Teen Vogue was featured on NBC's Sunday Today as a celebrated newcomer to the world of politics. And by politics, they mean the anti-Trump train. Instead of the typical fodder of social media trends or the latest lipstick shade Kim Kardashian is wearing, Teen Vogue is helping teen girls, and probably boys at this point, navigate the treacherous waters of President Donald Trump.
NBC News liked the new direction of the magazine so much, it featured Teen Vogue in its Sunday Spotlight segment on its weekend morning show. Anchor Katy Tur sat down with the magazine’s op-ed columnist, Lauren Duca, to discus how “At 14 years old, Teen Vogue is growing up.”
Duca’s most popular column on the website to date is from December of last year titled, “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America.” It is described as a “scorched-earth op-ed” that “takes on Trump’s systematic attempts to destabilize the truth and weaken the foundation of American freedom.” Such an overly frantic message landed Duca in the hot seat on Tucker Carlson’s program, or as she put it, “in the crosshairs of conservative media.” Tur said it “put Teen Vogue on the political map.”
Duca said the magazine’s young readers want to “make sense of politics” these days instead of only worrying about beauty and fashion. But Tur wanted to know if readers can differentiate between straight news and opinion, of which Duca excels. Duca said most adults can’t even distinguish fake news from facts, but hopes to guide her young readers to make conclusions.
Besides her column, Duca has sent some no-so-subtle messages on Twitter including one featured in the segment: a plane on fire with the caption, “Cute pic of Trump getting tired of winning.” Though she deleted the tweet, Duca told Tur it was “a bad metaphor for the campaign” and was done in poor timing as the president made his first trip overseas.
Tur cut to the chase, asking Duca if she felt Teen Vogue could be considered a liberal magazine. If that tweet weren’t enough evidence, here’s Duca’s reluctant, yet confirming, response:
“If it’s liberal to be supporting human rights as a guiding principle, then yes. Which is kind of an Ivanka answer.”
Watch part of the segment below, via Newsbusters:
Here’s some of Duca’s very triggered appearance on Fox News with Carlson:
