Salon blames 'men punching random women in NYC' on MAGA

A new article out from Salon puts a wild spin on the recent phenomenon of strange men punching women in the face randomly on the streets of New York: they blame MAGA.

The headline reads "Men punching random women in NYC: A desperate last gasp of the male rage fueling MAGA." The claim from writer Amanda Marcotte is that the random attacks "are an extreme manifestation of men feeling entitled to women's time and attention."

Stephanie Weng was attacked near Manhattan's Union Square by "a creep spotted in a 'Lilo & Stitch' sweatshirt," the New York Post reports. The man punched Weng in the face.

There have been additional accounts, and none of them have been linked to right-leaning political motivations. Ashley Cruz was hit in the face by a man on 6th Avenue and 14th Street. 

Skiboky Stora has been arrested for punching one woman. He went on to represent himself in court and is "a criminal recidivist with an extensive criminal record." He is also the great-great-grandson of civil rights activist Marcu Garvey.

"He is a frequent candidate for elected office and performing artist who records rap music under the name Designer Attitude," the Post states.

Malliak Miah was arrested as well and charged with assault after he was suspected of punching a woman in the face in Greenwich Village. Other attacks have been reported to police.

That's totally irrelevant to Salon, however, which claims that the women "were just living their lives, and that, it seems, is what enraged their assailants." Marcotte brings the attacks back to the complaint that men are enraged by women who don't pay attention to them.

"These stories resonate," Marcotte writes, "as well, because 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. Unleashed by Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, there's an upswell of loud male entitlement shouting at us from every corner."

Marcotte then links it all back to Jordan Peterson, "trad wives," Ben Shapiro, and "backlash" against feminism. 

And who does Salon blame for all that? Young, male Trump voters, not criminals. "The rise of MAGA is fueled by misogyny. But it's less a backlash than a tantrum, a rage explosion by men who want to restore their dominance but fear that, this time, women won't buckle to their bullying. This rash of men punching women in New York City captures this moment in a dark way," Marcotte writes.

As to who is actually to blame for the direct, violent, real life attacks on women? That, she says, is irrelevant. "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."

Marcotte, of course, doesn't know anything about the men suspected in these attacks. She only knows that they are men and that is enough for her to label them with the most vile of all labels: MAGA.