On June 3, a collection of some of the right’s most prominent purveyors of election-fraud lies and coronavirus misinformation congregated in the window-lined observatory atop One World Trade Center, with views of the Hudson River and Manhattan’s expanse. On hand were MAGA luminaries including Rudy Giuliani, who had crisscrossed the country attempting to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 loss; Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser turned QAnon hero; and Mike Lindell, the mustachioed bedding magnate who’s been aggressively peddling the Big Lie along with his MyPillows. Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, wearing a single buttondown shirt instead of his usual two or three, was the master of ceremonies.
The event’s host, Guo Wengui, however, did not show up. According to one associate, he said he was worried that his presence might inspire the Chinese government to mount a 9/11–style jet attack on the tower to silence him for good. But Guo, the fugitive Chinese tycoon and self-described whistleblower on Chinese Communist Party corruption, did appear throughout the gala via a pair of screens at the front of the room, wearing an assortment of eclectic outfits that evoked a fashion mashup of Michael Jackson and Moammar Qaddafi.
Throughout the 12-hour spectacle—attended by a couple hundred guests in formal wear and no masks, and me, the only reporter present—a music video for Guo’s new rap-pop protest song “The Hero” ran repeatedly. In it, Guo, who also goes by Miles, performs in a leather jumpsuit, occasionally wielding a light saber. “Galloping on my horse,” he sings in Chinese, while dancers gyrate in front of a private jet, presumably his own. “An eagle stands on my shoulder. To sacrifice on the battlefield is my honor.”
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In the Name of the Mother - How Shyamala Gopalan Harris raised a presidential contender
Shyamala Gopalan Harris did not believe in coddling. Pay her daughters, Kamala and Maya, an allowance for doing chores? “If you do the dishes, you should get two dollars,” scoffed the woman who this past summer, almost two decades after we spoke, would launch a million coconut memes. “You ate from the damn dishes!” Reward the future vice president of the United States—and possible future president—for good grades? Ridiculous. “What does that tell you?” her mother chided. “It says, ‘You know, I really thought you were stupid. Oh, you surprised Mommy!’ No.”
Kill the Messenger - The anti-disinformation field is retreating under attack.
A few months ago, a man crawling along a rooftop in Pennsylvania tried to murder Donald Trump at a campaign rally. Hours later, press releases started to circulate, from analysts, think tanks, politicians, and pundits, all offering to cut through the swell of confusion and misinformation.
Food + Health / Global Warning - Why Project 2025 is an environmental catastrophe in the making
When President Joe Biden took office, Democrats held a slim majority in the House of Representatives and a single-vote edge in the Senate. Despite the monumental odds, he has presided over the most productive presidential term for climate action in American history. Under Biden’s direction, the federal government took up the arduous task of incorporating climate considerations into scores of administrative operations and procedures. The epa cracked down on superpollutants and issued stricter emissions regulations for passenger vehicles. The Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest climate spending bill Congress has ever passed, brings the nation closer to its goal of slashing carbon emissions in half by 2030.
Trumpnesia - To get a second chance, Trump needs voters to forget his disastrous presidency.
One of the most oft-quoted sentences ever penned by a philosopher is George Santayana’s observation that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In 2024, this aphorism is practically a campaign slogan. Donald Trump, seeking to become the first former president since Grover Cleveland to return to the White House after being voted out of the job, has waged war on remembrance. In fact, he’s depending on tens of millions of voters forgetting the recent past. This election is an experiment in how powerful a memory hole can be.
WHEN IN DROUGHT
This obscure yet adaptable grain could be a healthy staple for a warming planet.
BAD HABITS
A spate of recent horror movies recycle tired tropes about nuns-and reveal society's ongoing discomfort with independent women.
Taking the Fifth For a glimpse of the Supreme Court after a second Trump term, look at the radical circuit court that's already driving America to the right.
Imagine obamacare is dead and millions of Americans have lost health coverage.
THE ARCHITECT
TRUMP WANTS TO BE KING. RUSS VOUGHT HAS A PLAN TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Losing Faith
As an evangelical leader, I enticed lawmakers and federal judges to adopt a conservative Christian agenda. Donald Trump’s rise proved how wrong I was.
GOD'S COUNTRY
These Christian nationalists have a plan to take over Americafrom small towns to the highest court in the land.
