Women online have taken to filming ghoulish murder-fantasy videos in which they romanticize lacing men’s beverages with deadly poison as a justifiable response to fears about abortion rights under a second Trump presidency.
Many of the videos have been viewed millions of times on X or TikTok and feature young women fiendishly grinning as they adulterate a cup of tea or other drink with an unknown substance.
Some of the women have dubbed the videos part of a “Make Aqua Tofana Great Again” — or “MATGA” — movement, a nod both to President-elect Donald Trump’s MAGA campaign slogan and ancient killer Giulia Tofana, who has been adopted as the disturbed group’s heroine.
Tofana was a 17th century Italian woman who sold poison to wives who wished to dispatch their abusive husbands — resulting in the deaths of more than 600 men.
Tofana’s signature brew was a mish-mash of deadly ingredients such as arsenic and belladonna known as “Aqua Tofana,” a concoction that was so effective, she is considered by many today as one of the most prolific serial killers of all time.
The poison — believed to be flavorless and completely undetectable after death — was typically stored in ordinary cosmetics bottles, ensuring that a husband who was about to get whacked would be none-the-wiser to his impending fate.
One of the online clips shows a young lady with green hair, a backwards camo hat and a large, spiked septum ring with the text “Aqua Tofana isn’t that hard to make” superimposed over footage of her making the throat-slitting gesture with her thumb.
Many of the videos include a portion of the Eminem song “Venom” in the background featuring the lyrics, “This f–king world better prepare to get laced because they’re gonna taste my venom.”
Some of the women don’t mention Aqua Tofana specifically but instead show off their “poison rings,” wearable baubles with a hidden compartment supposedly made to hold a lethal dose of a toxin.
“My advice for American women,” reads the text in video of a woman standing in a body-length mirror.
“I know you will understand this. They asked for it,” the text reads before she flips open her poison ring and gives the camera a sinister smile.
In a plea for common sense, a woman posted a TikTok video urging people participating in “MATGA” to think long and hard about what they were doing.
“You do know those videos can be used against you, right? It’s giving off premeditated vibes. The internet is FOREVER. Also.. the 1600s were A LOT different than 2024 advancements in detecting POISON,” reads the text positioned over a video of her scrunching her face in disbelief.
Liberal women have been registering their dismay at the outcome of the election through the “MATGA” movement and a number of other ways, meticulously documenting everything online.
Some have started shaving their heads, while others are engaging in sex strikes against men or committing to not getting pregnant or giving birth for the duration of Trump’s second term, to protest what they see as potential draconian abortion measures to come under him.
Trump helped pave the way in his first term for the conservative US Supreme Court that in 2022 overturned the Roe v. Wade decision ensuring abortion rights at the federal level. States now have the power to determine their own abortion laws instead.
The incoming president has stated repeatedly that he would veto a federal abortion ban. The number of abortions in America also has actually increased since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, according to the New York Times, even in states that have enacted new restrictions on the procedure.
