Aidan McLaughlin
@aidanmcl.bsky.social
Washington Correspondent, Vanity Fair
American tourism is in crisis. Trump’s solution? Send in the Aussie-born influencer once known as “Nick Adams, Alpha Male.” I tailed the tourism envoy on a sprint through Europe, where he made the case that the US is still open to foreigners. Results were mixed: www.vanityfair.com/story/nick-a...
It's Trump's 80th birthday next week, which means one thing: UFC cage fight at the White House. But as his approval sinks to new lows and he injects partisanship into every facet of American life, celebrities have grown wary of Washington. Will they show up? www.vanityfair.com/story/ufc-25...
NEW: Trump is losing his grip on evangelicals, one of his most loyal voting blocs. A recent poll saw his disapproval surge nine points. “That is a massive drop-off,” says CNN's data guru Harry Enten. I dug into why, and spoke with some of Trump's "spiritual advisors," for @vanityfair.com
Trump’s Iron Grip on Evangelicals Is Slipping. Bring In the Golden Calf.
Crypto hawkers have erected a giant gilded statue of President Trump at Doral, his members club outside Miami. The golfers may not mind, and neither do his mega-pastor advisers, but his support among ...
vanityfair.com
The far right is attacking Kylian Mbappé, the star captain of France's World Cup team, over his comments in a @vanityfair.com cover story explaining why he speaks out about politics. “You can be a player, you can be an international star, but above all that, you are a citizen,” he told me.
Kylian Mbappé Is Scoring All the Goals—and Taking All the Heat
He was crowned football’s future king when he was just a teenager, but for Kylian Mbappé, these are now more turbulent times. The captain of France has weathered attacks on his identity while serving ...
vanityfair.com
Oz Pearlman was about to reveal the name of Karoline Leavitt’s unborn baby when he heard commotion in the ballroom. “I thought a bomb was about to go off.” He dropped to the floor and came face-to-face with Trump, who looked remarkably composed. He wondered if the president had been shot.
DC’s Strange, Late Night: The Surreal Scene at WHCD Parties After the Shooting
Oz Pearlman was mentalizing President Trump when the commotion started, and soon the main event was cancelled. Then a different kind of wild time began across Washington hotspots from Cafe Milano to t...
vanityfair.com
Much of the blame for Tony Dokoupil's troubles has been placed on Bari Weiss, a television neophyte who has pursued aggressive changes to realign CBS News with her own politics www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
New details from behind the scenes of Tony Dokoupil's chaotic start in the Evening News anchor chair www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
My profile of Tony Dokoupil, the face of the Bari Weiss revolution at CBS News
Tony Dokoupil Is the Face of the Bari Weiss Revolution at CBS News. Will He Survive It?
With tumbling ratings and savage reviews, the hospital-drama-handsome anchor has hit a rough patch after a meteoric rise at CBS. Insiders are questioning whether he’s up for the job—and panicking at t...
vanityfair.com
SCOOP: Trump has spent his second term in office working to leave his mark on Washington and the country. Now, his Treasury Department plans to add his signature to all denominations of U.S. dollar bills. It will be the first time in history a sitting president's signature appears on dollar bills
Breaking: Donald Trump Plans to Add His Signature to US Currency
As Vanity Fair can exclusively report, Trump’s Treasury Department plans to add his signature to all denominations of US dollar bills.
vanityfair.com
NEW @vanityfair.com: A pint with Piers Morgan, a scoop on how Bari Weiss blew up a CBS interview with Zohran Mamdani, an intense call with Spencer Pratt & a survey of the secret Trump voters of Hollywood New Party Animals out now: link.vanityfair.com/view/5df1007...
Why does Trump keep launching military operations from Mar-a-Lago, his gilded Florida resort? According to club members, close friends, Palm Beach socialites, and officials I spoke with, Mar-a-Lago offers Trump something he doesn't get in Washington: adulation www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
Some news: I'm writing a weekly column at @vanityfair.com on politics, power, and society in Washington. It drops Thursday afternoons starting this week. Subscribe now:
Party Animals by Aidan McLaughlin
A letter from the back rooms, barstools, and bacchanals of Washington, DC—with exclusive reporting, interviews, and analysis.
vanityfair.com
“Beyond disaster,” one close Trump ally texted as the backlash mounted Friday morning. “It’s the worst post I’ve seen in a very long time.”
If Trump Didn't Post that Racist Video of the Obamas, Who Did?
More than 12 hours after President Donald Trump shared a grotesque video of Barack and Michelle Obama on Truth Social, the video was deleted. Then the blame game began.
vanityfair.com
I spoke with former Washington Post editor Marty Baron about the devastating cuts to the paper and Jeff Bezos's "sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump"
Marty Baron Warns That Jeff Bezos Is Shredding ‘The Washington Post’ to “Ingratiate Himself With Donald Trump”
The former editor of the paper tells Vanity Fair that the “tremendous” newsroom brings in readers, but Trump has driven the owner and his publisher, Will Lewis, to decisions that have sent those reade...
vanityfair.com
The bizarro split screen at the Kennedy Center Thursday night, where Trump hosted a decadent celebration of MELANIA, the new documentary the first lady made about herself: www.vanityfair.com/news/story/m...
From my new profile of Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI director Kash Patel: A former senior FBI agent called the protective detail afforded to Alexis Wilkins "outrageous" "There’s no justification whatsoever to provide federal resources to protect her.” www.vanityfair.com/news/story/a...
Alexis Wilkins, the 27-year-old girlfriend of FBI director Kash Patel, has a security detail and a boyfriend who zips to her concerts on a government jet. But life as the first lady of the FBI isn’t always so easy, she tells Vanity Fair’s @aidanmcl.bsky.social
Meet Alexis Wilkins, The Zoomer First Lady of the FBI
The aspiring country star has her own security detail, and boyfriend Kash Patel can zip to her any time on a government jet. But MAGA life isn’t always so easy, she tells Vanity Fair.
vanityfair.com
A somewhat incensed former NSC official on Trump linking his escalating threats against Greenland to the Nobel peace prize: www.vanityfair.com/news/story/d...
Just 28% of Americans think the ICE agent’s shooting of Renee Good was justified
Helluva response to Elon Musk from this French government account
“We are doomed to have another January 6 if we’re not honest with ourselves," says @ericswalwell.bsky.social, "about why it happened, who was responsible, and what we can do to make sure it never happens again.” House Democrats are fighting Trump to preserve the truth of what happened in Jan. 6.
Five Years On, Democrats May Be Losing the Fight Over January 6
House Democrats are fighting efforts from the Trump White House to rewrite the history of the riot at the US Capitol. “It’s almost like trying to recreate 9/11 or Pearl Harbor with a positive spin,” o...
vanityfair.com
Good lord: Trump in his Mar-a-Lago presser said Maduro was the head of a "the vicious cartel known as Cartel de los Soles, which flooded our nation with lethal poison." Now, his DOJ is admitting no such cartel exists — it's a slang term for officials corrupted by drug money:
MTG tells the Times that when she threatened to expose the men who abused Epstein’s victims, Trump called to scream at her. “My friends will get hurt,” he said.
Inside Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Break With Trump and MAGA
How the Georgia congresswoman went from the president’s loudest cheerleader to his loudest Republican critic.
nytimes.com
Before she got dragged into the fight between Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, Bari Weiss spent weeks lobbying Kelly to participate in a town hall on feminism with Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper
Bari Weiss’s 60 Minutes Stumble Follows Private Rejection From Megyn Kelly
Before she stoked outrage by spiking a ‘60 Minutes’ segment about a notorious El Salvador prison, Weiss spent weeks lobbying Megyn Kelly to participate in a debate on feminism with ‘Call Her Daddy’ host Alex Cooper, to no avail.
vanityfair.com
“Dismal,” “confused,” “demoralized,” “super fucked.” That, as one reporter tells Vanity Fair, is the mood inside CBS after editor Bari Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes segment that was critical of the Trump administration.
Bari Weiss’s 60 Minutes Stumble Follows Private Rejection From Megyn Kelly
Before she stoked outrage by spiking a ‘60 Minutes’ segment about a notorious El Salvador prison, Weiss spent weeks lobbying Megyn Kelly to participate in a debate on feminism with ‘Call Her Daddy’ host Alex Cooper, to no avail.
vanityfair.com
I spoke with Megyn Kelly at AmericaFest, where fissures in the MAGA movement erupted into a bitter feud. “They are making antisemites,” she said of Ben Shapiro and Bari Weiss. “Tucker is not making antisemites. They are.”
Megyn Kelly Talks Ben Shapiro’s “Betrayal” and the MAGA Reckoning at AmericaFest
As AmericaFest convened the likes of Erika Kirk, Tucker Carlson, Kelly, Shapiro, and other conservative stars, MAGA was anything but united.
vanityfair.com
Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality.” Vance’s conversion to MAGA was “political.” Elon is “an avowed ketamine [user].” Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles tells all in a series of extraordinary interviews with @vanityfair.com
Susie Wiles Talks About The First Year of Trump’s Second Term (Part 1 of 2)
In the first half of ‘Vanity Fair’’s interview with Susie Wiles, the chief of staff discusses Elon Musk’s DOGE disaster, the FBI’s “incredible job” investigating January 6, and how Trump once berated her.
vanityfair.com
Christ. Trump says Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered “due to the anger he caused others” through his “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME”
Trump: “We should take stakes in companies when people need something. I think we should take stakes in companies. Now, some people would say that doesn’t sound very American. Actually, I think it is very American.”
Exclusive | Trump Isn’t Certain His Economic Policies Will Translate to Midterm Wins
In an interview, he said his efforts to secure investments in the U.S. haven’t fully taken effect and “I cannot tell you how that’s going to equate to the voter.”
wsj.com
