the country for his campaign, often greeting many massive groups of maskless supporters, indoors, who have been galvanized by his own refusal to take proper precautions. When Trump was asked two weeks ago if he has any fear of getting COVID-19 from his rallies, he said: “I’m on a stage, it’s very far away, so I’m not at all concerned.”

There’s even more reason to be concerned, though, as news of his positive test result comes only three days after Trump debated 77-year-old Joe Biden for the first time. Though the two were standing somewhat far apart during the debate, both Biden and his wife, Jill, have reportedly just undergone their own testing.

It’s not clear what will happen to Trump’s campaign now that he has tested positive for COVID-19, though the president does plan to remain isolated in the White House and has canceled his plans to travel to Florida, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Although he is allegedly asymptomatic, we are only 32 days out from the November 3 election and two weeks before the next scheduled presidential debate. It certainly seems likely that the latter will be postponed, if not canceled. As to the former? It seems like we will have to wait and see.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

Trump Wants To End All Anti-Racism Training

Trump Says COVID Affects "Virtually" No Children

What Does Trump Mean By "Herd Mentality"?