The Pentagon press secretary, Kingsley Wilson, is a 27-year-old former MAGA influencer who once called the US intelligence services—which include the Defense Intelligence Agency, a component of the Department of Defense—“more evil than Vladimir Putin.”
She’s one of many fresh-faced communications staffers who’ve brought very online tactics to very senior positions in the Executive branch. As Andrew Zucker reports for Vanity Fair today, when these folks were interviewing to become some of President Trump’s top messengers in his second term, they benefited from their youth in a key respect: There was no public record of them ever breaking with him, even after January 6. They were too young at the time, and those spotless records make them sinless, uncorrupted beings within Trumpworld.
Elsewhere, Katie Nicholl tracks Prince Edward as he breaks his silence on the scandal enveloping his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. |
JACK HOLMES,
SENIOR EDITOR |
While babyish faces regularly dot government org charts (see: the Pod Save America crew circa 2009), many Trump 2.0 youngsters are in notably higher positions with immense authority over messaging. And this go-around? They’re extremely online, extremely feisty, and extremely MAGA. |
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During a televised interview with a CNN anchor on Tuesday, Prince Edward was asked about the recent release of new files related to Jeffrey Epstein, which included incriminating photographs of his brother Andrew. |
After screening the Ryan Murphy drama about the whirlwind romance and tragic end of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette- Kennedy, the stars celebrated at a glittering New York institution with major thematic resonance. |
Dana Walden seemed poised to inherit Iger’s seat. Insiders explain why Josh D’Amaro leapfrogged her in the battle to succeed Iger. |
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As the 1980s came to a close, the future superstar was spending his summers acting in Spike Lee joints—and his nights freebasing cocaine. Ahead, Gavin Edwards reveals how hitting rock bottom inspired Jackson to transform his life, and shaped his game-changing performance in Jungle Fever: “When my character died, it was almost like I was killing off that part of my life.” |
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