January 25, 2025 – Air Mail

GOING FOR WOKE

As popular sentiment on diversity, equity, and inclusion shifts, Donald Trump’s war on woke may well backfire—and alienate even MAGA voters …

LAND OF THE #FREELUIGI

Bethany McLean explores how UnitedHealthcare C.E.O. Brian Thompson became a scapegoat for American rage …

MOGULS ON MARS!

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have emerged as chief competitors in the realm of space technology—through strategies that couldn’t be more different …

PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE

Forced into imprisonment in their own homes, many of the women living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan are suffering from a Stockholm syndrome–esque acceptance of their circumstances …

ONCE UPON A TIME IN FRANCE

A fake passport! Hospital selfies! A bogus marriage proposal! Using a shoddy—yet convincing enough—A.I.-generated version of Brad Pitt, a scammer has swindled a 53-year-old Frenchwoman to the tune of $859,000 …

UNHAPPY HOLIDAYS

After a Chinese conglomerate purchased the French hotel chain Club Med in a shopping spree, customers fear the company will lose its national character …

DEATH PENALTY

Researching his new book on presidential pardons led Jeffrey Toobin to uncover the tragic story of P. S. Ruckman Jr., the unofficial mayor of pardon-land, who took his own life and those of his children …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Lauren Sánchez and conservatives’ cleavage cravings … an oral history of Twin Peaks … the Mitford sister who loved Hitler … Audrey Hepburn’s granddaughter is making Surrealist paintings in Italy … Is Pappy Van Winkle bourbon worth the price tag? … when pop music and gay culture collided … Cast your vote in our Attention-Whore Index Poll!

Issue No. 289

The View from Here Disenchantment with D.E.I. was a boon for Trump. But will his crusade against wokeness repel recent MAGA converts?

By David Christopher Kaufman

Read On

Lunar Tics The rocket rivalry between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk pits the former’s painstaking attention to detail against the latter’s explosive experimentation

By Jacqui Goddard

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

From Brad to Worse How a scammer impersonating Brad Pitt used A.I. imagery to seduce a wealthy French divorcée—and then conned her out of almost $1 million

By James Reynolds

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

The Attention-Whore Index Donald Trump goes low, Elon Musk goes Sieg heil!, and Mark Zuckerberg goes so macho

Read On

The War on Jugs Is Lauren Sánchez’s décolletage—as seen most recently at Trump’s inauguration—a symbol of the political cleavage between today’s left and right?

By Helen Rumbelow

Read On

The Battle for Club Med When a Chinese “gray rhino” bought the quintessential European travel firm, a struggle for the soul of the French icon broke out

By Richard Assheton

Read On

Kabul Syndrome Women forced into submission by the Taliban are beginning to identify with their captors, even when forbidden from looking out the window

By Lynne O'Donnell

Read On

Groundhog Day

Just a hunch, but it feels like we’re in for at least six more weeks of winter. Tuck in with AIR SUPPLY’s guide to familiar favorites. Robert Haviland & C. Parlon’s porcelain coffee-and-tea pot, Christophe Pourny’s firestarters, and Drake’s down mittens are all designed to get you through the chilly homestretch

Shop

Photo: Moviestore Collection Ltd./Alamy (Murray)

Diana Widmaier Picasso’s Favorite Things The granddaughter of Pablo Picasso has curated major exhibitions devoted to the artist. She also co-founded Menē, a collection of 24-karat-gold jewelry. Here, what’s caught her eye

Shop

The Health-Care Blame Game Brian Thompson’s murder revealed a simmering rage toward the insurance industry. But are health executives responsible for the public’s woes or are they just well-paid cogs?

By Bethany McLean

Read On

Remembering Twin Peaks The cast of David Lynch’s rich and strange television masterpiece recall the late director’s sheer unusualness

By Steve Rose

Read On

DINE Hotel Il Pellicano x Claridge’s If life feels unbearable when Il Pellicano closes for the season, you’re among friends. So book a…

STRUT Macian No one does shoes quite like the British. There’s John Lobb, Church’s, Edward Green, Crockett & Jones, to name a few, and Macian…

STAY Collegio alla Querce Unlike Rome, which is heaving with new hotels, Florence has been a bit quieter on the hospitality…

STREAM Kanopy The very best global streaming service out there is free, even ad-free. Founded in Scarborough, Western Australia, in 2008…

READ Eleven Madison Park: The Plant-Based Chapter Swiss chef Daniel Humm shocked the culinary world when, in 2021…

VISIT Forgotten Lands x MoMA This month, Forgotten Lands, a nonprofit dedicated to championing contemporary Caribbean art…

DINE Hotel Il Pellicano x Claridge’s If life feels unbearable when Il Pellicano closes for the season, you’re among friends. So book a…

STRUT Macian No one does shoes quite like the British. There’s John Lobb, Church’s, Edward Green, Crockett & Jones, to name a few, and Macian…

STAY Collegio alla Querce Unlike Rome, which is heaving with new hotels, Florence has been a bit quieter on the hospitality…

STREAM Kanopy The very best global streaming service out there is free, even ad-free. Founded in Scarborough, Western Australia, in 2008…

READ Eleven Madison Park: The Plant-Based Chapter Swiss chef Daniel Humm shocked the culinary world when, in 2021…

VISIT Forgotten Lands x MoMA This month, Forgotten Lands, a nonprofit dedicated to championing contemporary Caribbean art…

Hot Takes A handy digest of recent media coverage concerning the L.A. wildfires

By James Kirchick

Read On

Good-Bye, Noughties! Gone are the fun, messy, and fast times at work—perhaps for the better, says the cast of Bridget Jones

By Simon Mills

Read On

The Grand Illusionist From debutantes to lumberjacks, pop artists to stockbrokers, matinee idols to praying mantises, a new coffee-table book surveys Larry Fink’s wide-ranging, unconventional black-and-white photographs

14

*George Plimpton and Models at Elaine’s, New York, NY, January 1999,* by Larry Fink.

*Peter Beard Opening, International Center of Photography, New York, NY, November 1977.*

*Andy Warhol and Model, East Side Fashion, New York, NY, March 1966.*

*Christian Lacroix Haute Couture, Paris, France, January 1998.*

*Backstage, Jil Sander, Milan, Italy, September 2018.*

*Blue Horizon, Philadelphia, PA, January 1992.*

*Top, Logging, Grisdale, WA, July 1980; above, Hazlett Awards, Harrisburg, PA, May 1985.*

*Model, Moses Soyer Studio, New York, NY, 1960.*

*Belly Dance School, New York, NY, March 1965.*

*Robert Altman, Vanity Fair’s Oscar Party, Los Angeles, CA, March 2006.*

*American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, January 2013.*

Read On

The Girl Who Loved Hitler The diaries of Unity Mitford—the “Nazi” Mitford sister—have been discovered. They reveal the unhinged infatuation she felt toward the Führer

By Rosamund Urwin

Read On

Fashion’s Favorite Child Auralee’s designer, Ryota Iwai, wasn’t planning for the young Japanese brand to turn into a fashion-world sensation, but it happened anyway

By Eugene Rabkin

Read On

Heavenly Spirits At a $1,000-a-head Pappy Van Winkle tasting, I learned how the company namesake liked his bourbon

By Nick Turse

Read On

Blake Smith On

The Secret Public: How Music Moved Queer Culture from the Margins to the Mainstream

by Jon Savage

Read On

The Strange Case of the Presidential-Pardon Pro A top clemency expert’s story is even more twisted than his findings—including Rutherford B. Hayes’s 24 murder pardons

By Jeffrey Toobin

Read On

Dresses by Duro Olowu and Loewe on display in the Louvre’s Decorative Arts Department.

The Louvre has long been an elegant backdrop for the fashion world. Think of that mod icon Anna Karina sprinting through its halls in Godard’s Bande à Part, or a crimson-clad Audrey Hepburn joyfully descending the Daru staircase in Funny Face. More recently, the Louvre has embraced the role of fashion host, inviting the likes of Ferragamo and Louis Vuitton onto its grounds. Once a palace, the museum is now the site of Fashion Weeks past and future. READ ON

Read On

Emma Kathleen Hepburn Ferrer Why Audrey Hepburn’s granddaughter forewent a career in the spotlight to pursue painting

By Elena Clavarino

Read On

Making Sense of Luigi Mangione On this week’s podcast, Bethany McLean looks at the potential roots of the alleged killer’s rage

Read On

Doctor Who? Meet the Boston brain doctor who lives a double life writing incredibly successful thrillers under the pen name Freida McFadden

By Will Pavia

Read On

Topher Grace

The That ’70s Show actor shares his least favorite things

Read On

Reveal a new you—but watch your step!—during the Year of the Snake. The Lunar New Year begins on January 29.

Is Edited By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

Creative Director

Angela Panichi

Deputy Editors

Ashley Baker Ash Carter Chris Garrett Nathan King Julia Vitale

Chief Technology Officer

John Tornow

Editor at Large

George Pendle

Books Editor

Jim Kelly

Arts Intel Report Editor

Laura Jacobs

Senior Editor

Elena Clavarino

Investigations Editor

Clara Molot

Photo Director

Ann Schneider

Copy Editor

Adam Nadler

Research & Legal Editor

Matt Kapp

Production Editor

H. Scott Jolley

Associate Editors

Carolina de Armas Lucy Horowitz Jeanne Malle Paulina Prosnitz Jack Sullivan

Art Director

Paloma Huerre

Senior Photo Editor

Emine Gözde Sevim

Deputy Art Director

Zoé Gillette

International Editor

Isabelle Harvie-Watt

Communications Director

Harrison Vail

Columnists

Dana Brown Cazzie David Lisa Henricksson
Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson
John Lahr Jonathan Margolis Linda Wells
James Wolcott

Writers at Large

Lili Anolik Bridget Arsenault Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Spike Carter Vassi Chamberlain William D. Cohan Rich Cohen Matthew Gurewitsch Michael Hainey Stuart Heritage George Kalogerakis Sam Kashner James Kirchick Alexander Lobrano Alexandra Marshall Daphne Merkin Sam Wasson

Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Pip Carter Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks Hilary Knight Danielle Kosann Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

Contributing Photographers

Jonathan Becker Justin Bishop Alex Board James Emmerman Marcos Fecchino Daniel Paik Art Streiber Sharon Suh Justin Weiner

Architectural Consultant

Basil Walter

Head of Audience Development

Rachel LeSage

Audience Growth Manager

Merritt Johnson

Cartoon Editor

Bob Mankoff

Music Supervisor

Randall Poster

Technology

Brooks Oakley Justin Rubaloff

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Bill Keenan and Emily Davis

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Anjali Lewis

Business Development Director

Catherine Scott

European Sales Director

Selim Mataraci

Financial & Business Operations

Marc Leyer

Account Manager

Dillon Freeman

Chief Strategy Adviser

Adam Mendelsohn

AIR SUPPLY

Chief Merchant

Jennifer Noyes

Shop Editor

Jessica Iredale

E-Commerce Manager

Isaac Metlitsky

E-commerce Associate

Lilly Schoenbaum

In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Duncan Hannah Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley David Yaffe

The View from Here Disenchantment with D.E.I. was a boon for Trump. But will his crusade against wokeness repel recent MAGA converts?

Lunar Tics The rocket rivalry between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk pits the former’s painstaking attention to detail against the latter’s explosive experimentation

From Brad to Worse How a scammer impersonating Brad Pitt used A.I. imagery to seduce a wealthy French divorcée—and then conned her out of almost $1 million

The Attention-Whore Index Donald Trump goes low, Elon Musk goes Sieg heil!, and Mark Zuckerberg goes so macho

The War on Jugs Is Lauren Sánchez’s décolletage—as seen most recently at Trump’s inauguration—a symbol of the political cleavage between today’s left and right?

The Battle for Club Med When a Chinese “gray rhino” bought the quintessential European travel firm, a struggle for the soul of the French icon broke out

Kabul Syndrome Women forced into submission by the Taliban are beginning to identify with their captors, even when forbidden from looking out the window

Diana Widmaier Picasso’s Favorite Things The granddaughter of Pablo Picasso has curated major exhibitions devoted to the artist. She also co-founded Menē, a collection of 24-karat-gold jewelry. Here, what’s caught her eye

The Health-Care Blame Game Brian Thompson’s murder revealed a simmering rage toward the insurance industry. But are health executives responsible for the public’s woes or are they just well-paid cogs?

Remembering Twin Peaks The cast of David Lynch’s rich and strange television masterpiece recall the late director’s sheer unusualness

Hot Takes A handy digest of recent media coverage concerning the L.A. wildfires

Good-Bye, Noughties! Gone are the fun, messy, and fast times at work—perhaps for the better, says the cast of Bridget Jones

The Grand Illusionist From debutantes to lumberjacks, pop artists to stockbrokers, matinee idols to praying mantises, a new coffee-table book surveys Larry Fink’s wide-ranging, unconventional black-and-white photographs

The Girl Who Loved Hitler The diaries of Unity Mitford—the “Nazi” Mitford sister—have been discovered. They reveal the unhinged infatuation she felt toward the Führer

Fashion’s Favorite Child Auralee’s designer, Ryota Iwai, wasn’t planning for the young Japanese brand to turn into a fashion-world sensation, but it happened anyway

Heavenly Spirits At a $1,000-a-head Pappy Van Winkle tasting, I learned how the company namesake liked his bourbon

The Strange Case of the Presidential-Pardon Pro A top clemency expert’s story is even more twisted than his findings—including Rutherford B. Hayes’s 24 murder pardons

Emma Kathleen Hepburn Ferrer Why Audrey Hepburn’s granddaughter forewent a career in the spotlight to pursue painting

Making Sense of Luigi Mangione On this week’s podcast, Bethany McLean looks at the potential roots of the alleged killer’s rage

Doctor Who? Meet the Boston brain doctor who lives a double life writing incredibly successful thrillers under the pen name Freida McFadden

The That ’70s Show actor shares his least favorite things

Is Edited By

Creative Director

Deputy Editors

Chief Technology Officer

Editor at Large

Books Editor

Arts Intel Report Editor

Senior Editor

Investigations Editor

Photo Director

Copy Editor

Research & Legal Editor

Production Editor

Associate Editors

Art Director

Senior Photo Editor

Deputy Art Director

International Editor

Communications Director

Columnists

Writers at Large

Contributing Artists

Contributing Photographers

Architectural Consultant

Social Media Manager

Head of Audience Development

Audience Growth Manager

Cartoon Editor

Music Supervisor

Technology

OUR CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER ARE

Air Supply General Manager and Brand Partnerships

Business Development Director

European Sales Director

Financial & Business Operations

Account Manager

Chief Strategy Adviser

Chief Merchant

Shop Editor

E-Commerce Manager

E-commerce Associate

In Memoriam