Environmental activist, human rights advocate, and drag queen Pattie Gonia gave MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, workout tips and other advice over his latest attempt to "cosplay masculinity."
Hegseth had posted another video of himself working out, poorly, with another branch of the military.
Pattie Gonia captioned her response:
"my name is pattie gonia and i challenge pete hegseth to a kettlebell swing competition. i’ll win. & i’ll do it tucked….and in heels."
Not only was the desperation to be seen as a manly man pathetic, Hegseth's form was, once again, poor. Hegseth was previously skewered and challenged—by Pattie Gonia and many others—for his demonstration of his inability to do a proper pull-up.
In his latest tutorial on how not to work out, Hegseth swings kettlebells with the Navy.
In her new video response, Pattie Gonia demonstrates the proper kettlebell stance and technique in full drag, adding that if you're only using your shoulders, you're doing it wrong. And while it was not mentioned, probably because Hegseth seems incapable of absorbing anything without an alcohol content, bad form leads to injuries.
Pattie Gonia stated instead:
"It’s pretty crazy that the US Navy couldn’t teach you this and then a drag queen has to."
You can see Pattie Gonia's post here:
They also commented on some of Hegseth's other stances, like his constant rhetoric about family values while cheating on all three of his wives, being twice divorced, paying a settlement to a woman for alleged sexual misconduct, and having a problem with alcohol abuse on the job.
Pattie Gonia pointed out that's hypocrisy.
People were all Team Pattie in the comments.
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In other news, on January 21 in California, outdoor lifestyle peddler Patagonia filed a lawsuit against Pattie Gonia. The corporation alleged the activist violated an agreement they had over the use of "their" name and logo.
Patagonia the company borrowed their name from a region at the southern end of South America—shared by Argentina and Chile—known for diverse landscapes including the Andes mountains, glaciers, steppes, and coastlines.
The word Patagonia comes from the terms patagão (Portuguese) or patagón (Spanish) used by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1520 to describe the very tall Indigenous Tehuelche (Aónikenk) people he encountered in the region. The literal translation is "big feet" and Patagonia is the "land of big feet" or the land of the Tehuelche (Aónikenk) people.
But the word, of course, belongs to a United States-based clothing and outdoor lifestyle company.
In a statement on their website, the outdoor brand wrote:
"While we wish we didn’t have to do this—and actively engaged with Pattie for several years to avoid this—it has become necessary to protect the brand we have spent the last 50 years building."
"Pattie Gonia’s use of a near-copy of our name commercially—including as a brand for environmental advocacy—and her trademark application seeking to obtain the exclusive right to use that name going forward, pose long-term threats to Patagonia’s brand and our activism."
"We cannot selectively choose to enforce our rights based on whether we agree with a particular point of view. Inconsistent enforcement might prevent us from stopping entities like the oil and gas lobby, counterfeiters, hate groups, or other bad actors from using the Patagonia name and logo."
"While Patagonia seeks only nominal monetary damages, the harm Pattie Gonia has caused and will cause to the PATAGONIA brand is irreparable and cannot be remedied by money damages or other remedies short of an injunction."
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Pattie Gonia countered that they "have never and will never reference the brand Patagonia’s logo or brand" or even use the same font on any Pattie Gonia branded merch, and added there was "plenty of room for us both to play in this play box."
While Patagonia was filing lawsuits, Pattie Gonia was completing a 100-mile trek from Point Reyes national seashore to San Francisco in full drag and raised $1 million for eight non-profits that work to make the outdoors more accessible for disabled people.
Parody and satire are almost always viewed as protected speech by the courts, so how far Patagonia’s lawsuit will go is unknown.
What is predictable is the black eye Patagonia just gave itself by going after an incredibly popular drag queen—Pattie Gonia holds the record for drag queen with the most followers on social media—and human rights advocate and environmental activist to "protect their brand."
Apparently the apparel company is unaware that their customer base isn't exactly anti-LGBTQ+, pro-MAGA, gun rights advocates—the only people likely to applaud their move.
But if their plan was to increase sales for L.L. Bean, REI, and Dick's, mission accomplished.
