Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Reality Winner. A name so perfectly suited for the times you almost couldn’t script it better. She was the young Air Force linguist who dared to do what supposedly makes America great: tell the truth. She released one document—one—confirming that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election. Not 10,000 documents. Not pallets of state secrets. Just one measly file. And for that, the government threw the book at her so hard it might as well have been the entire Library of Congress. She became the poster child for the Espionage Act, sentenced to more than five years—the harshest punishment ever given for a leak to the press.

Now, let’s spin the camera over to Donald J. Trump. This man treated classified documents like his personal set of Pokémon cards. Nuclear secrets? Check. Attack plans? Check. Intel on allies? Tossed in a cardboard box next to a box of golf shirts. Where did he keep them? Bathrooms, ballrooms, and storage closets with padlocks from 1987. And instead of wearing an orange jumpsuit, Trump is rewarded with a second presidency, cheered on as though he’s a conquering hero. Reality Winner gets solitary confinement; Trump gets Secret Service protection. Winner was called a traitor; Trump is called “Mr. President” again.

And here’s where the hypocrisy goes from galling to grotesque: Reality has written a book about her ordeal. A chance to tell her side of the story, to explain what it feels like to be crushed by a system that punishes truth-tellers and rewards conmen. But no—she’s barred from profiting off it. Uncle Sam says, “Sorry, Reality, your reality doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to us.” Meanwhile, Trump monetizes every indictment, every mugshot, every golden-plated grievance. He literally sells Bibles with his name stamped on them and rakes in cash. He can profit from lies, treason, and corruption. She can’t profit from honesty.

It’s enough to make you wonder—if Woodward and Bernstein had tried to do Watergate in the Trump era, they wouldn’t have been lionized as truth-seekers. They’d have been dragged into court, charged under the Espionage Act, and probably executed on pay-per-view, with Tucker Carlson providing live commentary. Deep Throat? More like Dead Throat. The very same system that once celebrated whistleblowers and watchdog journalism now demands absolute obedience to Dear Leader—or else.

This is the upside-down universe we live in: a young woman who exposed foreign interference in American democracy is gagged, punished, and silenced, while the man who begged for that interference, hoarded national secrets, and tried to overturn an election is now running the country again. The word for this isn’t “justice.” It’s “authoritarian theater.”

Remembering Reality Winner means remembering the stark double standard: when ordinary people speak truth, they’re crushed. When power hoards secrets, lies, and treason, it’s rewarded with more power. And if that doesn’t make your blood boil, you’ve probably already switched the channel to Trump’s next rally.