Ogrish Goes Mainstream
Life during Trumptime 4/6/26 - 4/12/26
On the internet I grew up with shock sites like Ogrish, LiveLeak, and Rotten.com lingered on the fringes of public consciousness. These were places where people could see the most graphic and horrifying pictures and videos the world had to offer. Celebrity autopsy photos, cartel beheading videos, and graphic car accidents were available for the curious and morbid. It was a game, back then, to disguise a link to Princess Di’s car crash photos as a funny video and trick a friend into clicking it. These sites shaped the culture and were the center of lawsuits and debates about free speech.
Last Thursday, the President of the United States shared a video of a woman being beaten to death with a hammer in a Florida gas station parking lot. It’s the exact kind of thing that would have been a minor hit on Rotten.com.
I am often struck by how many of the worst parts of the early 2000s era internet now permeate our culture, but I am just as shocked by how quickly these things slip by. Twenty years ago, the President sharing a murder on social media would have dominated the public’s minds for months. Now, a week after he shared it, it feels already forgotten.
At least we have these new pictures of the Moon.
4/6/26
Let us pause for a moment and marvel that transcendent human accomplishments are still possible. The Monday after Easter, NASA’s ARTEMIS II mission spent seven hours cruising by the Moon. The last manned mission to the moon occurred in 1972 and the return of people to the Lunar orbit was a pleasant reminder that humans are still capable of great things. The pictures NASA published of the fly by are stunning.
4/7/26
On Tuesday Trump threatened to end the Iranian civilization, leading to a day of mass nuclear anxiety as the world waited to see if he would make good on the threat. As is so often the case with Trump, he did not make good on the threat. That did not lessen the anxiety.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end,” Trump said in a post on Truth social.
4/8/26
Pakistan negotiated a two week ceasefire between Iran and the United States. Multiple versions of a supposed 10 point plan made the rounds online. Iran and the United States argued the finer points of the agreement in public and the Farsi and English versions of Iran’s 10 point plan didn’t match up.
Iran said its proposal included America’s acceptance of its enrichment of uranium as part of Tehran’s nuclear program. Trump claimed that they’d worked with Iran to dig up its highly enriched uranium. Hegseth said Tehran would give over the material voluntarily.
Confusion reigned, but peace talks began.
4/9/26
On Truth Social Trump posted an AI-generated picture of himself standing with UFC CEO Dana White in front of a fighting arena on the White House lawn. It was an advertisement for a White House-hosted UFC fight scheduled to take place over the summer. The picture included the logo of Stake, an online casino.
The President’s endorsement of an online casino comes at a time when gambling has infested all aspects of American life. Every sports event is stuffed with advertisements for some form of betting. Video games are saddled with gambling-style mechanics. People make big money betting on the outcome of world events on sites like Kalshi and Polymarket.
Later that day, Trump kicked off the MAGA civil war by calling out Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candance Owens, and Alex Jones for criticizing the war in Iran. The massive media figures only intensified their critiques.
Still later, Trump posted security footage from a Florida parking lot that showed a woman being brutally beaten to death with a hammer.
4/10/26
The crew of the Artemis II returned safely to Earth.
4/11/26
The first round of peace talks in Iran collapsed in Islamabad. Vice President JD Vance was unable to thread the needle and he retreated from the talks. Trump and White House factotum Marco Rubio were in Florida watching a UFC fight when news of Vance’s failure broke. “We win, regardless,” he told reporters. “We defeated them militarily.”
The Strait of Hormuz remained closed. Iran continued to hold highly enriched uranium.
4/12/26
In a sign of possible shifting political winds, Viktor Orbán lost his re-election bid in Hungary. Orbán’s rule has been a political reality in the country since the 1990s and his election loss was overwhelming. American conservatives viewed Orbán’s Hungary as a kind of bulwark against overreaching liberalism and they have not taken the defeat well.
In the runup to the election, JD Vance stumped for Orbán in the country and Trump posted his support online. In an embarrassing moment on the campaign trail, Vance attempted to get Trump on the phone only to be sent to voicemail. If polls (and Polymarket) are to be believed, the attempted intercession of American power in the country only made Orbán less popular.