April 12, 2025 – Air Mail

WORLD WIDE WEB OF INTRIGUE

Meet the sleuth who reportedly tracked down the cyber-criminals who hoodwinked a French divorcée out of almost $1 million—with an A.I. impersonation of Brad Pitt …

POWER TRIP

When Alexander Hamilton advocated for presidential pardons, he emphasized the responsibility it would require. He could never have predicted Trump’s abuses of the power …

JESUS $AVES

As if Trump’s denial of “Love thy neighbor” wasn’t sacrilegious enough, the leader of the White House’s recently established “Faith Office,” Paula White, is seemingly an extortionist crook …

SHE’S ALL TALK

Undaunted by the lack of audience interest in her podcast Archetypes, Meghan Markle has valiantly released another, Confessions of a Female Founder, that has less to do with business than with her boundless self-importance …

ISLE BE DAMNED

Billionaires are battling over control of the Caribbean’s Canouan island, a neighbor to Mustique and a favorite of everyone from the Sussexes to George Clooney to Leonardo DiCaprio …

CLOSED BOOK

Cornell Woolrich turned out noir fiction that stands the test of time, adapted into everything from Rear Window to The Bride Wore Black—while leading an equally mysterious life …

ART AND ARTIFICE

Is one memoir ever enough? Apparently not, if the swarm of A.I.-generated fabrications of AIR MAIL Co-Editor Graydon Carter’s When the Going Was Good populating Amazon right now is anything to judge by …

BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

How Gala Dalí, wife of Salvador, inspired a whole slew of Surrealists … Gen Z’s “Britishcore” moment … a private jet you might actually be able to afford … the shocking history of Nazis imprisoned in the U.S. … a Didion for our times … Trump and Musk’s new West Wing floor plan … Cast your vote in this week’s Attention-Whore Index Poll!

Issue No. 300

The View from Here The Founding Fathers assumed the president’s power to pardon would be exercised with restraint. They didn’t figure on Donald Trump

By Jeffrey Toobin

Read On

Who Ya Gonna Call? Scam Busters! How a team of sleuths reportedly tracked down the Brad Pitt impersonators who cyber-scammed a middle-aged Frenchwoman out of her life’s savings

By Mark Seal

Read On

Paradise Lost The developers of the Caribbean island of Canouan tried to re-create the magic of Mustique. Now it’s a battleground for billionaires

By Mark Ellwood

Read On

Duchess of All Trades After her Netflix flop and getting axed by Spotify, Meghan Markle is back yet again—this time dishing out inane business advice on a new podcast

By James Marriott

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

Egg Hunt

There’s no egg shortage here. AIR SUPPLY’s Easter guide is replete with a bounty of decorative egg-inspired wares, such as Christofle’s egg-shaped silver-cutlery set, Ted Muehling’s Egg Vase, and Scandles’s egg candles

Shop

Photo: Arthur Grimm/United Archives/Getty Images (Schneider and bunny)

Sean Spellman’s Favorite Things The creative director of American heritage leathergoods house Mark Cross has a taste for Carlo Moretti glassware, Blue Buffalo dog food, the Mark Cross Archer 42, and more

Shop

Hallucinating Graydon Carter Following the publication of When the Going Was Good, A.I.-generated rip-offs have flooded the market—how do they stack up?

By George Kalogerakis

Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Read On

Join the Jet Set A private plane with its own parachute! A digital camera that will make your hair stand on end! Earphones designed to improve the sound quality around you! And more …

By Jonathan Margolis

Read On

The Attention-Whore Index Emmanuel Macron sprinkles cologne, Mark Zuckerberg scatters millions, and Elon Musk slings mud

Read On

“You, with a torn rotator cuff and a bad knee—not a good idea!”

Oh, for God’s Sake! Accused of being a false teacher, a racist, and a crook, the televangelist and leader of the new White House Faith Office, Paula White, could be a match made in heaven for Trump

By Adam Gabbatt

Read On

Brush Sweater Stone I own only one sweater that I truly love, procured years ago from Margaret Howell. But unfortunately for me…

STRUT Louis Vuitton No offense to the New Balance grandpa running shoes, but for some of us, it was never a love affair. The same cannot be said…

READ Combing Through the White House In Russia, there’s a long-standing inside joke known as “bald-hairy,” which refers to the peculiar…

SPARKLE Nina Runsdorf There is no future without honoring one’s past—that’s why Nina Runsdorf launched her highly anticipated Archive Collection,…

READ A Hole in the Story It seems impossible—and also a little foolhardy—to write a novel set in the #MeToo movement as it reached its fulminating peak in…

COOK In the Kusina For chef Woldy Reyes, who grew up in a Filipino household in the United States, food was a flashpoint of his different worlds…

Brush Sweater Stone I own only one sweater that I truly love, procured years ago from Margaret Howell. But unfortunately for me…

STRUT Louis Vuitton No offense to the New Balance grandpa running shoes, but for some of us, it was never a love affair. The same cannot be said…

READ Combing Through the White House In Russia, there’s a long-standing inside joke known as “bald-hairy,” which refers to the peculiar…

SPARKLE Nina Runsdorf There is no future without honoring one’s past—that’s why Nina Runsdorf launched her highly anticipated Archive Collection,…

READ A Hole in the Story It seems impossible—and also a little foolhardy—to write a novel set in the #MeToo movement as it reached its fulminating peak in…

COOK In the Kusina For chef Woldy Reyes, who grew up in a Filipino household in the United States, food was a flashpoint of his different worlds…

Bonkers for Britain “Cheeky!” “Dodgy!” “Cheers!” America’s Gen Z is embracing Britishisms like there’s no tomorrow

By Nicola Woolcock

Read On

Better by Design Once a niche market for insiders, the collectible-design world now draws star-studded crowds. Is it eclipsing fashion as the ultimate marker of taste?

By Isiah Magsino

Read On

Lunch with Graydon Carter On this week’s episode of Table for Two, AIR MAIL’s Co-Editor embraces being compared to Buddy from Elf, explains how creativity could help you get into the Vanity Fair Oscar party, and more

Read On

Palm Springs Eternal Two new coffee-table books capture the timeless allure of Palm Springs, a favorite destination of Sinatra and Capote and a birthplace of modernist architecture

9

An airplane parked at the Desert Air Motel in Palm Springs, circa 1955.

Frank Sinatra at a charity golf tournament hosted by Chuck Connors, 1969.

*Top,* the Kellogg Doolittle High Desert House, designed by Kendrick Bangs Kellogg; *above,* an outtake from a Slim Aarons photo shoot at the Kaufmann Desert House, by Richard Neutra, 1970.

The exterior of the Saguaro Palm Springs hotel.

Truman Capote at his Palm Springs home with his bulldog Maggie, photographed by Aarons, 1970.

The exterior of the Parker Palm Springs hotel.

*Top,* Twin Palms, Sinatra’s former estate; *above,* the Tramway Gas Station (now Palm Springs Visitor Center), by Albert Frey and Robson C. Chambers, 1965.

Sean Connery on the set of *Diamonds Are Forever,* 1971.

Read On

The Mother of Surrealism How one woman born into a world on the brink of turmoil inspired Paul Éluard, Max Ernst, André Breton, and the love of her life, Salvador Dalí

By Michèle Gerber Klein

Read On

Jonathan Darman On

The Fifteen: Murder, Retribution, and the Forgotten Story of Nazi POWs in America

by William Geroux

Read On

“Oh, the usual … A bong rip. DraftKings. Xbox, DoorDash, Pornhub. A quick cry, a vow to change, pass out on the couch. What’s up for your night?”

A Forgotten Master of Pulp Fiction The only thing more noir than the work of writer Cornell Woolrich may have been his own life

By Sam Kashner

Read On

Matthew Rhys Gets Personal The Welsh actor discusses meeting his wife, Keri Russell, on The Americans—and his role in the new Agatha Christie adaptation, Towards Zero

By Julia Llewellyn Smith

Read On

“Brad Pitt’s” Kidney Transplant and the French Divorcée On this week’s podcast, Mark Seal explains how amateur sleuths busted a multi-national cyber-scam

Read On

Private Predicaments and Natural Disasters Meghan Daum wrote a book called The Catastrophe Hour. Three months before it was published, her house burned down.

By Thomas Beller

Read On

Left, a drawing of a hair comb by Charles Desrosiers, circa 1905; right, the hair comb, created by Georges Fouquet based on Desrosiers’s model, circa 1905.

Eugène Grasset, Georges Callot, Charles Desrosiers, Pierre-George Deraisme, and Charles Jacqueau are among the least-known names in the world of fine jewelry. Yet these men, over a 100-year period that began in the mid–19th century, designed some of the most beautiful and important jewelry produced in the best Paris maisons—think Cartier, Boucheron, Vever. READ ON

Read On

Hailee Steinfeld The True Grit child star returns to the big screen with Sinners, starring alongside Michael B. Jordan

By Jeanne Malle

Read On

Flow State Even the cruise-averse will be tempted by this sailing trip down the Mekong River that reveals the hidden side of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos

By Alexander Lobrano

Read On

Elisabeth Moss

The Handmaid’s Tale actress answers 29 of life’s most pressing questions

Read On

By John Ficarra and Patrick Merrell

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

Junior Editors

Carolina de Armas Paulina Prosnitz

Associate Editors

Victoria Herman Lucy Horowitz Jeanne Malle 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

In Memoriam

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

The View from Here The Founding Fathers assumed the president’s power to pardon would be exercised with restraint. They didn’t figure on Donald Trump

Who Ya Gonna Call? Scam Busters! How a team of sleuths reportedly tracked down the Brad Pitt impersonators who cyber-scammed a middle-aged Frenchwoman out of her life’s savings

Paradise Lost The developers of the Caribbean island of Canouan tried to re-create the magic of Mustique. Now it’s a battleground for billionaires

Duchess of All Trades After her Netflix flop and getting axed by Spotify, Meghan Markle is back yet again—this time dishing out inane business advice on a new podcast

There’s no egg shortage here. AIR SUPPLY’s Easter guide is replete with a bounty of decorative egg-inspired wares, such as Christofle’s egg-shaped silver-cutlery set, Ted Muehling’s Egg Vase, and Scandles’s egg candles

Sean Spellman’s Favorite Things The creative director of American heritage leathergoods house Mark Cross has a taste for Carlo Moretti glassware, Blue Buffalo dog food, the Mark Cross Archer 42, and more

Hallucinating Graydon Carter Following the publication of When the Going Was Good, A.I.-generated rip-offs have flooded the market—how do they stack up?

Join the Jet Set A private plane with its own parachute! A digital camera that will make your hair stand on end! Earphones designed to improve the sound quality around you! And more …

The Attention-Whore Index Emmanuel Macron sprinkles cologne, Mark Zuckerberg scatters millions, and Elon Musk slings mud

Oh, for God’s Sake! Accused of being a false teacher, a racist, and a crook, the televangelist and leader of the new White House Faith Office, Paula White, could be a match made in heaven for Trump

Bonkers for Britain “Cheeky!” “Dodgy!” “Cheers!” America’s Gen Z is embracing Britishisms like there’s no tomorrow

Better by Design Once a niche market for insiders, the collectible-design world now draws star-studded crowds. Is it eclipsing fashion as the ultimate marker of taste?

Lunch with Graydon Carter On this week’s episode of Table for Two, AIR MAIL’s Co-Editor embraces being compared to Buddy from Elf, explains how creativity could help you get into the Vanity Fair Oscar party, and more

Palm Springs Eternal Two new coffee-table books capture the timeless allure of Palm Springs, a favorite destination of Sinatra and Capote and a birthplace of modernist architecture

The Mother of Surrealism How one woman born into a world on the brink of turmoil inspired Paul Éluard, Max Ernst, André Breton, and the love of her life, Salvador Dalí

A Forgotten Master of Pulp Fiction The only thing more noir than the work of writer Cornell Woolrich may have been his own life

Matthew Rhys Gets Personal The Welsh actor discusses meeting his wife, Keri Russell, on The Americans—and his role in the new Agatha Christie adaptation, Towards Zero

“Brad Pitt’s” Kidney Transplant and the French Divorcée On this week’s podcast, Mark Seal explains how amateur sleuths busted a multi-national cyber-scam

Private Predicaments and Natural Disasters Meghan Daum wrote a book called The Catastrophe Hour. Three months before it was published, her house burned down.

Hailee Steinfeld The True Grit child star returns to the big screen with Sinners, starring alongside Michael B. Jordan

Flow State Even the cruise-averse will be tempted by this sailing trip down the Mekong River that reveals the hidden side of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos

The Handmaid’s Tale actress answers 29 of life’s most pressing questions

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

Junior Editors

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

In Memoriam