CULTURE

Footer Column 2

Footer Legal

Footer Main

Nav Bar

OTHER

SPORTS

Subscribe, at any level, to play

Thanks for your interest in Defector Crosswords!

Become a subscriber today to get unlimited access

Thanks for reading!

Plans start at $8/month.

Subscribers enjoy unlimited, ad-free browsing.

Register to continue

Or click here to subscribe for unlimited, ad-free access!

Our gift to you: This year's post is unlocked. Register your email to get even more free articles.

Welcome to the 2025 Hater's Guide!

Just register your email:

This blog is free to read.

This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

<div id="1695913206.579009" class="c-virtual_list__item c-virtual_list__item--initial-activeitem" role="listitem" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1695913206.579009">
<div class="c-message_kit__background c-message_kit__background--hovered p-message_pane_message__message c-message_kit__message" role="presentation" data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false">
<div class="c-message_kit__hover c-message_kit__hover--hovered" role="document" data-qa-hover="true">
<div class="c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--above">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter c-message_kit__gutter--compact">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter__right" role="presentation" data-qa="message_content">
<div class="c-message_kit__indent">
<div class="c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text c-message_kit__blocks--inline">
<div class="c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text c-message__message_blocks--inline" data-qa="message-text">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer p-block_kit_renderer--inline" data-qa="block-kit-renderer">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first">
<div class="p-rich_text_block p-rich_text_block--inline" dir="auto">
<div class="p-rich_text_section">Tom Scocca is the editor of <a href="http://indignity.net">Indignity</a>, a subscription-supported newsletter of news, essays, and commentary.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="1695913224.677889" class="c-virtual_list__item" role="listitem" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1695913224.677889">
<div class="c-message_kit__background p-message_pane_message__message c-message_kit__message" role="presentation" data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false">
<div class="c-message_kit__hover" role="document" data-qa-hover="true">
<div class="c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--above">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter c-message_kit__gutter--compact">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter__left" role="presentation"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>


Tom Scocca

A monitor shows the CBS News broadcast of the Vice Presidential Debate between US Senator and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz in Harrisburg, PA, on October 1, 2024, at a watch party.

Margin Of Error

JD Vance Found A Debate He Couldn’t Win

Donald Trump makes a loony-eyed face while speaking at IAC.

Where Racism Goes To Become Rhetoric

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debate on September 10, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump Talked Honestly About Policy

Alex Sujong Laughlin

A person stops to watch a TV screen at a bar in Washington D.C. showing the U.S. presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Politics

Who Won The Debate? The Swirling Existential Void That Will Consume Us All

David Roth

A picture of Donald Trump at the first presidential debate next to a rendering of a trading card which includes a swatch of the suit he wore in that debate, taken from the website selling those cards.

Donald Trump Is Still Selling NFTs, Now Also Selling Trading Cards With Bits Of His Suit Embedded In Them

Donald Trump wears an ain't-I-a-stinker smirk while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks onstage at a campaign event at which the latter announced the end of his presidential campaign and endorsement of the former.

Stupid And Contagious

<p>Hamilton Nolan is a journalist based in New York City. Subscribe to his work at <a href="https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1687350200913000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0naFbUVOe-5ZgtPDtIM3gz">HamiltonNolan.com</a>.</p>


Hamilton Nolan

Patriot Games

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 19: Delegates from Florida chant "Lock him up," as Hillary Clinton talks about former President Donald Trump's criminal convictions during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 19, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.

A Night With The Party Animals

Republican vice presidential candidate, U.S. Sen J.D. Vance (R-OH) speaks during a press conference at the Shelby Township Police Department on August 7, 2024 in Shelby Township, Michigan.

Men On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown

Giri Nathan

A picture of US President Donald Trump is seen during a prayer ceremony by the activists of Hindu Sena, a right wing group, for Trump's victory in the US presidential elections in New Delhi on November 3, 2020.

Donald Trump Bumbles His Way Toward A More Perfect “Kamala”

Republican vice presidential nominee U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) walks out with his wife Usha Vance to speak during a rally with running mate U.S. Republican Presidential nominee former President Donald Trump.

JD Vance, Who Loves His Wife Usha By The Way, Wants To Make Sure You Know He’s Not Racist

Barry Petchesky

US Senator from Ohio and 2024 Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance (R) gives a thumbs up as he shakes hands with US former President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 16, 2024. Days after he survived an assassination attempt Donald Trump won formal nomination as the Republican presidential candidate and picked right-wing loyalist J.D. Vance for running mate, kicking off a triumphalist party convention in the wake of last weekend's failed assassination attempt. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

Look At These Fucking Weirdos

A flyer with information about Project 2025's plan to expand oil drilling inside the United States, stapled to a pole on a city street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Who Wants To Talk About The Issues

Albert Burneko

The New York Times building is seen on September 6, 2018 in New York. - A furious Donald Trump called September 5, 2018 for the unmasking of an anonymous senior official who wrote in the New York Times that top members of his administration were undermining the president to curb his "misguided impulses." Trump asked if the unsigned op-ed could be considered treasonous, assailed the newspaper for the "gutless" piece and questioned whether the senior official it was attributed to actually existed. "TREASON?" Trump posted in response to the article entitled "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration," which claimed the president's own staff see him as a danger to the nation."Does the so-called 'Senior Administration Official' really exist, or is (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Journalismism

Why Did The New York Times Delete A Notorious Fraudster’s Election Take?

Kelsey McKinney

Republican Vice Presidential nominee U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) campaigns at the first public rally.

A List Of Words That Do NOT Appear In ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ So Stop Asking!!

<p>Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including <em>Point B</em>. Handsomest man in the world.</p>


Drew Magary

President Joe Biden returns to the White House with first lady Jill Biden on July 7, 2024 in Washington, DC. Members of Congress return to Washington this week as pressure for Biden to withdraw as the Democratic nominee for the presidency continues to mount.

Funbag

The Gerontocracy Loosened Its Death Grip

US President Joe Biden speaks as he hosts a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (out of frame) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 10, 2024.

What’s The Story With Joe Biden?

New Yorkers watch the 2024 Presidential Debate between Trump and Biden in New York City, United States on June 27, 2024.

Without Fact-Checking, A Presidential Debate Is Just TV

Donald Trump and Joe Biden, looking like a couple of brain-ruined old mummies during their presidential debate.

Debate Losers

U.S. Senator JD Vance takes pictures as Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 13, 2024, in New York.

Dress For The Job You Want

The rostrum of the U.S. House of Representatives, with the entire chamber empty.

My Fellow Americans

In this photograph a group of townsfolk descend on a disciple after it was discovered that the ritual he participated in left a person dead during an Epoch Event in Toronto on August 6, 2011

Fantasy Convention

CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO - FEBRUARY 06: Migrants cross the border to USA through Gate 36 and to be received by elements of the Border Patrol and the Texas National Guard for the processing of their request to migrate, captured from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on February 06, 2024.

The Crisis Keeps Migrating

A male blue jay, perched on a branch with green foliage in the fore- and background.

The Omens Are Bad

Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tim Scott standing onstage, all very normally, at a GOP primary debate in Miami.