You have to enjoy it when the people running this country try to lord over the gentry with condescending attitudes like they are the cultured elite, when we all regard them as corrupt and imbalanced head cases. Some time back, there was the quiet revelation in Politico that many D.C. journalists - among the most insufferable lot located therein - were found to be frequently hopped up on mushrooms. That explains so much about the content we have seen burped out by these prigs. And now we get a peek into another example of how those in That Town are not like us.
Many in D.C. are gathering to swim together as mermaids.
The Washington Post arrived to shed light on an aquatic trend that sees residents in the capital who spend their days making waves politically using their off time to visit municipal pools and pose as the mythical oceanic hybrids. These are not the children of the privileged set splashing on play dates with costumes purchased on Amazon; these are adults who choose to cosplay as Ariel as a means of dealing with their tough vocational lives.
Amid an era of escalating stress in which live-action role-playing and other forms of cosplay are a popular escape, “mermaiding” is spreading through the Washington region — its lure attracting merfolk who are either looking for a unique form of exercise, a deep sense of community or something to take them out of their everyday human lives.
“Living here is fast; everything is fast. There’s traffic. There’s so many people, and it feels so suffocating sometimes,” said Montara Hewgill, a Gaithersburg resident...
Those in the community suspect that the D.C. region’s pressure-cooker environment and number of residents with enough disposable income to spend on tails that can cost several thousand dollars contribute to the popularity of mermaiding so far from the ocean.
Now, unlike most news items of this nature, where writers have to seek out just enough examples of some arcane behavior to justify calling something a trend, this appears to be a widespread example of people seeking a cetacean catharsis. One group of “MerPeople” (I hate that I actually wrote that) sports a membership of nearly 1,000. There has been a Netflix documentary made about this subset of society.
You also find a strata attached to this segment, as freshman flippers try to achieve entry into the more elite pods in the region. Yes, Washington, D.C. has possibly moved from legislation being crafted in the exclusive VIP dining rooms and exclusive smoking clubs to those wonks operating top-tier mermaid pods. (“I was in a shoal this weekend with a 4-gill assistant from Eric Swalwell’s office, discussing the ethanol rider in the environmental package…”)
In order to get hired for a Congressional staff gig, it may soon be more important which school of mermaids you matriculated from than which approved Ivy League university you attended.
I’m just putting the word out now:
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) July 30, 2025
If I am found to be dropping thousands of dollars in order to glam it up in community pools as a mer-man, please conduct an intervention. https://t.co/D0rbg1j5oj pic.twitter.com/CnzaGzx8E9
What I love the most is how this is all positioned as not freakishly outlandish but more as a quaint adjunct to the social circles in the Beltway. We have people operating our government who doll up as fish in their free time. There was a time when this behavior would have been cause for concern, and families would not speak of it out loud for the collective shame felt. Now they proudly pose to be featured in the major newspaper: “For a few hours a week, they could slip on their ‘mersona,’ take some ‘shellfies’ with friends.”
Sorry, but I’ll be content to sit in the smoking room of a Georgetown tavern to assuage the stresses of working in D.C. – and order a double while wondering which stunted political proposal being passed around on The Hill was crafted while someone was cavorting in the fathoms with a teal tail Velcroed to their waistline.
Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.
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