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MAGA-influencer Riley Gaines being told/paid by Patriot Mobile handlers what her "sincerely held" beliefs are in leaked video
by /u/mgbgtv8 | 113 comments | 2026-06-12T21:17:34+00:00 Central
Comments
| /u/KingSwank Why do they all get plastic surgery to look like the masks from the Purge? |
| /u/PM_DOLPHIN_PICS Mar-A-Lago Face is a phenomenon that needs to be studied academically. |
| /u/Wazula23 Theory I find appealing is it's like the gaudy powdered wigs of the French monarchy. It's not supposed to look "good", it's supposed to say "look what I can afford". |
| /u/rusty_handlebars Oh that's fascinating |
| /u/bbusiello Just another form of conspicuous consumption. |
| /u/PanicOnFunkotron Like renting a pineapple |
| /u/ChainLC vanity. never satisfied. |
| /u/SexyMcBeast Yup. It's also a way to say "I'm fully in the club." There are few more visible and permanent ways to show you're in that clique than to literally alter the shape and look of your face. |
| /u/C0rinthian Yeah I was going to say: it's all about in-group signaling. But the comparison to the French monarchy might be a little unfair. I mean, those folks were slathering mercury on their faces and shit because they didn't know any better, it's not like... oh shit... fuck. |
| /u/SlogurkTheOverslime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costly_signaling_theory |
| /u/kylehatesyou I like this one. This isn't just one procedure to "fix" something you don't like the way people get breast implants or a nose job, it's multiple procedures, done relatively quickly. Cheek fillers, and lip fillers, and Botox everywhere, and all the others over a year or two. I imagine people didn't just have one wig, same way those people didn't just have one suit or one dress. That makes me wonder if it kind of takes on the very rich version of that beauty salon thing some people have. Like the people that "need" to go weekly or biweekly or whatever to have their hair trimmed, or roots touched up, or nails filled in or whatever because their friends all do it too. So you have a group of people who are talking about the procedures they are having done, and because they're all feeding off of each other and eventually already done everything they can (and it's at least semi-permanent) they just keep going back for a little more and a little more until all of their faces look like a stone mask. |
| /u/j0y0 Kinda. At first it was too cover hair loss from syphilis. But once all the fancy people at court are doing all it, rational people understand it's practical to fit in. |
| /u/Fancy-Trousers I thought it was because they hang out with shithead conservative men who lower their self-esteem constantly, leading to a desire to "fix" themselves. But that makes sense, too. |
| /u/Rulligan It has a Wikipedia page and it uses Hegsgeth as an example |
| /u/CletusCanuck You're not joking, omg. Even the Google summary is low-key scathing. The "Mar-a-Lago face" is a viral term for a distinct cosmetic and beauty trend associated with the Trump-aligned political circle. It features hyper-sculpted aesthetics-like pillowy lips, frozen foreheads from Botox, high and prominent cheekbones from fillers, and heavy TV makeup. It serves as a conspicuous status symbol, signaling wealth and loyalty to conservative gender roles. Characteristics of the Aesthetic The look is generally achieved through a combination of heavy makeup styling and cosmetic enhancements. Key traits include: Facial Enhancements: Noticeable use of injectables like Botox and volume fillers to create a tight jawline, frozen brow, and "bee-sting" plump lips. Contrasting Makeup: Heavy use of spray tans, dark smoky eyes, fake eyelashes, and stark contouring or highlighter. Bright White Teeth: Very bright, perfectly straight cosmetic dental work is frequently incorporated into the look. The Cultural Context The aesthetic is commonly linked to high-profile MAGA movement figures and TV hosts. Sociological and beauty analyses describe it not merely as a trend, but as an expression of political alignment and group belonging. It requires a massive investment of time and money, functioning as a visual marker of privilege and adherence to a specific, demanding style of femininity. Professional Perspectives Plastic surgeons and dermatologists have noted an uptick in requests for the aesthetic, though it has generated mixed reviews among the public. While some patients favor the ultra-polished, upward-pulled look, professionals also warn of the risks of overfilling, which can limit natural facial expressions and create an "uncanny valley" or homogenized effect. |
| /u/ApprehensiveGoat2734 And yet according to them dying your hair blue or having a nose ring is a crime against nature, God, and country. |
| /u/bbusiello professionals also warn of the risks of overfilling, which can limit natural facial expressions and create an "uncanny valley" or homogenized effect. I prefer to spot my enemies on sight rather than wait til they open their racist, sexist, and homophobic mouths. But that's just me. Keep going! Get more filler! |
| /u/CritcoThinker Oh these women are trying to stay relevant in the patriarchy they inhabit. They know that being a young woman has much value to the men around them. Ironically aging is not easy to stop and the beauty standards they enforced by upholding men's standards are their own undoing. Awesome. Sick. But awesome. |
| /u/Throwawaylikeme90 What I want to know is how it evolved to looking like taking a scored sourdough and smashing it against a sliding glass door windowpane. Like, I'm no stranger to social signifiers. I've got plenty myself, I adorn my body with modifications and specific grooming to show where I came from knowingly, because it's important to me. It's easy for me to trace my signifiers lineage all the way back to skins, mods and rudeboys growing up in working-class neighborhoods like Liverpool, but this is a social strata that is altogether alienated from the mass of humanity for one and for two, they don't seem to like their history or their own shit culture. But legitimately, how the fuck did it get like THIS, of all things, is a very interesting question. |
| /u/Weak-Material-5274 Supernormal stimuli. If attention is money then looks are money. It doesn't mean someone has to look good, they just have to look in a way that is engaging. Mara Lago face is engaging, therefore it is money. |
| /u/Throwawaylikeme90 I'm aware of the concept, that's not granular enough to understand something this outlandish. I want tea my good bitch. 💅 |
| /u/DietSteve Honestly, think about it: what were we pushed through movies/tv/ads? Rail thin blonde with big tits. That became the standard look to try and achieve, now we mix it with BBLs and lip plumping and whatever else the Kardashians are peddling this week, mix that in with a healthy dose of conservative Christian repression, and you end up with *this*. The "I don't want to look like I got work done" look, bottle blonde, "hometown" girl. Both country and metro, clashing with each other in the never ending struggle for identity of who they think they should be. |
| /u/skenvoy I'm obsessed with this logic. |
| /u/Jops817 Right, like, I need a long form documentary about how people could make themselves look like hideous soulless ghouls as a social signifier. |
| /u/captainwacky91 These are people with enough wealth and power that they've been somewhat "uncoupled" from nature, for decades at a time. It would only be "natural" for them to become grotesques. I get the exact same feeling when Facebook decides to show me some 'roided-out mutant cattle. |
| /u/andersonb47 My theory is that for most of human history, the elite differentiated themselves visually/physically in various ways, but usually clothing. Now that clothing and other physical items are generally extremely plentiful and easy to acquire, that status affirming behavior is now translated into something still relatively inaccessible - plastic surgery. It's worth noting that usually when we think about plastic surgery, it's something that we try to hide - the best surgeons' work is the hardest to see. But in the case of Mar-a-Lago Face, the point is to BE seen. It's a status marker. |
| /u/notflashgordon1975 Good, they can't disguise themselves when the real purge starts. |
| /u/sihaya09 They all get gender-affirming surgeries to increase sexual dimorphism. |
| /u/scarytrafficcone it has been, it's a combination of in-group signaling (see the way evangelical women do their hair,) differentiation from the poor (I can afford this expensive cosmetic surgery,) and signaling feminine subservience i.e. showing with their appearance that they care about the men of a particular group's (in this case conservative rich guys) taste, which happens to also be women who have proactively signaled their willingness to participate in the group dynamic of power exchange |
| /u/NewButOld85 Think of French aristocrats wearing ridiculous wigs and clown-white makeup back before the Revolution. Did they do it to look good? No - they looked like goddamn idiots. But it was a way to signal that they were able to afford the look, and that they belonged above the "commoners." Mar-A-Lago face plastic surgery is the same thing, just among rich conservatives. It's virtue signaling among their people. |
| /u/Wazula23 Hunger Games got so much right. |
| /u/Gloomy-Dingo4293 The older I get, the more I realise how scarily accurate those books are |
| /u/koshgeo More like vice signaling. |
| /u/Not_A_Clever_Man_ Maga face shows that you have enough disposable income to fuel your vanity. It shows you value money and appearance over everything else. It shows that you are as vain as dear leader and can be easily blackmailed and manipulated with money. |
| /u/HotGarbage It's a gender affirming face. |
| /u/Numes1 I've always thought the puppet from saw was more like them. 🤣🤣 |
| /u/Funkycoldmedici Authoritarians want to be like everyone else and everyone to be like them. Conformity, in-group identification is the one and only value conservatives truly hold. They do not actually care about anything else. |
| /u/blindspotted More like Rocky Dennis "Mask". |
| /u/No_Helicopter1378 Isn't she the swimmer? Crazy that someone so young is getting so much work done already. |
| /u/bbusiello A "tied for 5th place" swimmer. |
| /u/daddydrank So they never have to face themselves in the mirror. |
| /u/mrnipper This probably goes a long way toward explaining it for a lot of them, at least until they get around to taking this down: The Dark Triad of Personality in Relation to Acceptance to Cosmetic Surgery Among University Students |
| /u/rubbarz And its always naturally pretty 20 year olds getting their face filled to look 50. It still blows my mind that Karoline Levitt is 28. She looks as old as her husband. |
| /u/LeftToaster It distracts from the empty dead eyes. |
| /u/straylight_2022 Gotta hand it to her for being able to turn a fifth place finish into a four year and counting cash grab. |
| /u/anode8 Meanwhile, her college swim coach is facing allegations of sexual assault against some of her teammates. Not a peep from her about the actual problems. |
| /u/DizzyDjango Pablo Torre has a great episode on how she went from a nobody to making millions by spreading anti-trans hate across college campuses. Also talks about the coach and has interviews with former teammates. |
| /u/who-hash Hadn't seen that episode yet but I'm not surprised. Pablo Torre is one of the few doing actual journalism in sports in 2026. So proud to see this brother and his staff win a Pulitzer. |
| /u/Ok_Hornet_714 Here is the link for those that are interested https://youtu.be/iKUl8lkuGOc?si=kKpBdAQsv7PvnXrF |
| /u/papasan_mamasan Very interested, thank you! This video needs more views |
| /u/Think_Monk_9879 She's making millions? Really? |
| /u/DizzyDjango If I remember correctly, she's making around $250k per speaking engagement now. |
| /u/straylight_2022 She makes around half a million from the "institute" she is attached to and who knows what in individual speaking fees. |
| /u/maximumfacemelting So billionaires funding culture wars so they can have more tax breaks and political control. |
| /u/The-Real-Number-One The billionaire that is funding her is Trump's first Sec. of Education -- Betsy Devos. |
| /u/counterfitster Plenty of those billionaires are also true believers in the shitty side of it anyway. |
| /u/mgbgtv8 And Riley Gaines' husband is not an American citizen |
| /u/_jump_yossarian But he's the white color. |
| /u/ScyllaIsBea Is this the girl who didn't like tying for fifth with a trans girl? |
| /u/Sure_Land_8930 Fox News liked her pissing and moaning so much that they gave her "The Riley Gaines Show". https://www.foxnews.com/person/g/riley-gaines |
| /u/BusGuilty6447 Interestingly, she originally was not that upset over it. She tweeted something along the lines of wishing the trans athlete success (both in swimming and transition). RW media found out about the case, and they gave her a platform, a bunch of money, and here we are today. |
| /u/TrulyOutrageous42 If the US right wing didn't have manufactured outrage, they'd have nothing other than the criminal indictments waiting for them. |
| /u/CriticalDog Not true! The conservatives in the US have always been deeply racist. So, they've got that going for them. |
| /u/moconahaftmere She didn't even mind. Interviews at the time quoted her as being supportive of the trans movement. She only switched her opinion once she was getting paid to do so. |
| /u/cavalier24601 Worse than that: Riley had to be sent a 5th place trophy. They only had one and it went to the other person in 5th place. Clearly, trans athletes are ruining women's sports /s |
| /u/a_song_4U No one has gained MORE from the existence of trans people than this ridiculous bitch. She is giving speeches and on tv constantly because she was in a race that a trans person also competed in. She should have to kick back a percentage of her earnings to the trans community |
| /u/doneandtired2014 She is giving speeches and on tv constantly because she was in a race that a trans person also competed in. If you remove the trans athlete from the equation entirely, it does not change the fact this hate mongering twat still would've placed 5th, still wouldn't have been on the podium, and still would have finished her athletic career as a decent athlete as opposed to a great one. Competing against a trans athlete was the best thing to have ever happen to her because she would be a fucking nobody if she hadn't. |
| /u/hypercosm_dot_net because she would be a fucking nobody if she hadn't. You're spot on about everything though. Imagine the complete emptiness a person must have to accept a role like this. |
| /u/Elsa_the_Archer I don't have to hand her shit. She's contributing to getting trans people killed. She can fuck right off. |
| /u/straylight_2022 I agree, I was just being sarcastic. |
| /u/Waiting4Reccession How do people even remember who these bimbos are |
| /u/raspymorten If you're a trans or just generally queer person, you've had to hear her talk a whole lot, for a really fucking long time, across tons of different platforms, about how much her life was ruined when she had to tie with a trans athlete. These voices get an insane amount of air time to spout this sort of stuff, so it's hard to not end up having the prominent ones get lodged into your brain. |
| /u/firebirdone At least their grifting from their own. 🤣 |
| /u/shoguante Money. The culture wars are a distraction from the 1% ripping everyone else off. |
| /u/Neon_Casino Look I agree with you, but the fact of the matter is, until we "win" the culture war (whatever that looks like) we won't get anywhere with the war that actually matters becasue around 50% of Americans are actively on the side of the ultra rich. Look over at the Conservative subreddit. They posted how "the left is going nuts now that Elon Musk is the world's first Trillionare" (their words, not mine) and all the comments are celebrating Musk and saying what a hard worker he is and how someone being a billionare doesn't affect us. The American right wing needs to be utterly demolished if there is even the slightest chance in hell that any progress against Billionares can be made. |
| /u/dobie1kenobi If the last 8 years have taught me anything, it's that there is no winning the culture war. I was raised to believe that the moral arc of the universe would eventually lead us to a Star Trek style unified planet that accepted all cultures as human first. I no longer believe this. No matter what technological advances we achieve, there will always be racists, bigots, and Nazis. No amount of prosperity will mollify them and no amount of punishment will quell them. We'd have a better time eradicating the cockroach. The trick is to get them out of power and keep their beliefs on the fringe. That is doable but what the Boomers forgot is, it's a daily struggle to keep them there. You can't give MLK a holiday and call it quits. |
| /u/Not_a_Rodeo_Clown We thought we were headed for Star Trek, but we're headed for The Expanse. |
| /u/JustaSeedGuy In fairness, this is the 2020s. Based on the timeline of Star Trek's fictional history, we're right on track for Star Trek. People forget that the utopia of Star Trek came after total societal and economic collapse and nuclear devastation on Earth. |
| /u/StevelandCleamer We don't get Star Trek without the Post-Atomic Horrors first It sounds like there's some bad stuff right before the Post-Atomic Horrors too, if you catch my drift. It doesn't hurt that the Vulcans were first contact either, a civilization that wasn't in a rush to help the remaining warmongers on Earth into weaponized starships. Unfortunately, I have lost faith in humanity's potential to survive beyond the lifespan of Earth. |
| /u/SDivilio If we get all of the fascists onto mars, that'll also put us on track for several Gundam variants as well |
| /u/Big_Kahuna_69 Hah, we're headed for Robocop, The Running Man, or Idiocracy. Take your pick. |
| /u/Vexxed72 Why pick? All three at the same time is sadly the most likely outcome. |
| /u/Neon_Casino Hard agree. But imo, that is winning the culture war. Of course there will always be racists, but if we can drive them back into the shadows where they belong, then that's a win. I think there is a way to "win" in this sense, but it will require a level of viciousness that I don't think a lot people are ready for. I'm not talking about just killing them all of course, but we need to make it so that being an open racist/hard right-winger in this country is impossible. If they are family, cut them off. If you have a business, do not serve them. If they have a business, do not give them your business. These people need to be treated as less than Human. Make them feel unwelcome EVERYWHERE. Basically, everything just short of physical violence. Will it cause them to change their ways? Nope. But it may cause them to stop being so proud of their own fucking stupidity. |
| /u/rorschach2 First thing you did wrong was checking the conservative sub. That's almost all bots. |
| /u/Esternaefil And people being told by their 'handlers' what their strongly held beliefs are. |
| /u/hemightbebrian It happens a lot in the church too. "Make sure the Apostles' Creed is on the teleprompter, I can never remember that whole thing." |
| /u/Audityne The Apostle's (and by extension Nicene) Creed is a Catholic prayer, and I guarantee you that every single member of the Catholic clergy can recite it from memory. Teleprompter church is an evangelical thing. |
| /u/ShaggysGTI Four Russian bots to my understanding... |
| /u/Throwawaylikeme90 Yeah the internet is half bot traffic now and 48% of that is rCon frfr. |
| /u/ratherbealurker > and all the comments are celebrating Musk and saying what a hard worker he is and how someone being a billionare doesn't affect us. Mm hmm, mention George Soros and watch them flip out over a billionaire "paying protesters" and whatever else they claim he's backing. Then mention how Elon literally tried to pay people for their votes. Or sort of did? And how much money he throws into politics, and they're fine with that. Then hold up your 9.5 white card for their gymnastic abilities. |
| /u/s8rlink The American left needs to stop being afraid of power, the democrats just want the status quo, time to get rid of them and make a show of power to make the capitalists afraid again |
| /u/Due-Cow9514 Reminder that when Riley Gaines was originally interviewed about her loss, she straight up didn't care. That's when reactionary media came knocking... |
| /u/superscatman91 It wasn't even a loss. She tied for 5th. If Lia Thomas wasn't in the competition she would have still been in 5th place. |
| /u/BrightNooblar The GOP exists so that 0.01% of its members can rip off 99% of its members. Congrats to Miss Gaines on turning an okay swimming career into a 0.01%er grift. |
| /u/baumpop same story since the bronze age collapse. |
| /u/Kn7ght Oh lord she's so stupid she needs explicit talking points to just be a bigot? |
| /u/Waiting4Reccession This kind of stuff is happening way more than people seem to realize. Pushing pro ai stuff after people started being against data centers is another example. Even the neighbors christian radio was nonstop telling her the irs is bad and increasing the irs workforce is dumb and bad, back when they increased it a few years ago. More irs talk than jesus. They just moved from radio/tv to tossing like 5k to an influencer. |
| /u/lilith02 Elon's latest ex talked about how he pays people to say things on twitter. |
| /u/Waiting4Reccession Its just so cheap for them to do that im not surprised |
| /u/RecipeFunny2154 All of that and a good portion of these grifters are directly paid by Russia. Tim Pool, for example. |
| /u/eletricboogalo2 This all started with sports. I'm not kidding either. It's the concerted effort of dumbing down the mass populace, while getting them to fight over shit that doesn't even matter. Look at ESPN in even 2010 vs now. In the timeline of human history, that is a MASSIVE shift in human interaction in a very small time frame. |
| /u/Good_Entertainer9383 Unfortunately if you're getting paid to be a bigot then you do need explicit talking points to make sure you're the right kind of bigot. |
| /u/Muzoa Ayo that's hilarious ! 😂 |
| /u/Chemdawg90 That's all I'm hearing how fucking hard could that literally be. |
| /u/SpaceCampDropOut Is this the chick who's bad at swimming? |
| /u/stoolsample2 5th Place Riley is her name |
| /u/DTFlash The lady that got famous because she was very upset that she got co-fifth place in a swim meet nobody cared about might be a grifter? I'm shocked. |
| /u/TotalOwlie Isn't crazy how the right picks their influencers. They have her, Kyle rittenhouse for killing some people and nick shirley who is as dumb as a brick. |
| /u/DTFlash Don't disparage bricks like that. |
| /u/Steg-a-saur_stomp Atleast bricks are useful |
| /u/glory_holelujah Don't forget that Rittenhouse is so dumb the military wouldn't take him |
| /u/TotalOwlie Oof yeah they were like "nooooope" hard pass on that one. |
| /u/MelangeBot That's funny cause the police rejected him cause he scored over 85 on their IQ entry test. |