Digestif #27: March 16th
Free speech hypocrites, Lil Nas X, I want a Sigma BF fr fr, DEMNA IS AT GUCCI OMG, and another Big Prawn update.
What I’ve been thinking:
The Trump administration is currently attempting to deport someone for holding the wrong opinions. That seems like an exaggeration, but nope. Mahmoud Khalil entered the US on a student visa, got a Green Card, became a notable pro-Palestinian activist during the 2024 Columbia University protests, and the Trump administration is now trying to deport him for that, saying his activity and speech undermines American foreign policy interests. The Trump administration has said that they do not think Khalil has committed a crime; but, they say he verbally supports Hamas, and that’s why they’re deporting him (and will try to deport more Green Card holders for similar transgressions). There aren’t specific examples of Khalid saying pro-Hamas or antisemitic stuff — though he probably has, given that Columbia’s pro-Palestinian protestors were generally rather pro-Hamas and anti-Jewish — but it wouldn’t matter if he had. Regardless of his opinions, this is antithetical to free speech, and the kind of thuggish state action usually reserved for dictators. That J.D. Vance was saying that Britain has no respect for free speech now seems utterly comical1. It was a proud moment for American free speech when the ACLU defended the rights of Nazis to march through Skokie, Illinois; a town with a notable community of Holocaust survivors. Trying to deport Khalil is an utter betrayal of that tradition.
Starmer’s Labour government has been inefficient, slow, and unambitious, which is weird given that they have a massive but fragile parliamentary majority. However, there are some positive signs. His new position on the international stage is fantastic; he’s making moves to reform the cancerous Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 (they should repeat it, but still); he’s starting to rip out the worst rot of the NHS, starting with the separate NHS England arm; and he’s working on welfare waste, which incentivises people not to work who want to. If unions try to get in the way, Starmer should treat them as Thatcher did the National Union of Mineworkers, and Andrew Neil did the print unions. If you care about working people, then the economy needs to grow, and fast. Anything less is to let our country rot.
Odd pivot: I’m skeptical of how successful this new era of Lil Nas X will be. He failed to get back in the controversy lane with J.CHRIST (which was boring), and then spent a while teasing a ton of songs, only a few of which released (most notably, LIGHT AGAIN!). He’s now released a run of singles in this new pink style, and they’re all fine? But none of them have much soul, and they aren’t that popular. DREAMBOY is by far the best of them, with this incredible Andre-3000-inspired opening verse2; but it, like the rest, has a pretty lame chorus and overly repetitive instrumental. His On The Radar performance of need dat boy was great though.
This newsletter won’t be “this week in Elon” but the world’s richest man bought the presidency in exchange for attention (and corrupt favours for his companies) so here we are. To flag a few things:
This White House has had few leaks (particularly compared to Trump’s first term), mainly because it’s fully staffed by people who believe in the MAGA agenda. This makes last week’s detailed, colorful Jonathan Swan / Maggie Haberman story so notable. The only logical take-away, both the story itself and the context surrounding it, is that Trump officials hate Musk’s outsized impact on this White House, so much so that they’re willing to break the cone of silence and talk to The New York Times. And then, in the days after, Trump announced that DOGE will work with a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer, and defer to department heads; the first major loss in this administration for Musk.
I want you to imagine that Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, had campaigned for Biden in 2020, donated $300M to his campaign, became his biggest public supporter, appeared at rallies, and constantly tweeted in support of Biden, including things like “I love @joebiden as much as a straight man can love another man.” Imagine then that Biden wins the election, Farley becomes an informal advisor at the White House, and policies start rolling out that seem uniquely beneficial to Ford (including that the State Department says they’ll spend $400M on F-150s). Then, when Ford shares drop, Biden tweets that conservatives boycotting Ford is illegal, and appears on the White House lawn with a bunch of electric Fords, and does an ad-read. Republicans would fucking impeach him and they’d be right to. But, then again, there’s a long list of things that Trump should have been impeached for, and nobody even considers it. Accountability is dead, welcome to the post-shame era.
During a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Representative Keith Self of Texas referred to his colleague, Sarah McBride, as “Mr. McBride.” Self isn’t just being an asshole; this is deliberate attempt to get a viral clip that he can fundraise off through small-dollar donors, even if he needs to abandon all decency to do so. It’s disgusting.
I’ve been wondering why Trump wants to buy/invade Canada, and I think I finally have an answer from his White House meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. In his meeting he says —“This would be the most incredible country visually. If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it — between Canada and the U.S” — and I now think this entire thing comes down to how America looks on a map. My theory is that the White House had a meeting about buying Greenland,3 someone pulled up a map like that on the left, and Trump thought “it would look far better if we had all the land together as one coherent landmass.”
What I’ve been writing:
It’s been an enormous week for fashion! In The Spectator, I wrote about Donatella Versace resigning from the brand that she built; and in The New York Sun, I wrote about Demna Gvasalia leaving Balenciaga for Gucci. In both pieces, I break with consensus. Most fashion critics think Donatella kept Versace alive but didn’t innovate on its design; I totally disagree, and put her recent Versace collections as some of my favorite runway shows of the past five years (yeah, I said it, try to stop me — Fall-Winter 2023 was incredible). Similarly, markets disapproved of Demna’s choice for Gucci, scared he will do the same gimmick fashion again (Kering’s share price dropped 12% after the announcement), but the more I think about his hire, the more I like it.
Despite the positive reviews, I didn’t like Dope Thief. Sorry. (The Spectator)
I have a bunch of pieces coming up in New York Sun today so keep an eye out!
Out next week: reviews in The Spectator for The Residence and Severance.
What I’ve been reading:
Books: finished Michael Lewis’s Who Is Government?, which I’m reviewing for the Washington Examiner; and almost done with Izumi Suzuki’s Set My Heart on Fire, which is fantastic. Reminds me of the light, spunky prose of early Bret Easton Ellis / Jay McInerney, and I love that. I’ve also been checking out the upcoming Rizzolli book, Poggy Style, which is a great resource for men’s style.
A diverse range of people being outraged by the Khalil case: Andrew Sullivan4, Eli Lake5, Graeme Wood, and Jay Caspian Kang.
inside the hot girl economy: just a great piece. (Steph Stiner)
On the cost of cutting USAID (“hundreds of thousands will die”) (New Yorker)
Scott Alexander on the ozempic (Astral Codex Ten)
AI search hallucinates more than you’d want (Columbia Journalism Review)
The problem of xanax addiction (Wall Street Journal)
Different arguments about the government shutdown bill controversy, from Josh Barro, Nate Silver, David A. Graham, and Nick Catoggio6. I personally think that Schumer handled the optics of this poorly, but people are also treating this as being way more important than it actually is.
A great book review on the “overdiagnosis epidemic,” courtesy of Hannah Barnes7 (The New Stateman)
Rachel Tashjian on fashion’s embrace of smaller silhouettes (Washington Post)
Michelle Goldberg on Gavin Newsom’s odd podcast venture (New York Times) Also in the Times: debunking Dr Oz’s health claims, and how to get free parking
Nate Silver on whether Wall Street will turn on Trump (Silver Bulletin)
Other stuff:
Tech stuff of the week: I want the Sigma BF camera so much, and not just because the name makes me giggle. Look at that camera; look at the photos it takes; and then tell me you don’t want it. Sadly, it costs £2000, and that doesn’t even include a lens, but I still want it. If a generous reader wants to buy me it, I will happily send them feet pics / an organ / whatever they want. I also have been testing Meze Audio’s Poet headphones, and holy shit they are good. They also cost $2000 though, so I won’t be buying a pair (unless that same generous reader would like to buy a second organ).
Podcast of the week: Sam Harris’s chat with Jonah Goldberg. Hardly novel, but it’s a good listen. Also, I highly recommend Doug Demuro’s This Car Pod! (it’s the only car podcast I consistently listen to).
YouTube video of the week: Atrioc’s ‘Marketing Monday’ video on the backlash against Tesla.
Regularly scheduled Big Prawn update: last week, I wrote about how Australia’s national icon, the Big Prawn of Ballina, had been hurt in the recent cyclone (and we still all pray, as a nation, for his swift recovery). However, my sibling also sent me this incredible news clip from Australian broadcaster ABC, when the prawn was just a young artificial crustacean, and a Ballina Shire council member compares it to the Colossus of Rhodes.
American tourists, wtf. I love Americans, I never feel that patriotically Australian,8 and I’m opposed to the death penalty; but if you lift a wombat joey away from its mother (!!!!!)9 you should get the firing squad.
And finally, ahead of tomorrow, to my Irish brothers and sisters, and everyone else: Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
For what it’s worth: it is idiotic that British police have wasted their time investigating or charging people for infractions as small as quoting rap lyrics or making a joke in print (yes, both real examples). However, Starmer has never tried to deport someone for being anti-Monarchy; and the most cited examples of Britain supposedly cracking down on free expression (jailing a mother for mean tweets, or locking up that oh so respectable journalist Tommy Robinson) were actually examples of obvious insightment of violence, and obstruction of court proceedings by a violent thug.
Best line/delivery: “Alright, okay, shit, let's talk infatuations / I like long black dick and I like long conversations / I like cuddlin' with my cats and I like boys who have a smell to 'em”
Worst: “I'm shittin' on niggas, like scat porn / I'm the one they turned they back on”
An old, quite good idea, which Trump is handling in the dumbest way.
Disclosure: I have chatted with Andrew before, he’s lovely, and we recorded an episode of Arguably, which will come out at some point, when I get the time to edit it, I promise.
Disclosure: Eli is a friend and I’ve been on his podcast. But even if that weren’t so, he’s a great example of showing principle where others don’t: he’s one of the most vocal Zionists you can find, but still shows his spine and consistency on free speech. Bravo.
The best regular opinion columnist on the American right. Cannot recommend him more strongly.
Disclosure: I know Hannah and she’s a superbly lovely person, and one of Britain’s best reporters. If you care about the topic of youth gender affirming care in the UK, you have to read her book, Time to Think: an alarming book with superb reporting.
I grew up there and I have citizenship, but I feel more patriotic about Britain and Ireland.
Genuinely, what the fuck was wrong with this person?????